I would do one of two things: Either give McLeod a call and ask their tech department about it, or just put the McLeod bearing in it and see if it solves the issue.  At this point, with nothing obviously wrong, that seems the most likely fix. 

Don’t know part numbers, but the Ford bearing that looks like it is not concentric works best. It is self-centering.

I guess this suggestion is too little too late: but before removing the trans, would it be possible to back off the clutch adjustment so that the throw-out bearing doesn't contact the clutch fingers? If the noise stops - then it points to the throw-out bearing. If the noise continues, then that would indicate the transmission input shaft bearing.

Well, Fed Ex was supposed to deliver my TOB yesterday, but it didn't arrive until 6pm tonight so I probably won't have a chance to put it all back together until next weekend. 

But I just went out into the garage and the new Ford TOB appears to be identical to the McLeod one except the Ford Racing M-7548 bearing has the Timken part # on it that Josh posted above, so it looks like the Ford Racing bearing is just a repackaged Timken. Note to self for next time.

Anyway, I was looking at things tonight and when I went to slide the clutch fork into place on the pivot stud, I could see that the bottom clip was not clipping onto the stud. The top clip snapped onto the stud fine, but bottom clip was getting pushed under the stud.

I pulled the fork out and looked at it closely and, as you can see, it looks like the bottom clip was bent down a little bit. See pic. I bent it back into place and now it clips onto the stud fine.

I didn't notice how the fork was installed because it came off the stud when I pulled the tranny.  Perhaps that bottom clip got bent like that when the tranny came out, but is it possible that if it was installed that way the clutch would work at all?  If it wasn't clipped onto the pivot stud fully, I could see how a rotating TOB could transmit a vibration through the fork and into the bell housing. But I'd be surprised that the clutch would work at all if the fork wasn't fully clipped to the pivot  stud.


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I don't think it is a Ford fork.  Maybe I will see if I can pick one up somewhere.

Ok, so I won't worry about the fork.

Quick question... the pilot bearing looks good and turns smoothly with a finger, so I am inclined not to pull the bell and clutch to replace it.

Some reading seems to suggest that with the car in neutral and foot off the clutch pedal, the pilot bearing would not make noise if it was bad, but it would make noise if it was bad when you pushed the clutch pedal in.  True?
If that is true, that is the exact opposite problem I am having, which also supports not changing the pilot bearing.

Perfect, tnx!

Well, I got the car back together tonight and gave it a quick test. It is better than it was, but there is still a noise from the trans when the car is in neutral with your foot off the clutch pedal, but it sounds different than it did before.   Before the noise was a bit of a whirring sound, now it has a high pitch whine almost like a gear drive. And the noise changes with RPM and goes away completely when the clutch pedal is pushed in.


I'm going to give g-force a call tomorrow and see what they have to say.

Yes, G-Force rebuilt the trans and put their gear set in it. I  definitely get the gear whine while driving, but I expected that because I know their gears are noisy.  But I didn't expect any noise in neutral.

The noise isn't that loud and doesn't bother me, I just want to make sure nothing is "wrong".  Hopefully you are correct and it's just the sound of the some incidental gear movement.