I had a similar experience with a pilot bearing puller that I tried renting at 3 different autoparts stores. The first store didn't have it so they told me where the closest store was, which was half an hour away. I got there, they had the tool, got back my house opened it up then touched it to the pilot bearing and ti broke. One of the hooks had been broken before and glued back together. I then headed to another store that wasn't the same chain and they had it! But it was already broken in the exact same way. I ended up heading to Summit and they have a better designed bearing puller and only cost me like $20. Summit has been a life saver sometimes, glad then they put one 30 minutes from my old house.

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Current: 1975 450SEL, 83 300D, 88 Yugo GVX, 90 300D OM603 swap, 91 F150 4.6 4v swap, 93 190E Sportline LE 3.0L M104 swap, 93 190E Sportline LE Megasquirt, 03 Sprinter, 06 E500 4Matic wagon.