I have the Bentley and a Clymer manual. Bentley shows great details, but
gives little info on 'how to'  The clymer offers some how-to, but
incredibly, when it comes to the release bearing, it refers to pictures
that are not in the book :-)

Mine is an 81 air cooled. The clutch and bearing were replaced about 25K
miles or so ago and have shown no indications of any issues. Yesterday,
I took the engine out for head replacements,  and since its sitting
right there staring at me, I figure its time well spent to take a look
at the bearing. I am reticent to play with anything that is working
fine,  so I seek advice as to what to look for, how to possibly remove
the bearing for inspection if that is deemed necessary, and what kind of
lube and/or cleaning to perform on it, or on the input shaft. Bits and
pieces of manuals declare "do not grease" parts of the assembly, so I
just want to be sure what is right and what is wrong.

Its been two decades since I was tearing apart motors and transmissions,
and even then, none of them was a VW, so I am hoping there may be some
writeups, or pictures on a link somewhere, and maybe someone can share
what they know about inspecting the parts.

Please note that if I could afford it, I would just replace the bearing
and call it good, but that is not an option, as the van's budget is
already over the top with a new clutch slave cylinder and CV boot on top
of the head replacement.

If I have my way, I will be able to do a Boston Bob or some other new
engine in about a year, and I am confident that if I don't mess up the
bearing by checking it out, it will be fine until then.

Any advice or suggestion would be gratefully accepted.

Thanks a lot,

John