Front crankshaft seal installation

[tmoore4512]

Okay experts, I need to replace my front seal. But the new seal is an absolute nightmare to install...

 

Anyone have any tips? It is wild how difficult this one is. 

 

I would appreciate it.

[Slartibartfast]

It's a bit of a pain to get to, but I don't remember the actual seal fighting me too hard. I heated and bent the end of a screwdriver at ninety degrees (like a paint can opener, but thinner), polished the back so it wouldn't scratch the crank (tape over the back of it wouldn't be a bad idea), put a heavy socket over the shaft, slipped the end of the screwdriver between the crank and the seal, hooking the back of the seal, and then tapped the socket against the handle to work the seal out. Took a little screwing around and tapping in different places, but it worked alright. I did the cam seals the same way.

 

I've heard of drilling a hole in the seal, sticking a screw in there, and using the screw as a handle to pull the seal out, but I could just see the drill wandering off into something I didn't want chowdered up.

[tmoore4512]

Getting the old dried out cracked seal out was simple... I am struggling with getting the new one in. Even saturated with grease it is being a pain.

Been a while since I have done seals, the cam seals were easy. This little crank seal is...yeah.

[adamzan]

Take an old margarine tub or something like that and cut the side out, roll it up and stick it into the centre of the seal, slide it over the crank and then slide the seal over it and onto the crank. This is how I've always done them.

[Slartibartfast]

I don't remember doing anything special with mine, but that was a while ago. A piece of PVC that fits over the crank might work for a driver tool if you can't get it to walk in.

[gamellott]

I believe I used a short piece of iron pipe to drive it on since an oversized socket isn't an option.

[tmoore4512]

Okay, so I figured out why I was having such an issue. 

 

It was the wrong seal. 

 

Sigh.

[gamellott]

That happens. I managed to do that with the rear wheel seals. I don't know how I did it, but I couldn't exactly return them. Took me over a year to actually do the work after accumulating the parts to do the job. So by the time I finally got to it, it was... well just another delay. But then, it was all apart with no real excuse not to get it done. And Then... lets not forget finding debris in the pinion after putting it all back together.... which led to a whole different thread on something that I had never done before 

[Slartibartfast]

That'll do it!

[adamzan]

I had this happen before too. There seems to be multiple seals listed as cam/crank for this engine. I ordered 2 cam seals and they were different, only one fit. Of course they gave me a hard time about returning the one that was wrong.