OT but A1 - Changing Main Seal

[treed2@u.washington.edu (T. Reed)]

Ken,

No special tools needed. Rear main is a piece of cake (my favorite seal to
change, in fact) .. just undo the 3-4 oil pan bolts that thread in to the
seal carrier, and the 5 or 6 bolts that hold the seal carrier on to the
block. Then wiggle the seal and seal carrier free from the end of the
crank. Use a piece of wood and a hammer to get the seal out - just knock
it gently on one side and it should pop right out. Couldn't be easier..

Lube new seal with grease on re-installation. At least I did..

Mainshaft is a different story.. not bad but slightly more work. I drilled
two small holes in the face of the seal and threaded sheet metal screws in
to them. Then I used the nail-pulling end of a hammer to pry on the heads
of the two screws (one at a time) against the tranny case. After a few
tries the seal popped out.

While you're there change the pushrod seal and the bronze pushrod bearing.
These two are probably the most crucial when it comes to not soaking your
clutch with gear oil. Don't change just the seal, it won't last 1000 miles
if you ignore the bearing, which is what keeps the vertical load of the
pushrod off of the seal.

Pull the pushrod out, then use a small flathead screwdriver to pop the
seal out by applying gentle prying pressure from behind.

To get the bronze bearing out, break it in to pieces by chiseling it with
a hammer and screwdriver (or a chisel). Snake the pieces out with a dental
tool or by shaking the tranny with the throwout bearing end up. If you
loose some pieces down the inside of the tranny, its not the end of the
world.. just buy a new $2 endcap, pry off your endcap and get the parts
out of the 5th gear housing next to the clutch lever.

Carefully tap the new bearing in to place (recess it enough to leave
room for the seal) with a hammer, then gently hammer the seal in on top of
the bearing.

HTH,

-Toby

On Tue, 4 Feb 2003, Ken B wrote:

> As I am changing motors and trannys in my Rabbit truck, I have been advised
> to renew the rear main seal on the crank and the trans main (rear) shaft
> while they are seperated.   I bought the part(s) and the Bently shows some
> special tools involved.  Can someone who has done this a few times give me
> some advise/tips on this procedure?
> Thanks
> Ken
> 1979 Scirocco 16V -  Almost done
> 81 Deisel P/U - Rescued from neglegent PO
> VORTEX:  "Indiana Red"
>
>
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