One stubborn rear main seal

[terrawombat]

This is by far the hardest rear main I've done yet. Original RMS with 225K+ miles on it and hard as a rock. Tried all the tricks in the book - loosened all of the main bearings and dropped the crank down a bit, hit both sides of the RMS with a brass drift trying to get it to budge and nothing.

 

Any other secrets? This thing is STUCK and I need this truck back on the road by the weekend.

 

Thanks!

[mule13]

I've always used a punch to get it started then pushed it out with a brass rod flattened.(the brass rod is a brazing rod smashed on the end and bent into a slight curve.I have never loosened any of the other main bearing caps.try finding a punch almost the width of the rms get as close as you can to the crank without touching it and smacking it with a hammer. sometimes they get hot and kinda melt themselves on.honestly getting the seal out is all about the angle at which you push.hope some part of this helps :)

[Overland]

A couple well placed hits with a steel punch in both directions.

 

I'm sure your aware to be very carefull with the punch.. make sure it's seated on the metal ring inside the seal and not the rubber where it can score the crank.

[terrawombat]

After I made my initial post, I went back underneath the truck with a steel punch and did exactly that, but it didn't budge. I stopped before I let my frustration get the best of me since a steel punch near a crankshaft is not the place you want to be when you're starting to get angry. I'll try it again tonight...

[Pete M]

go get a brass punch.

 

also, you can try putting a WD-40 straw on a can of PBBlaster and see if you can spray any of it up in the hole.

[tbrand]

When I did mine, I had to tap on each side of the seal quite a few times to get it to unseat. Someone here mentioned that they used plastic chopsticks as the tapping tool - strong enough to put some force on the seal, but they'll break before they damage anything important. Mine came out before it got to that point, but you may have success.

[terrawombat]

I got it out tonight. I just kept at it with a 3/16" brass rod tapping on both sides of the seal before it finally budged. I tried a 1/8" rod, but the amount of force I needed to use to get the seal to budge was just bending it. New seal is in, main bearing caps are all torqued down per the service manual. Got the oil pan in the parts washer just about ready to go back on. Should have it fired up tonight just in time for the weekend.

 

Thanks fellas!

[Pete M]

be sure to let the silicone cure for a bit before you fire it up. :thumbsup: overnight is best.

[terrawombat]

Yes sir. I torqued the bolts on the pan and called it a night - that took a lot longer than I thought it would.

 

After work today, I'll change the oil filter, put some fresh oil in and cross my fingers!