66 econiline -170, rear main seal replacement

Hi gang,

a merry belated Christmas to one and all. i am here in no. california and have discovered that my clutch is slipping. i suspect the obvious - a rear main seal leak. the replacement process appears to be a real PIA. i bought new clutch bits and bobs and will do the trany rear main seal, and diff. axle seal swap out while i have everything down. i would appreciate any tips or tricks that y'all can offer for the rear main seal replacement.

much thanks,

RA

Hey donivan,

thanks for the reply. i have jack stands and i can get a fat piece of pipe to span the engine. i was hoping i could yank the oil pan without messing with the motor mounts or raising the engine. i suspect not. looks like i am in for a long complicated process.

anyone have any recommendations for best maker of oil pan gasket sets and rear main seals. there seems to be some variety. i went to amazon to shop it out and the only oil pan gasket set available through them was a cork fel-pro setup. i would rather not use cork. any preferences here?

much thanks from variously wet, then dry, then wet, oakland.

ra

lets see what the Ford guys say about removing the oil pan,,,,,,,,if you have to, you chain the engine, take maybe 2 motor mount bolts off,,,,,,,and 4 crossmember bolts and it comes down and you undo the oil pan,,,,,,,pretty simple,,,,,,the transmission will hold the engine in place,,,

thanks again donivan,

yeah, the ford guys will have something to say, i'm sure.

one of the things that has thrown me off is that on page 8-35, column 1, par. 4, of the factory manual they clearly state: "The upper oil seal in the block cannot be replaced with the crankshaft installed." aaarrrggghhh. high non-goodness factor there. in preparation for this i went over to the utoobz and sorted through some rear main seal replacement viddys. nothing as old as my van or even remotely close but the general idea was that after you finally get the oil pan and rearmost bearing cap off you can take a punch and very gingerly drive the upper half-seal around enough to grab it with a vice grips and yank it out completely. you are always advised not to mar the crank but this seems completely do-able. is there any reason (ford owners) why this cannot be done to remove the upper seal segment. I REALLLLLLY do not want to yank the entire crank just to replace that half-seal. that cannot be the way - in spite of the commands from the manual.

more in a couple of days; i know a guy, who knows a guy who works in a shop and has purportedly done this before. he is off skiing his christmas vacation time away (nice job if you can get it) and i will try to track him down for info when he gets back. in the interim any and all tips would be most welcome.

ra

That sure is a major operation according to the Ford book,,,,,,,,,if it has that rope seal in it,,,,,,maybe there is a more modern rubber one that slides in,,,,,,,

You should be able to remove the rear cap and loosen the other ones enough that the crank will drop straight down a bit if needed. This can make getting the old seal out and the new slid in easier, but may not be needed. If it still has the rope seal and you want to use a new rubber seal be sure and drive the pin out of the cap that holds the seal from spinning. There's a tool that you corkscrew into the old seal to grab it and pull it out as someone turns the crank in the same direction, part of the "sneaky pete" tool. You won't need the sneaky pete to put in the new seal if you replace with a 2 piece rubber seal, roll/slide it into place, rolling it in with a turning of the crank. Tapping with something it if need be. We did that on a Ford Lehman 6 in a boat once. Offset the ends 1/8" or so in and out of the cap mating surfaces. And use a bit of RTV on the seal ends and across the outer(rear facing) edge of the cap to block mating surfaces.

Also, I would verify that it is the rear main that's leaking before I went to the trouble. Check the core plug @ the back of the cam, galley plug, flywheel bolts, etc...