Sharing this experience out of a deep sense of shame and embarrassment. Hopefully others don’t make this mistake.
About 4 years ago the ‘51 in my tagline was experiencing severe clutch chatter. Experience and forum advice all said leaking rear main and oil soaked clutch disk. That was exactly what was going on. So, a new rope seal kit from Best Gasket, a bit of work and all was good. For a while. The clutch chatter started again. Just a tad, then progressively got worse. Since I didn’t drive the truck daily or even weekly I just did the best I could until I couldn’t.
Fast forward to today, the truck has been in the shop for a couple weeks up on stands with the oil drained and drippage inside the block slowing.
I dropped the pan and when I pulled the rear main bearing cap, the upper half of the rope seal pulled out a couple inches. First thought was “dangit” the plan was to insert a section of stainless windshield wiper reinforcement strip above the upper seal to force it into the crank, stopping the leak. Only option now was to pull the seal out. It was easy. Too easy.
Now for the unexpected discovery, the upper seal is about 3/8” to short. Just out of curiosity I dropped it into the rear bearing cap and it fell into place and was much too short.
Well, at least I know why it was leaking.
Now for the new plan. I found a NOS asbestos seal that’s currently soaking in 0w16 Pennzoil. I’ll see just how easy or not, it is to install.
I don’t remember the details on installing the last seal, I’m sure though that I cut it off flush if not slightly proud. What I do remember is it was really hard to pull into place even after loosing all the main bolts and dropping the crank a bit.
My guess is that the seal was stretched and over time it contracted and leaked like a big boy.
Not having a brass drift the plan this time is to make a few wood drifts from some very old oak boards. Or perhaps something plastic and with a proper hammer pack and pack and pack. Pack both ends of the upper seal. Maybe let it set for a day or two first, or before trimming and with the crank bolts loose, then hold again one end while rotating the crank in the proper direction to tighten the seal up prior to cutting.
The good news is it really can't get any worse than what I found today.
