Joe, you are correct Sir (and thanks for all the help). I did pull the just installed upper asbestos rope seal. I molded the second nos asbestos seal to the #4 cap after soaking it overnight in 15w40 and let it drip for an hour and then pulled it in place above the crank.
Next I torqued the front 3 cap bolts to 105 ft.lbs. With the packing tool I packed in an additional 1/2” of rope on both sides of the upper seal. I had cut the seal in the cap 3/16” long on each side and hopefully the +1 1/2” of packed rope seal will tighten everything up, preventing the rope from getting loose and moving or leaking.
There was a bit of squeeze out but less than the previous effort.
Next step was to install the lower cap. After spraying (only) the 4 ends with brake cleaner and wiping it off I coated the ends with Great Stuff, twisted the cap rope ends into points and carefully put the cap in place with the pointed ends going into the divots left by the packing tool in the upper seal. Torqued the 1/2” cap bolts to 80 ft. lbs. and installed the pan.
24 hours later I added 5qts of Tech 15w40 diesel oil (has 1200 ppm of zinc) Cranked the rig, slid under and with the flywheel dust cover off it was easy to see, No Leaks! I did make a 10 mile drive next and when I checked again there was a little seepage but no dripage. I’m hoping that goes away soon.
That’s it, now to move on to the next project.
RonR
Last edited by moparguy; 06/27/2026 8:27 PM.
