Well my dad and I tried to finish up our rear main seal job tonight on our 54 /12 ton. We got the top seal 3/4 the way around the crank when one of the jaws on our "sneaky pete" tool broke, causing the wire to come out and the seal to sit there half installed. We were so close. This is definitely a two man job, and is certainly doable, but I think someone needs to add some detail to the rear seal tech tip, because the way I'm seeing it right now:
1) Loosening up the main bearing caps only allowed a very slight wiggle in the crank. It certainly didn't drop down.
2) It seems to me that it would be a lot easier if one were to separate the transmission from the engine -- because isn't the transmission to flywheel/clutch disk connection what is really preventing the crank from dropping down to give more clearance?
I'm sure most people who replace the seal either do it with the engine completely out of the truck (and per the shop manual), or only replace the bottom half of the rope. Sometimes I wonder why I'm trying to do all these things with the engine in place. Am I crazy?! This thing is driver, not a frame off resto (yet)!
The irony is that I'll probably end up replacing the clutch disk anyway, forcing me to remove the transmission, since I'm pretty sure it has been mildly soaked in oil.
Despite the frustrations, we are still having fun. So that is the main thing. Except I think I'd be having more fun driving the truck this summer.
