During my rebuild of my 216, I decided to try the procedure given on this site, for changing the rear main seal, forcing the crankshaft down slightly. I found that I could not create enough clearance to get the old upper half out,with the transmission in place. Also, I have the tool set and I found it pretty useless. The threading tool instructions call for 3/4" of the rope seal to be inserted in the tool, and this would ultimately be pulled out the other end. However, the seal was only 1/2" longer than the groove and thus too much of the seal would be pulled through. I ended up removing the crankshaft and rolling the seal in. However, if the transmissionis were removed, there would be no problem creating the clearance to remove the old one and thread in the new one.
