welcome to the garage Bustin - the seal can be replaced w/o dropping the crank, but loosening might make it less of a struggle - general good sense would be getting the correct rope seal so you don't have to do the job [and go to the store] twice

Bill

Moved over to the Passing Lane

"When we tug a single thing in nature, we find it attached to the rest of the world" ~ John Muir
"When we tug a single thing on an old truck, we find it falls off" ~ me
Some TF series details & TF heater pics