After finally getting everything apart, the entire inside of the bell housing was coated in oil. There is a small amount of oil visible between the crank and seal at the bottom of the crank (car has been run in about a year), so I am going to replace the seal for good measure.

The manual Fred linked had a tool for re-installation listed, but I am coming up bust finding it. I think removal seems simple enough, light prying from the 3 slots, being careful to not scrap the crank. Is the tool really needed? Can someone who has replaced the seal give any advice?

Thank you in advance!

 

The "tool" makes it very plug & play but many do install them without it. Sometimes they come up on ebay for not much $. Where I got mine many tears ago

 

Thanks!

I checked Ebay and see a few for silly prices, and one for about $100, but it looks pretty beat up.

Searching the part, I came up with a specialty tool shop freedomracing.com, that have two versions of the tool new:

https://www.freedomracing.com/rear-c...j-35621-b.html - as in your picture
https://www.freedomracing.com/j-3562...-stallion.html

The second one is less and is all metal. From what I can tell, they do the same thing. Thoughts?

The installation procedure seems pretty easy from the manual, but I wanted to verify that it is accurate with all seals that the entire gasket be coated with oil before installation?

If I am reading this correctly, the steps needed are:

1. Pry off old seal with a flat head screw driver from the 3 notches in the rear main seal housing
2. Clean all surfaces
3. Coat the new seal in oil
4. Insert the seal into the tool (ensure the center screw is in its loosest position)
5. mount the tool to the crank shaft
6. Bottom out the center screw
7. Remove tool from crank shaft

Does that look right?

 

Either tool will work. Yeah the Kent Moore factory tools are stupid $ but I got lucky way back when as I paid $20. The cheaper metal one would work but I have the plastic Kent Moore one

IIRC the seal comes in a plastic sleeve that goes between crank & seal so the seal lip does not fold over on install. You would use a small hammer and tap around the seal edge to drive it in then likely use a flat piece of wood over the entire seal & crank to set it in all the way. The "tool" however is very simple and fool proof to use.

You do oil the sealing lip of the RMS "if" it is the rubber one. If Teflon you do not as those are PTFE seals and must be installed dry. FWIW I always use the FelPro rubber seal but it's your choice

If you have clutch & FW off its a no brainer to replace RMS especially if there is a sign it leaks. Not a common leak but they do sometimes leak

 

Thanks! With that info, I just ordered the metal version. I totally would have jumped for the plastic one if I could find it for $20!

I will see what is locally available locally and go with what is readily available.

Yeah, it is all torn down at this point. I had forgotten how much of a pain the tranny is. I was able to get it out without removing the shifter, but after struggling, I will not be installing the new one until it is back in the car. The biggest issue I had was that the poly mounts raised the engine high enough that the bell housing bolt second from the left was so tight against the tunnel that I couldn't even get a socket on it. If it isn't one thing, it's another

Thanks again!

 

yeah installing trans without shifter is best, same on removal.

I used the ES "black" MM that go inside the stock clam shells but did not see any higher engine position as a result.

If you have bellhousing contact with firewall or tunnel that is not good assuming it is that way once x member is in. You will have "grounding" aka vibration in the cabin as a result. The engine or trans should not contact tunnel. IIRC there is a rubber bumper on top of F body T56 to cushion against trans hitting tunnel

On the RMS install, yeah it is way better to have specialty tools to do stuff. RMS is generally installed on the RMS adapter first before that is installed on crank/block then oil pan. Obviously with engine assembled and especially still in car the types of tools you are looking at make it a simple plug & play RMS install

At the same time I bought mine I also bought the KM LT1 crank hub remove/install tool which makes that job a breeze. Typically that cost is exploding wallet $ but I got it for $40 way back when. I have only used both a few times over the years but glad I have them

 

Grabbed the rubber FelPro today.

The clearance issue could be BMR cross member, I also have ES for the passenger side (driver side is built into the cross member). I bought the car without a Carfax (I didn't know about it), but I have a suspicion that it had a front end collision at some point, so I could have a bit of unibody tweak too. That said, there is not any contact (the was enough room to wedge my hand between the tunnel and transmission), just not enough to seat the socket on the bolt (there was previous to the cross member replacement and ES mount).

 

I am not sure about what I am seeing after reinstalling the rear main seal today. The seal looks a little tight on the top and left sides, but looks to have a small gap on the right and bottom. Take a look, let me know what you think.

Pre-install

New seal on with tool

Tool alignment

Tight left side

Tight top

Bottom gap

Bottom right gap

Right gap

 

I don't recall seeing this gap before, but there was also the small oil bead. Could this be a machining issue with the block and crank? Not an issue? Alignment issue with the RMS housing?

Thank you in advance!

 

???, from this side of the keyboard that RMS is either defective (out of round) or something not right with that crank (not machined round/center)

Did it take any effort to press it in? (it should not with the tool)

Is it a Eagle crank? (the answer needs to be no)

There should be no "play" in terms of how the RMS adapter plate is mounted

FWIW my 383 w/Felpro RMS

 

Well, that is fun. I did not see anything wrong with the seal before it went in. The Felpro did not come with a plastic tube for install, so with the crank and inner seal lightly oiled, I got the lip massaged over the crank an level with housing. I then installed the tool, and pressed in the seal. There was very little effort needed to install the seal.

It is an Eagle crank

If this was yours, what steps would you take?

 

Eagle cast crank?

 

Forged

 

Eagle "forged" is …..ok. If the crank was out of round the motor would vibrate like a dog shiating razor blades

Your RMS tool is different than the KM one I have but it should press it in evenly. The KM tool you put RMS on it, bolt to crank, spin handle till it stops.

I would think that seal would leak live a sieve. There should be no gap of any kind. To me just seeing the pic it looks like you could slide a piece of paper between seal & crank....unless it is just the angle of the dangle

You sure the seal lip didn't roll under when you put it on?

If you oil or grease the inner lip and start the seal by hand than you would also want to turn it as you push it on.

Weird since the old seal didn't appear to have the gaps. You could bolt on FW and start it to see if this one leaks

If it were me I would buy another RMS. I would not button it all up with the way it is now unless after you ran just the motor the RMS was BONE dry

 

The engine did run smoothly, so I feel better about the crank. I'll buy another seal and see if I can find a tube tool the guarantee that the lip doesn't fold. Looking at the seal, I feel like I could get 2-3 sheets of paper in. I am also going to pay super close attention to the seal as it sits on the crank before using the tool to seal it to see if the gap is present as it freely sits on the crank. I think this will be a tomorrow adventure; I'll post back as soon as I know more.

Thanks!