I'm in the process of replacing the front crankshaft seal and timing case gasket. Last night while cleaning off the crankshaft, I felt this rough spot on it. Its about 3-4mm long and maybe 0.5mm deep, so not that big, but I can notice it when I run my finger over it. I looked at the owners previous records and noticed that a front crankshaft seal was put on at 100k and 130k, and now I putting another one in at 165k. Does anyone think this nick could be causing the problem and if so how best to take care of it, fill it with JB Weld and sand it down perhaps? It was hard to get a good picture of it, but they are below:

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click for bigger picture

 

My redneck rule of thumb for machined surfaces that accept a seal is if you can feel it with your fingernail, it's gonna cause trouble. I've heard there's a speedie sleeve available, but I'm not sure who from. That'd square you away, I think.

 

I just got off the phone with the Cummins shop, apparently they make a wear sleeve that can fit over the end of the crankshaft. Has anyone installed a wear sleeve before and can tell me if its easy or difficult to intstall?

 

I watched them put a speedy sleeve on my truck.. Didn't look too dificult.

 

I would do the JB weld. JB weld will work wonders when properly used.

 

Sand it down with some fine 320 or 400 grit emery cloth, until you can no longer feel any raised edges. Then when you put in the new seal, note that there is quite a wide tolerance for depth. Drive the seal in slightly deeper, or less deep, than the old seal was, and you can usually avoid a worn or damaged spot.

In the event that you cant avoid the spot, a wear sleeve is not hard to install, but you only get one shot at it.

 

thanks guys, one thing I didn't mention is that I can feel a slight groove worn on the crank, it can kind of be seen in the picture. When I called Cummins about the resleeve kit, they said it comes with a wider ID seal to accept the sleeve. The problem is I already pressed in a regular seal into my timing cover, and the kit is about $70. So rather than press out the seal I have in there, and pay again for a kit, I think I'll try to smooth out the crankshaft with JB weld and go from there. Will JB Weld stick to a machined surface like that?

 

Tough call on what to do. What does Cummins want for the sleeve kit? I'm guessing the $70 you already spent was mostly for the timing case gasket, not the crank seal, so you wouldn't be throwing much away, if that was the case...A speedy sleeve is fast and simple, and apparently a Cummins approved fix JB weld has its place, and those places are many....personally, I would use JB only as a last resort in this case. JMO

 

A speedy sleeve is easy, if you value the time it takes you to get the cover off again that's the route I would take.
You might be able to sell your unused crank seal as you will never be able to use that size again after the speedy sleeve.

 

the timing case cover gasket was $20 and the seal was about $20 as well. I had Cummins press the seal into the cover for me since I ruined one trying to drive it myself. I decided to just put the cover on without sleeving the crankshaft. I just wanted to get the truck back running again this weekend, and it really wasn't a big deal to pull the fan and timing cover off, so if it starts spewing oil out of the crankshaft again in another 20k miles, then I'll put the sleeve on.

BTW, ***for anyone who is a second owner of a 12valve with a jigged KDP***, when I checked the inner bolts on the holding on the timing case (I think there were 5) they were all so loose I could pull them out by hand. So, if yours was jigged from the outside, probably a good idea to get in there and tighten them all up.