Rimcrew

I recently purchased a 2006 Mega with 162k miles that had a bad oil leak from the lower front of the engin. The pan bolts were tight so I figured it was the front oil seal.

After tearing everything off, I found this on the crank:



The front groove is five thou deep. The rear mark is more of a polished area that feels rough as I slide my nail over it, but does not feel indented, and my mic does not pick up any change in diameter in that area.

I hope this is not too my of a noob question, but do I need to dress the crank in any way before installing the new seal? How about needing a speedi-sleeve?

I believe the actual sealing surface is the rear area, and the dust shield is the front groove area, so I should be ok - but wanted to check with someone who actually knows vs. me "thinking"...

Thanks!

rockcrawler304

Welcome to DTR!! EDIT Just noticed you are not new here! But it is your first post

I am not the person who definitely knows but I would put a sleeve on it if they are available. Cheap insurance. And don't forget to put a thin layer of oil so you don't tear the new seal

I had a similar size groove on a V8 gas engine years ago and just replaced the seal and the following weekend was doing the job again with a sleeve because the leak was still there!!

Mr Jerry

If it was my truck and I was installing a new seal I probably would seat the seal all the way in the housing as far as it would go this time, and that only depends on how the seal feels as your putting it in the housing.

Spooler

Don't seat the seal all the way back, it will hit on the crank gear keyway. Clean it up with emory cloth and seat the seal just a little farther back. Do not lube the crank while installing, follow the directions, it should be clean and dry.
Have fun with the seal, they are great fun to put in.

Teich

If you go to a Cummins dealer you can buy a sleave and a oversize seal then fixed right for a long time Laurie

Rimcrew

Thanks for the welcome , and all the advice.

I have the new seal in the cover and will be installing it soon. It was a bit of fun getting the seal to seal correctly in the cover, I'm hoping it goes on the crank more easily...

Appreciate the tip on the sleeve. Since I now know what I am doing, I am going to try the regular seal, and if it still leaks I will get the sleeve/oversized seal. This is not a bad job really, but cleaning years of grease off the parts I removed took a bunch of time. Should I have to do it again, it will go much quicker.

I'll report back when it is together, and hopefully not leaking!

TedT

I would do as Spooler said. When you use the emory cloth use it radially. Emory cloth step is important because too smooth a surface won't hold oil and will quickly burn up the seal.

Rimcrew

Well.... It's back together and seems to not be leaking from the cover or the seal. The timing gear housing is; however, another story. It is leaking like crazy. The engine was so greasy before that I couldn't tell for sure where the leak path was, but I can sure tell now.

The front seal was leaking, as was the cover, so at least I know that problem is/was fixed. Now I have to decide if it's easier to pull the engine and put a new oil pan gasket on when I replace the gear housing seal, or try to do it in the truck. Also, I don't relish the thought of removing all that new RTV on the cover, so I may just buy a new one.

Looks like it may also be time for a Hamilton camshaft...

C Schomer

I used to buy the Chevy "Power" books and they had a lot of tech tip in them. Cut strips of 600 grit wet-or-dry sand paper and wrap around the crank. Then take a piece of rubber electric cord and wrap it around the paper one or two turn and pull on the ends of the cord to spin the paper. I've polished several cranks that way and it looked like a pro job. Craig