Rear crank shaft seal 8ba

51secondchance

51secondchance

Junior Member
Hello all as you can probably see I'm a junior member which equates to me not having a whole lot of experience on flat heads , so please bear with me if this is old hat or a rehash of old stuff I am currently in the process of putting together a spare motor that came with my 51 f1 when I bought it 2 years ago I'm going slow and trying not to make stupid mistakes I have taken it down to the point that all that's still in the block is the Pistons crank cam and valves and oil pump the reason I haven't gone any further with it is the gentleman that sold me the truck said that the motor was running really good and had recently had a valve job done on it prior to pulling it out of the wrecked truck it was in 20 years ago, it's been in heated storage since then,I have no reason to doubt this cause he also has about 13 classics sitting in the upstairs of his garage that he restored ,my question is this is there a tricky maneuver in getting the rear upper rope seal into the half moon adapter with out pulling the crank I pulled it out once and put in a new rope seal and rolled the whole assembly in but the end of seal was sticking out to much and I didn't want to try and cut it with a razor for fear of scoring the crank, I have a tendency to shoot first then ask questions but seeing as how I'm trying to become enlightened I'm asking first, kinda , thoughts or advice all welcome even reprimands thanks. Alec
 
You should be able to force in an appropriate thickness feeler gage between the crank and seal to protect the crank from scoring.
 
Do not cut the rope seal. Get it all in the retainer. It will fit. If you cut it after things settle in you will have a gap between the two halfs and a oil leak.

Ray
 
I don't know what kind of seals you are using, but every one I've put together needed to have the seals trimmed.
 
Yes, all the ropes I have seen are extra length and must be trimmed. I stuff the seal holder full and cut-trim the ends leaving them about 1/16" proud at each end.
 
There is no reason to trim. Use a square shaped punch the same size as the end of retainer. Keep tapping it in and rolling the seal down in the grove with a large pin about 1 1/2 in diameter. It will all go in there.
 
I really don't think that that is a good idea. The seal is going to be a lot denser at each end as compared to the middle.
 
Havent seen any Flathead rear main rope seals needing to be cut. I use the felpro sets. Never cut the fronts also.

Harry
 
I believe some of the gasket kits include a measuring pattern and a razor knife to cut the rope with a small amount protruding that will get crushed when the two halves come together. Might have been BEST gasket co.
 
billfish said:
I believe some of the gasket kits include a measuring pattern and a razor knife to cut the rope with a small amount protruding that will get crushed when the two halves come together. Might have been BEST gasket co.
Click to expand...

Alec, this is what I'd do, as Billfish says the best rear seal is from the Best Co. Evidently you have got the engine up side down, install a stud in rear of the crank, hook a chain on the stud and around the front snout of the crank, loosen the bolts on the middle and front main cap about 1/4in. with a chain fall or come along, lift the crank about 1/4in. install the upper seal, drop the crank back down, tighten the middle and front main cap down, you can tap the flywheel flange of the crank to seat the seal, use the razor knife and the pattern and trim the seal, the seal stick up just a little, do the same thing with the seal in the cap. Smear some lube on the seals. You can do this quicker than I typed it. Walt
 
Thank you all I took a little break but I'm back thanks for all the tips. The seal kit I had had the razor and the seal was long and it definitely needed trimming like the instructions said
 
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