3B oil pan, front main seal replacement - tips pls?

[amaurer]

I need to tackle my oil pan and front main seal, tomorrow hopefully.

Any tips?

Sealant on the cork gasket or no? I don't want to use silicone only, as while I've had luck with it on the side cover, it took my 3 tries to get right.

How do you guys hold things still when removing the crank pulley bolt? Put it in fourth and chock the wheels?

How to pull off the crank pulley? Can I use a three-jaw puller or do I need a special thing?

How do I pull out the front seal?

[roscoFJ73]

Originally Posted by amaurer

How do you guys hold things still when removing the crank pulley bolt? Put it in fourth and chock the wheels?

Yes

How to pull off the crank pulley? Can I use a three-jaw puller or do I need a special thing?

Ive had good luck with the last three I have removed with them all coming off easily.
But a 3 jawed puller of adequate size works fine

[crushers]

if you use silicone on the cork gasket only do one side, i suggest the pan side, thin bead, set gasket in place and use 6 bolts through the pan to hold it in place (long thin screw drivers work just as well), leave for an hour. now install. "kiss" all the bolts to the pan to the block. once all are "kissed" then tighten 1 full turn and stop. that is done.
now i am talking a "kiss" as in the type you give your sister, not the type you give your girlfriend...

remove the lock bolt from the crank
install 3 jaw puller and remove the crank pully
remove old seal with screw driver, careful not to damage the crank
put white lithium grease on both the otter edge of the seal and the inner lip of the seal.
install with socket of proper size as drift.
carefull to go straight in, some oftermarket seals are a touch tight and can be a pain.

reverse above.

[amaurer]

Worked great! Crank bolt wasn't stuck, pulley slid right off (actually, I used a three jaw puller, but it didn't take any effort at all). Seal went it easily as well, you guys made this sound hard!

Got the pan off too, that wasn't stuck either. I beat the dent out of the sump; the pickup actually looked like it had been touching the pan. Now all I have to do is resolve the metal that turned up in the pan and I can celebrate :( http://forum.ih8mud.com/diesel-tech-...l-oil-pan.html

[lostmarbles]

I've never had my sump off yet. But since the bolts are clearly not "torgued to any significant level" - IMO Loctite (blue - light-duty) thread locker would be in order for them Drew.

[amaurer]

Originally Posted by lostmarbles

I've never had my sump off yet. But since the bolts are clearly not "torgued to any significant level" - IMO Loctite (blue - light-duty) thread locker would be in order for them Drew.

Well the FSM claims 13ft lbs, however I no longer trust either my ability to torque bolts with a soft surface underneath (like a cork gasket), so I went with crusher's snug-and-then-one-more-turn method.

Trying to torque my valve cover nuts to 8ft lbs with the thick rubber oring underneath is what cracked it.

All of the lock washers down there are permanently compressed as well, so they'll need to be replaced too. I'll resolve my metal in the pan issue before loctiting, however.

[Joe Egolf]

Hey Drew, Did you fix the cracked cover or get a new one? Good luck with the metal in pan thing?? Scary /bothersome.One approach might be if all seems well,change oil and filter,and just drive on???

[crushers]

huh??
what lock washers are you talking?
do NOT use normal lock washers on the oil pan bolts (if i am reading this right). the gasket will compress easier than the lock washers...

Originally Posted by amaurer

All of the lock washers down there are permanently compressed as well, so they'll need to be replaced too.

[amaurer]

Originally Posted by crushers

huh??
what lock washers are you talking?
do NOT use normal lock washers on the oil pan bolts (if i am reading this right). the gasket will compress easier than the lock washers...

I coulda sworn all of the oil pan bolts had lock washers on them, but they were crushed flat by age.

I guess I could have been wrong, maybe they were just flat washers, heh!