rear main seal (1 Viewer)

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zuluzeugma

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ummm.. yeah.. my 85 fj60 is going to need a new rear main seal sooner or later. My mechanic tole me he would do it for $500. I'm not completly mechanicly dumb and with time i could do it myself, cept thats my daily driver and i would need it monday morning if i started friday night. thus...
question #1: How much hell is it to do it one's self?
question #2: Is 500 a little high for the job?
question #3: how much would have to come off to replace it?

I think i'm leaking around 1/2Q a week, but then again... I drive about 800-1000 miles a week. So i guess its not leaking THAT bad. well whatever.. any advice would be great.
 
It is a bit of a job because you have to remove the tranny, clutch and flywheel to replace the seal. You need to make sure that the seal is the source of the leak because there are other things like the cam gallery plug, other oil passage plugs and the oil pan gasket that commonly leak from the rear of the engine too. To replace the cam plug you need to remove the bellhousing too. $500 is not out of line, but it may be best to wait until you need to have the tranny and clutch out for some other reason.
 
You say your leaking 1-2 quarts a week? ??? That must be one heck of a clutch! Just my sorta-mechanical mind, tells me your clutch would be slipping alot. Did the $500. include clutch, preasure plate? If your in there do it all :D
 
For a 1-piece seal, remove shift levers, floor pan (transmission hump), drivelines, transfer case, transmission, clutch, flywheel. Replace seal. Re-install the heavy stuff.

You can probably get everything out in a long Friday evening. (Some guys can do the whole job in a couple of hours.) You probably should replace the clutch while you're there. There's nothing very technical. Just a bunch of crawling around on your back and jossling heavy stuff. You can manipulate the transfer case by muscle from underneath and you can suspend the transmission from a come-along and a 4x4 through the windows or across the roll cage.

You would have all day Saturday to get it back together and all day Sunday to find a really good friend to come over and fix your screwups! (kidding!) You can align the clutch disc by eye or use a wooden dowl. Either way, it has to be aligned for the tranny to slip back in.

A 2-piece seal is easier. Remove pan, loosen crankshaft, replace seal, re-torque crank (with a torque wrench), replace pan. I suppose since the mechanic wants $500 he thinks you have a 1-piece seal. I don't know. Someone here does, though.
 
hey,

yeah 500 sounds about right. i was talking to a guy up here who runs a landcruiser shop and he said he would charge ~560 for it. the seal is only at most 50, but there is a lot of work involved (i guess 450-500 worth).

i looked at doing the same thing, although mine isn't leaking as bad, but decided to wait a while til it's time for a new clutch so i can get it all at once.

jonathan
 
I didn't figure that a 1/2 (.5) quart leak every 1000 miles was that bad. My clutch seems to be fine right now, so maybe i should just keep putting oil in it until it really goes bad... and then change them both.. maybe at that time I'll have my VW bug running so I wont feel mad stressed to finish it real fast. iduno.. whatever.
 
All cruisers run 1 piece main seals...some chevy v8's run two piece, later ones don't. He's talking about an fj60, so an engine hoist over the tranny tunnel isn't quite the same thing as an fj40, a transmission jack is better with wagons. It's a long job, but not hard. Wait til your clutch starts to slip, and then order a new one from carolina clutch, but get a toyota pilot bearing...It could be the reaar of the pan too though, so pull the clutch inspection cover and have a good look...
 

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