Damaged crank seal (can I fix?)

Hi There,

I have noticed that the pervious owner had added a drain line to the left hand crank cover (over the distributer like thing). I have noticed that when I stop the bike the drain line usually drops about a dozen drops of oil on the grond so I know that it is probably just dumping the oil while I'm riding.

So I took things apart and found a what looks to be a damaged crank shaft seal. What I need to know is, can I replace this seal without spliting the engine?

Cheers.

 

Maybe. One of our members did it on a 550. That seal is originally trapped in place by a lip inside the case, but if you dig the old one out and substitute it with a non-lipped seal of the correct dimensions and get it fully seated it should work.

You can see the seal on the "crankshaft" page of the fiche.

 

I did do it. It wasn't pretty but I did it. I wound up damaging some of the crank case where it seals while trying to pry it out. I used some JB weld to smooth everything out again and it seemed to work. No leaks.

I contemplated on and easier way of doing. I though of maybe carefully drilling through the center of that seal then trying to stick something through to pull it out. That is really risky though. You only have about half an inch between the back of that seal and the crank shaft so if you go to far your going to start drilling into your crankshaft. you then have the issue of getting metal shavings into your oil. I'm guessing most people on here would shot don't do it and I'm not sure I would attempt it if I had to do it again.

Getting the seal back in can be a bit of a pain. Some silicon grease and a rubber mallet should work to get the new one in though.

 

Ok scratch that I think. I just took a look at those pictures and it is on the opposite side as my 650 and the seal looks different. Is there even a seal on in the 2nd picture?

 

IIRC, it was rpgoerlich who did it on a 550. Left side, the seal behind the ignition.

 

Thanks for the tips, I see that the seal goes for around $10 on bike bandit so I might just buy a stock seal then put it on a lathe to remove enough of the lip to allow it to be inserted (I guess I would slap on some JB weld or gasket maker to give it some extra hold also).

I might also just look into how much work it is to split the cases as I'm starting to think that it might not be that big of a job.

I still have alot of other things on the plate like new piston rings, replaceing several seals on the carbs, possible replacing the engine head and rebuilding the petcock. But since the bike actually runs fairly well I think I'm going to bump this fix to the top of the list since it really isn't acceptable to have my bike dumping oil out near the rear tire (I've relocated the drain hose to get it as far away from the path of the tire as possible, and so far I can't see any oil deposits on the tire).

Anyway thanks alot for the input.

 

At least that hose keeps the oil off the shifer Eh ! :lol:
Once I hooked the old seal and broke it, then it came right out. I replaced it with another seal from a local bearing supplier. Cost was right at $1.80. Number was right on the seal. You have to clean and butter up the case real good so it seals to it.

 

I have the same problem with a bike I just purchased. It is a very nice xj750 and don't want to stick a bunch of money into fixing it and don't want to part out such a nice bike. Could you elaborate on how you did it?