Guess who's finally getting around to doing this? Have the oil pan off, working on getting the seal out of the block.
Surprise #1 was it has been repalced in the past... With the rubber fel-pro. But, they did not offset the ends. That, plus it's definitely worn so I'm glad I'm doing so.
I did loosen a couple of the main bearing caps in order to relieve pressure / tension on the rear seal... And I do have what may be an obvious question about that: Should I use a thread locker (red? blue? some other product?) when I torque these? If so, is it adequate to do something like:
* remove bolt
* couple shots of brake cleaner to remove oil
* apply locking compound to bolt and tighten
Going to hopefully complete this afternoon after work. Thanks in advance for the help!
I'll list all of the places where the factory used thread locker on a Bronco:
0. none.
Now I'll list all of the places where you need thread locker on a Bronco:
1. Dana 44 front ring gear bolts (if you don't have the correct serrated undercut bolts.)
Now I'll list all of the places where you need thread sealant on a Bronco:
1. Flywheel bolts.
2. Cheap fuel tank sender screws.
3. Cylinder head bolts.
4. Driveshaft yoke nuts.
No thread sealant, loctite, goop, silicone, adhesive, or anything else on Main cap bolts. An alloy steel bolt threaded into a cast iron hole just needs to be clean, and lubricated with oil.
It is better to just re-install the bolt, or don't even take it all the way out. If you do clean it with brake cleaner, it needs two drops of oil. One on the threads, and one under the bolt head.
Pretty sure that covers it.
Oh, and yes to offsetting the rear lip seal.
No to the sneaky pete. I've had better luck with the japanese finger...
Need to see how the last guy "fixed" the anti-rotation rope seal pin. Can't see it under the lip seal.
And the anti-rotation pin is tricky. It's really easy to make more problems than you fix. If you insist on grinding the pin flush, then don't do it while it's in the cap. The best way to grind the pin is to push it out, shorten it, and re-install it. If you are super careful, you can push it IN, and grind it with a die grinder, and then push it back. But if you try to grind it flush while it's in the cap...it's way too easy to nick the seal bore with your grinding tool, and then it will never seal. At that point, you are better off driving out the pin, and filling the hole with RTV.
Hopefully your last re-builder did it right. You will know just as soon as you pull that old seal.
Since you are already there, go ahead and pull that bearing and read the back. It's always nice to know how thin your crank is. You need to clean that main cap and you don't want the insert in it while you are cleaning it.
