So I am doing the rear main seal (85 2.8 1 piece) and I noticed that there is a bit of a groove in the crank. I remember all the talk about the repair sleeve being needed to correct this on the front seal, is the same thing required here?? I did a lot of searching but nobody ever mentioned this problem?

thanks.

 

i don't think i've ever heard of one for the rear. i could be wrong though.

 

what do you do though, won't it leak??

 

i dunno, but you can take it to a machine shop that does electroplating and have them build it up and do a high speed nickel or cobalt finish on it. it would hardly ever wear then. we do it on high speed pump shafts here at work all the time. if you decide to go that route, have them do the final layer at .01" thick that way it won't come off like a piece of tin foil.

 

Well, taking the crank out is way more work than it's worth I think at this point. Thanks for the suggestion though

So no-one has ever had a groove left in the crank then?? This is an odd occurrence??

 

sounds like you got some seriously hard bearrings. the bearrings are designed to give out before the crank, due to the cost of replacing the crank opposed to the couple of dollar bearrings. even on large electric motors, the shafts are more expensive to make than the bearrings. i just made a shaft that was inexcess of 15,000$ that was just the material needed not to mention my time on there too. it took me about a week to make.


dean i know you are gonna make a comment about that and before you do, know your facts on inconel. you know 70/30 nickel copper with some aluminum added and some tin too. the stuff for a 12 ft long 6" dia piece costs almost 20,000$

it would prolly be cheaper to get a resurfaced crank and matching bearrings along with the main seals.

 

eddie jr, if you already have the new seal, check where the lip portion is relative to the old seal. Sometimes replacement seals will move the location in order for it to ride on a new surface.

If not I woudn't worry about it. There isn't much that can be done except to put the new seal in. Usually the old one leaks because it hardened and no longer seals to the crank.

RBob.

 

Your engine is now 20 years old
It's weak.
You are now band aiding the fact that it may be time for complete replacement of the engine.
While you are back there make sure you obtain the rear cam seal gasket too. That's major source of leakage, too.
Toss both items in & don't worry.
Start searching for a replacement long block.
It's worth more to score the correct upgrade engine (3.4 from 92-95 RWD Fbody) than to tear down that ol 2.8 for "any true work".
Gaskets are cheap upgrades on the current aged engine.