Replacing front seal FL SP225

[BobH]

Anyone ever replaced the front seal on a FL SP225 or any of the SP series engines? I have the parts book but it's not real clear on how all the parts go together.

Thanks,

Bob

 

[River Cruiser]

I've not replaced any on your type engine but have done a lot on Cat, Detroit & IH. I normally used a tool made for the specific engine to set a new seal. Be careful not to mar the bore in the cover or the finish on the crank while removing the old seal. I used a slide hammer with a cone shaped screw bit to remove seals, drill 3 holes equally spaced around the seal then screw the bit into 1 and bump the slide hammer 2 or 3 times then move to the next hole and repeat. Keep doing this moving from hole to hole till the old seal is removed. Make sure the bore and and crank are clean and smooth. You can use a length of pipe a washer or plate with hole the crank bolt will go thru. Use this to press the new seal into place, if the harmonic balancer has a groove worn into it from the old seal you can change the depth that you push the seal so it'll seal on a new spot on it. Lube the lip of the new seal before installing harmonic balancer with EO. Getting the belts pulleys and harmonic balancer all off is the hardest part. You'll need a puller to remove the balancer, hopefully it is drilled and tapped to accept a puller, I broke one once using a 3 finger puller in the belt groove. Good luck, I hope this was of some help, doing it's easier than explaining how to.

 

[BobH]

Thanks for the reply. I've done that type of work on car engines. From some info from American Diesel, on the FL apparently the seal seals on the pulley, not the crankshaft. The pulley is held on by two cone shaped expansion rings which are compressed by four screws. American Diesel sent me a PDF showing how to release those expansion rings by tapping the hub with a mallet. After releasing the expansion rings the pulley should slide right off.

This is not a priority project right now. I'll report back when I get to it.

Bob