Replacing front crank shaft seal TB42

Hey guys I embarked on replacing the front crank shaft seal in my Auto TB42E over the weekend and it was a reasonable job. Following instructions from the other Patrol forum (an old thread from before I joined here) I was able to complete the task. There were a few discrepancies however with the instructions as I believe the instructions were for a manual, I have also added some additional ways to do things.

They were:

The harmonic balancer puller shown will not work for the Auto (well it did not on mine) as there were no bolt holes in the harmonic balancer to put the bolts through the arms of the puller. You will need the other variety of puller which is basically a big claw (the 150mm claw harmonic balancer puller you find at supercheap or autobarn will suffice provided you pull from behind the last ring on the balnacer as the AC condenser is in the way otherwise). It costs $50 from supercheap

When putting the seal in after you get it started with a hammer be sure to use a piece of flat timber to tap on to make sure the seal goes in straight and ends up perfectly flush with the housing.

To crack the crank shaft bolt was very difficult and I found the only really acceptable way (I was not game to crank the engine over to crack it) was to put the 27mm socket on the bolt attached to a breaker bar making sure the socket was on dead flush and belt the end of the socket with a hammer to shock the bolt off. I tried all other methods such as using an old belt twisted up with a screw driver and all the other mothods to stop the harmonic balancer turning but they all failed. The hammer method is defitly the way to go.

Another good idea if completing a job you have not attempted before is to have a box an a pen and jam the bolts into the box separated from the others and label them so that you do not lose and bolts and also so that you know what bolts go where.

I did take some pictures early on but they stopped once the light started to diminish. We finished at 6:30 on the Sunday night.

For anyone thinking of completing this job, it is a very do-able job for anyone, just allow yourself the weekend to complete the task. It took me around 8 hrs to complete plus trips back and forth to supercheap and autobarn as I encountered problems.

Anyways here is a link to this useful thread.

http://www.patrol4x4.com/forum/nissa...ne-seal-39902/

Thanks for that, I know what I'll be doing !

Cant comment on the auto harmonic balancer not having holes.
Mines a manual

Not having a shot, I'm not a mech, but I cringe especially hitting the crank any-which way.
Another way is a rattle gun.
I'm not to entirely sure about that either.
but personally rather sideways impact on a crank bolt , than frontal.
again I'm no mech may hurt bearings.
I'd like some experienced input her please, on hitting or leverage approach.

another way to undo bolt.
Manual box ,select 2 or 3rd gear.
Auto box, not sure
Manual box select 4wd High Range.
hand brake on.
chock all 4 wheels.
even a mate with foot on the brake peddle.

A breaker bar with a piece of pipe over it to help lengthen the bar.
leverage is you friend.
and undo.
you may need to have the front wheels up on some "long" blocks of wood to aid angle and room.
I say long as you don't want to walk the car off ramp and hurt yourself.
doubt you will walk off, but not my responsibility.
a lifted 4x4 should have enough room to play with.
again room to move is always welcome.
cheers.

8hrs geeze i did mine in 2 on my auto GU 4.5 with a 1/2" drive breaker bar & ratchet, a hammer, a 10mm ring open ended spanner, 1/4" drive ratchet, 1" extension, extended 10mm socket, 27mm socket 1/2" drive and 2 x tyre levers, 12mm and 14mm ratchet spanners and a 4 x 6 sleeper and a screw driver.

I left my rad in, took the fan off the water pump, removed the fan cowling, removed the belts, disconnected the coil so when i put the breaker bar on the crank bolt and wedged it on the drivers side and the sleeper on the head of the breaker bar it wouldn't come off when my mate cranked the motor. Then i pried the harmonic balancer off evenly with the 2 tyre leavers and exposed the seal, popped it off then fitted components in the reverse order.

@Robo.

I was giving warnie a hand when he did this, it wasnt so much hitting the crank, it was hitting the end of the breaker bar as we couldnt hold the harmonic balancer or engine lock it as the auto just kept spinning. we tried every way possible before except cranking the engine as neither of us were game to do that.

We didnt have access to a rattle gun, a mate had an electric joby but it didnt have the torque, plus it didnt really fit either. The hammer worked for us.

@Alitis

Neither of us had done this before, plus the instructions where a bit hit and miss in parts. A lot of time was spent working out how to crack the nut. Having done it now, im sure we could easily do it in less then half the time, but lets hope that we dont need to find out for a while. From memory the rad came out to give us the little bit of extra room as well as take the opportunity to give it a clean.

Cant you just buy shim sleeves you push on to take up the slack, so to speak Brother in law did that on his 302 converted LC

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lhurley

@Alitis

Neither of us had done this before, plus the instructions where a bit hit and miss in parts. A lot of time was spent working out how to crack the nut. Having done it now, im sure we could easily do it in less then half the time, but lets hope that we dont need to find out for a while. From memory the rad came out to give us the little bit of extra room as well as take the opportunity to give it a clean.

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Thats fair enough but another trick is to take the cover on the front of the bell housing to expose the ring gear and wedge that so the motor doesn't turn to crack the bolt OR if you want you can go and buy this tool that you put your socket on then BASH the top that cracks the nut aswell but bugger a couple of hundred for that!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by threedogs

Cant you just buy shim sleeves you push on to take up the slack, so to speak Brother in law did that on his 302 converted LC

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Thats a speedy sleeve mate, only if where the seal runs it has grooved it so bad that it won't seal

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Alitis007

Thats fair enough but another trick is to take the cover on the front of the bell housing to expose the ring gear and wedge that so the motor doesn't turn to crack the bolt OR if you want you can go and buy this tool that you put your socket on then BASH the top that cracks the nut aswell but bugger a couple of hundred for that!!

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We were just working with what we had, luckily it worked. cant say im keen to be doing it again soon, fortunately mine doesn't leak. Touch wood.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lhurley

We were just working with what we had, luckily it worked. cant say im keen to be doing it again soon, fortunately mine doesn't leak. Touch wood.

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Its not that hard mate, i did it after a massive break up party the night before so i was taking my time and it didn't take me that long. Simple rule of thumb is to remove as little as you can to do the job!!