Rear main seal

[MSL]

Ok i have been reading my books to refresh my memeory on installing the rear mail seal. well it says in the book to tighten the bearing cap to 10-12 then tap the crankshaft forward and backwars with a lead or brass hammer to align things i thought you only did that when you where replacing all main bearings and caps where all lose. so if anyone can chime on there knowledge of this let me know im doing the rear main seal soon and need to know.

[79BIG10]

http://www.73-87.com/garage/rearseal.htm

[MSL]

Thanks thats the samething it says in my repair manual.

but this part is whats got me stumped how do you tap the end of a crank thats in the engine bolted up to the tranny and what not. also what hammer do you use will a nice big rubber hammer work.

Install the rear main bearing cap (with new seal) and torque to 10-12 lb. ft.. Tap end of crankshaft first rearward then forward with a dead blow hammer. This will line up the thrust surfaces. Retorque bearing cap to 70 lb. ft..

[RockHQ]

You don't, or more correctly can't. I replaced the rear seal in my 381 2 weeks ago, and i punched little dots on the rear main cap and block. I then proceeded to torque the rear main cap to 13 Nm, (~10lbft) then took a soft rubber mallet and tapped the rear main cap softly back and forth to get the dots to align, and finally torqued the outer and inner bolts to 135 and 150 Nm. I don't have a torq wrench with lb. ft scale, only Kgm and Nm so i had to convert the values.

-Axle

[MSL]

Well i got my rear main seal as i am buying a few parts at a time to start my project just one of many. well anyways i got it and the thing is a fel pro and this thing is hard theres no flex now how do you get that to go in with the crank in i thought they flexed a little bit. also i didnt get a small punch with it to help install it. the part # is BS 11829 for the seal was this the one to get. Im taking it have to take one cap off and loosen the other cap next to it to free up some space to get this in. also could i just tap the crank with a rubber hammer i dont have a ledd hammer.
(edit)
well i just found out that the part number on the box has a 1 written on it meaning the parts store put a different seal in the box heres a link to the fel pro seals i have the blue on should i have the black one instead.

http://www.pickproparts.com/pictures...rtnum=BS11829%

[jimfulco]

Use a metal hammer with a piece of wood between it & the crank.

[MSL]

Trial and error i suppose. i didnt think about using a board.