Rotor seal change

[MrB]

Help please. Commander engine oil seal to the primary chaincase lets by contaminating the clutch plates. I have a new one.Clutch and drive sprocket are off. I have removed the hexagon head bolts under the drive sprocket. The two countersunk bolts holding the oil feed pipe are solid, I expect to have to drill the heads off. Once done, how is the housing withdrawn to get to the oil seal? I was expecting to see something like two of the bolt holes tapped to engage a puller but it appears not.Help appreciated.Johnny

[gripper]

If it's anything like my IP2, and apart from the oil feed I think it will be, The oil seal housing (and lateral location bearing) is only a light press fit in the RH stationary gear housing though it will probably have a thin layer of sealant and an o ring beneath the flange. you might try a thin screwdriver to prise the housing free. (You just know you're going to slip and stab yourself though). The oil seal is inboard of the lateral bearing and that bearing is lubricated by the primary chain case oil. Is it definately leaking rotella (or whatever you use)? or does it just appear to be leaking. There will be oil in the vicinity of that housing but it could be just chaincase oil. If the feed bolt goes through to the stationary gear that will have to come off before anything will move.Dave Evans

[MrB]

Thanks Dave. It is definitely leaking. I was running on Rotella and the chaincase oil would become blackened after about 1,000 miles. It isn't the clutch hub rubbers as I recently changed those and had cleaned absolutely everything in the chaincase enclosure. I figured the only thing left was engine oil leaking past the seal. (I was also getting oil appear around the onside of the engine alternator cover suggesting the other seal if failing).After I changed to Silkolene the onside leak more or less stopped and the chain case oil no longer got dirty but the clutch became draggy. Pulling the clutch apart revealed sticky oil on the plates which left a distinct orange colour on the rags when washing it off. My guess is that Silkolene is more sticky than Rotella and so isn't leaking as much but that which does leak is causing stickiness between the plates.Johnny

[MrB]

To date I drilled the oil feed bolt heads off which allowed them to turn out with pliers and removed the plate. Big question - which way round is the seal supposed to be? I assume it would be to prevent engine oil entering the chaincase and thus have the sprung side towards the engine, writing side towards the chaincase. My existing seal is fitted with the writing side to the engine and the sealing side to the chaincase. If the engine is higher pressure than the chaincase engine oil can push past the seal.Anyone know?Johnny

[gripper]

The IP2 workshop manual states that the seal should be with the spring side towards the engine, ie opposite to what you have. It needs to be Viton seal to cope with the heat. Worth pricing this item up at your local bearing stockist, NML are quite dear for these bits and the bearing stockist won't have had them sitting on their shelf for years.

[MrB]

That's what I thought Gripper until I read it a couple of times. For the RHS it says the seal garter should be towards the axial bearing, not the main bearing. I assume the gas pressure on the main bearing side of the seal must be lower than the atmospheric pressure in the chaincase side and the oil seal stops air leakage into the motor rather than the other way round. If correct I still wonder where the engine oil is coming from because I'm sure it isn't leaking from the oil feed pipe connections or from the oil seal housing joint.

[gripper]

My mistake, the seal should be as yours came out according to the manual.Dave E

[Interpol2471]

Let me know the seal part numbers you need as I have hundreds of IP2 engine oil seals.

[MrB]

Thanks for the offer but I already have the seals from Graham.Johnny

[site admin]

http://www.grahamwilshaw.co.uk/thumbnai ... um=9Graham..

[MrB]

Brilliant - many thanks Graham.Johnny