Upper Bearing Seal clearance?

[tmasloske]

I have a 1968 18 HP Evinrude. I need to replace the upper bearing seal and have seen posts on here describing a drill and two sheet metal screw method of removing the seal.

If I drill into the upper seal, how much space is between the seal and bearing underneath? I'm assuming when you drive in the sheet metal screws, you only want them in about one turn or so.

 

[F_R]

Re: Upper Bearing Seal clearance?

Clearance? Not much. Possibly 1/8" as a wild guess. Go ahead and try the screws method. But it has never worked for me. You will then wind up digging the seal out in little pieces.

 

[tmasloske]

Re: Upper Bearing Seal clearance?

I'm going to call my local Evinrude repair shop to see if they have the special tool for removing the seal.

I don't see how you can avoid getting metal particles into the bearing if you drill through the seal.

 

[tmasloske]

Re: Upper Bearing Seal clearance?

I talked to my local Evinrude repair shop. The guy said he wouldn't take on the job of just replacing the upper bearing seal. He said if something goes wrong, he would end up eating the cost of doing the whole job.? I suppose he would rather charge all the labor for removing the starter, flywheel and magneto as well.

Well, I plan on doing this myself. I think step one will be to take a small section of a 2 by 4 and using a hole saw to make a wood piece to fit where the magneto plate would normally be. This way when I attempt to pry out the seal, I can use the wood block for leverage instead of using the engine block.