Hi,

Changing my sons timing cover; notorious coolant leak at gskt. Changed timing gears and chain and putting a new front crank seal in the timing cover. The partsman sold him a speedi-sleeve for the balancer hub.

Problem is as follows: the sleeve has next to no shoulder on it for installing it. I remember from my HD Mech days the sleeves had a peelable shoulder that you removed after the sleeve was in place. This one does not have that.

I have considered freezing the Har. Bal. and warming the sleeve in a pot of oil and hoping it would drop on. I have my doubts though.

Does anyone recognize the issue I am describing and have any method for correctly installing these shoulderless sleeves? Should it have come with a driver?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Whoops, mis-spelled "installation" in thread title.

 

I never used one without the removable tab.
and those are a tight fit and need the installation tool, and or the warming of the sleeve as you described. is this one made by CR? or is it an off brand?

 

i won't be any help on how to install the sleeve, but -

the seal kit with the sleeve is available, but is usually not needed unless there is a bad wear groove on the balancer. sometimes the parts store guys push the one with the sleeve when you don't really need it. at about 125K miles, mine was fine with a standard front seal and no sleeve.

so, if you have no wear groove, i'd see about swapping the sleeve kit for the non-sleeve kit and simplifying matters.

 

Thanks for your input gentlemen. I believe the sleeve is an "off brand" and not even "connected" to the seal which is National brand. Veeten you are likely right about needing a tool as it seems like it will be a tight fit.

dhvaughan; I agree that the salesman probably upsold him. The hub is in reasonable shape, no substantial scoring. I will measure the depth of the original seal and press the replacement seal in an additional .050" and scrap the sleeve.

Is it your preference to put a skiff of oil on the seal lip and hub as you intall the dampener or do you leave the seal dry? Many years ago I assembled Detroit Diesels and remember some crank seals were specifically installed with a dry lip, otherwise they would leaks in short order.

 

I always put something on seals on a fresh install. Running it dry will burn it up in short order.

I think there is a lip the seal bottoms against as well, so putting it in deeper may not be an option. Just run some emery cloth on the sealing area of the balancer, and you should be good to go. My truck had around 170K on it when I did my timing gears and such, and the balancer wasn't scored at all.

 

Hello HeyYou,

While I haven't drifted the original seal out yet, close examination indicates you are correct that the seal bottoms against a tiny shoulder in the timing cover.

This gem I am working on has 290,000 k so I should be grateful it runs at all I guess. Life isn't easy for the young people these days so I try to help my children anyway I can.

I'll give the hub a spot polish with crocus cloth and lube the lip prior to install. Thanks to all!

 

be careful that the "seal that came with the sleeve" might have a slightly oversize Inside Diameter to accommodate the sleeve, and you might need a standard seal. National is a good (best) brand, stay with it. CHECK PART NUMBERS.

and as Hey said the timing cover has a stop point for driving the seal into.

i don't know if this is really necessary or not, but dodge calls for a special alignment tool when installing the timing cover, which centers the crank hole around the crank, and which assumes there is a little play in the timing cover bolt holes. not having many special tools beyond a big hammer, i put the timing cover up loose, and slipped the HB onto the crank as far as i could to act as the center tool. i don't remember if it went on far enough to make any difference or not, but i gave it a shot.

 

Dhvaughan,

I'm going to parts store this am to verify if the seal they provided with sleeve is oversize or not.

I've read about the cover alignment tool however I don't have it and will have to go without. It makes perfect sense though as the cover attach bolts are certianly not close tolerance and there is room for slop. As you know, sometimes you just have to work with what you've got.

I appreciate all the contributions. Decent people on this site to say the least.

 

Just to let you know, the job is complete and there are no issues. Changed timing set, waterpump, timing cover gskt, thermostat, coolant bypass hose, cab heater steel line. Not a leak and it runs well. Used stock HB hub seal and aligned it by installing dampener while timing cover was still loose.
Thanks to everyone who contributed.

 

good. i bet it runs better with a new timing chain.