leaky seal in front

a good buddy of mine has a 93 toyota pick up with a 22re and 5 spd in it. his front seal leaks oil right behind the harmonic balancer. (some argue its name.haha.) anyways, back in the day his bars were a little to long and it pushed his drive line into the tranny. it has since been fixed but a mechanic told him it was the reason for the front seal to leak. i guess the reasoning behind it was that the driveline pushed the main drive forward into the pilot bearing which pushed against the crank which pushed on the front seal causing it to leak. now with all of that being said, i was thinking about this today and ive had one of those trannys apart i dont see anyway for the tranny drive to get pushed into the pilot bearing any further than it already is. there are cir-clips holding everything in place plus the bellhousing. if this was the case like the mechanic said, wouldnt he have wasted a lowerend by now? he's been driving it like this for some time only its gradually gotten worse. so we are wanting to get this fixed so it stops leaking oil. is it a hard seal to replace? other than pulling off the balancer is it as easy as popping the old one out and putting a new one in? what the mechanic said, could that really happen? i dont see how but im not the mechanic so i could be wrong.

sometimes, seals just go bad. tell that mechanic to bite one.

thats what i was thinking. haha...

so is replacing that seal a hard task? does it require any special tools or anything?

the engine has thrust bearings to keep the crank from excessively sliding back and forth! the driveshaft humping the tranny should have very little affect on the front seal! but, if its a 5 speed over a period of time pressing the clutch can wear those thrust bearings out allowing the crank to move excessively. i have never personally seen this happen but have heard about it! as far as changing it goes its pretty painless! best thing that i have found to pull the ever so popular "HARMONIC BALANCER" is a steering wheel puller. then just pull the seal out and tap the new one in!!!

holcombe347, replacing the front seal isn't that bad at all its just removing the crank shaft pulley bolt is a bitch. if u can't break it loose on the 1st try with the impact gun, try heating it up w/ a torch a lil then try it again. it should break loose this time.

Dude don't heat that bolt with a torch.

To get it off with an impact, if it doesn't come off right away, turn the impact onto tighten the bolt, and let it wrap on the bolt a few times, then turn it left. It will break it loose. Then just pull the seal out and push the new one in. Its just an average oil seal.

cool, thanks guys. just wasn't sure if there was some special tool or methos used to get out that seal... yeah Seth, i don't think heating the bolt is the best idea either. besides doesn't metal expand when it gets hot?