Reply To: QD16 Restoration

[Steve D]

Jeff, If you do end up seeing evidence of a bad seal on the underside of the armature plate and up onto the points and need to replace the seal, then no, you don’t have to crack the case to get at it. But as you probably know the carbon seals are very fragile, so you have to proceed with caution to avoid breaking it.

I’ve had the best success with a drop or 2 of 2 stroke oil in between the o-ring and crank to make things a little more slippery, then with 2 dental picks in the cutouts of the carbon seal, facing opposite directions, BEFORE starting to pull up, GENTLY start to use a back and forth twisting motion on the seal until it starts to free up and will rotate on the crank more easily. Then you could start to very GENTLY and slowly try to work your way up and out. I’ve broken a few being impatient and not using some lubricant first to free things up.