Trailered home a 1989 F350 dump truck that looks great on the outside, but the 7.3 IDI is something else

Nero

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I'll let someone else chime in, I'll be honest I dont know. The last seal I installed was on my old mans engine when I resealed it a little over a year ago, and I dont remember the seal sticking so far out.
 

crazydane

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Ended up pulling the rear plate back off and took a look at the seal. Towards engine:

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Towards flywheel:

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I don't really see a way to fold that outer lip towards the engine. Here's the crank relative to the block. Looks spot on to me:

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I'll need to order a new rear gasket and seal now and I'm thinking I might as well go ahead and order a "normal" rear seal with a single lip that doesn't have to be installed dry. That will also allow me to install this sleeve that Fel-Pro does not recommend with their seal.

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Any recommendations on what to get:

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Figured I only want to do this once and do it right!

Thanks!
 
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crazydane

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There was a concern that the outer lip should not protrude past the rear face of the crank and/or that it should face the engine. So I removed the rear plate that I had just installed a few days ago, which destroyed the gasket (expected). I inspected the seal and came to the same conclusion you did, that the outer lip should indeed face the flywheel. The PTFE seal was part of my overall Fel-Pro gasket kit. I was not aware that it was a dry seal and Fel-Pro did not recommend using a sleeve with it, so I didn't attempt to use the Speedi-Sleeve picture above during the initial install.

Now that the rear cover is off again, I'll press out the PTFE seal, purchase a new seal and gasket, and try again, this time using a regular seal so that I can use the sleeve I already purchased since the crank has a groove in it. Just place order for Mahle/Clevite JV547 for round two since it does not require the seal to be installed counter sunk into the rear plate, being that it only has a single lip. Also pick up a pair of Westar motor mounts since the original ones looked tired and figured now would be the time to do it.

CDR valve (CDR for short). Crankcase Depression Relief valve.
It's been a LONG time since I've installed one of these, but I'm pretty sure that the outer lip faces the flywheel.

Ok thanks. Yeah, wasn't sure what that device was. @Nero provided a link to what I need to re-install it.

Hopefully this new rear seal will give me less trouble. In hindsight, my original plan to just knock in the seal a little bit further to get it all the way onto the crank would have probably worked, but figured redoing it complete will ensure a leak free job (I hope!).
 

Old Goat

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Here is a rear Main seal thread, I posted some stuff in there when I was doing mine.



I pressed my seal with the plate off the engine, and used my 20 ton press. I did buy the Rotunda tool to press it in off e-bay. It set the seal at the right depth.

I think in the first thread I mentioned making a set up with a 12 x 12" piece of hard wood a inch think. then cut 3 little blocks of wood about 2" long x 1" x 1 " pr so. Placed them at 12, 4 and 8 o`clock positions. then set the plate on it, and set the seal in the hole and pressed it in with the Rotunda tool.

I had trouble getting the seal onto the Crank. Then after watching "Hacked89" YT Vid, made it easy. (He has since taken down the Vid)
I started at the bottom, tipped the plate so I was kind of shoving it into the Pan hole. Then slowly rotated the Plate up and working the seal with my fingers, and it just popped into place.

Make sure you clean the corners where the pan and plate come together, and across the bottom so you do not have a leak.


Goat
 

crazydane

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Nero

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I just used a large socket and a press and eyealled it.... Still ain't leaking years later.
 

Old Goat

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Thanks for the links to those threads @Old Goat !

On the tool, I see a lot out there on eBay, some costing over $300! But it looks those expensive ones are if you don't have a press.

Is this the one I need (if I have a press already)?


Thanks!


That is the one for the rear seal for the 6.9/7.3.
That is the best price I have seen in a while, and free shipping.
Think I paid $38 or something like that. Not something we use everyday, but puts it in the plate at the right level.
I would rather have a tool I may not use very often, but better than trying to scrounge around to micky mouse something together, and spend 1/2 a day.

That wood press board I mentioned, it is mentioned on one of the Ford shop manuals, but you have to make it.
There is 2 after market shop manuals on E-Bay, one for the 6.9 and one for the 7.3. can get them in paper of a CD format.
I bought both, the 7.3 is thicker and goes into more depth on building the engine. Section 6 page 10 shows the Rear Main R&R,
and the block press board.
This is the best price for the 7.3 manual I have seen when looking for Ford manuals. I have seen this same one go for over $60.


If you scroll down below the end of each thread, there is 4 or 5 related threads to the one you are reading.
Go up to the links I posed above and click on one, then there will be more to read and it goes on for ever...LOL


Goat
 
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crazydane

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@Nero Yeah, I just eyeballed it the first time around as well and it looks spot on. I think it would have been just fine had I just pressed it a few mm past being flushed with the front of the plate. Once I get the new seal, if nothing protrudes past the rear facing seal housing, I should be able to install that one flush and be good. That said, I did go ahead and order the installer I linked since it seems like a good deal and confirmed by @Old Goat You can never have too many tools! Last week I ordered a 5/8" flank drive flare nut socket (Snap-On FRX201) for dealing with the fuel lines when the time comes. Was the cheapest option I could find.

@Old Goat Thanks for the link to the manual. Ordered that as well. Lots of great info in the tech section here, but like to get service manuals for things I own and work on.
 

crazydane

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While I wait for the rear seal, rear plate gasket and install tool to arrive, I spent some time cleaning up parts:

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I'm thinking I'll NOT repaint the intake manifold as I think the bare aluminum looks really nice. Perhaps I should clear coat it if I got that route?

I noticed there's a stainless ball in the upper radiator fitting:

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I'm assuming its there to allow some coolant flow until the thermostat opens up?

Inside of water pump:

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I did find a couple of burrs, so I got those filed down. Thanks for the tip to check for that!

Also disassembled the old fuel filter/separator brackets (from both engines):

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Both showed signs of attempts at sealing the fuel heater. I'm thinking I'll just bypass it when putting it back together. Also, one had a ball and spring, presumably to maintain constant fuel pressure, and the other one didn't. I'll be using a Holley Red fuel pump. Should I keep the ball and spring, or plug that hole?

My OEM Non Turbo CHR Seal Kit order came with a core value buyback sheet from Classic Diesel Designs. I actually have the following I could return for store credit:

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One of my IP's is definitely a DB2831, but I'm not sure about the other one. The label indicates its a DB2-5013. It appears to be a legit 7.3 IP.

I'm thinking of getting one of their rebuild IPs. They have a 5 year warranty and unlimited miles. A bit pricey @ $999, but if I can get store credit for more than that, its basically free. Anyone have experience with the Classic Diesel Design IPs? They are a little more expensive that Moose, which charge $879 for a stock rebuild IP.

CDD has a 8-10 week lead time on IPs which kind of sucks. Not sure about Moose.
 

crazydane

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The new rear seal and install tool showed up, so I had another go at installing the rear plate and seal.

Tool made it super easy to press in the new seal to the correct depth:

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Also installed the sleeve on the crank:

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And done:

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Painted oil pan and valve covers:

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Oil pan done:

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crazydane

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Oil cooler tube cleaned up and new o-rings came in: (the old ones looked surprisingly good)

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I got the tube painted. I plan to polish the ends and leave them like that, just like the intake manifold.

As I had some time to kill between paint coats, I removed the heater core:

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It appears to be in excellent shape, so I'll just flush it out and re-use.

Pretty sure all the insulation is not supposed to be in this cavity:

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So I'll get all that cleaned out. Also pulled the blower motor/cage/AC box and found more rodent mess:

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So I'm glad I pulled those pieces off so that I can get that mess cleaned up.

Do they still make this whole assembly? Mine is cracked pretty bad.

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Thanks
 

crazydane

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Forgot to mentioned that I called Classic Diesel Design early last week and spoke to Joe. I shipped him both of my IPs after he confirmed they were both good cores. Also shipped him my 2 spare oil coolers. Just those items cost me $100 to ship using USPS (did the click-n ship on their website), so I decided against sending him my spare manifold, valve covers and cam (which turned out was pitted anyway). But those 4 items should give me a decent credit towards a rebuild IP.

Hopefully the engine will be back in the truck by the time the new IP shows up.
 

crazydane

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Got the oil cooler back together:

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Had to use a shim as it didn't want to go back on straight otherwise.

Painted that one side of the engine and then installed the oil cooler:

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Rotated the engine and installed the heads and valve train:

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And finally, the valve covers:

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I had planned on re-using my old valley pan gasket, but I discovered it was cracked in one of the corners. Checked the other one I had, it and was cracked too.

Looks like none of the usual places have one in stock (Napa, Advance, Amazon, etc).

CDD does have them in stock, but $120 plus $25 shipping, ugh... I'll call around tomorrow to see if I can get one for less than $145 delivered...
 

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