Parsimonious Seal Puller

Look around here for some great advice on getting the most out of your tools! Tips and tricks!
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ARCHINSTL
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Parsimonious Seal Puller

Post by ARCHINSTL »

Post stolen directly from the Miata Club's Tool Talk Forum (from whence ours sprang):__________

50 cent sealer puller.
OK boys and girls, today I'm going to show you the best sealer puller that 50 cents, or possibly any amount of money can buy. Some of you may already own this puller. This can save you from damaging your crankshaft or camshaft during seal removal. The other item you need along with the seal puller is a strip of plastic cut from a piece of packaging like the one shown here. Cut a strip about one inch wide and about two inches long. Insert the strip in-between the crankshaft and the old seal, and push it back as far as you can. Usually only about a quarter-inch to a half-inch is enough. Then, insert the seal removal tool by slipping it between the plastic strip, and the seal, and lower the tool so it's parallel with the crankshaft snout, and the hook end is up inside the seal. You can usually pull the tool and seal straight out by hand, or if necessary, put a pry bar into the loop end and then pry it out. You will never damage anything or leave any nicks or marks on the parts using these tools. If you're too lazy or too cheap to pick one of these up at Lowes or a paint store, then you probably shouldn't be working with tools anyway.
When finished, you can use the other end of the tool to open...., well, you get the idea.__________

Pretty cool idea! In the Army, we would have called it "field expediency."
Tom M.
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Parsimonious Puller.jpg
Parsimonious Puller.jpg (3.13 KiB) Viewed 10640 times
T4WD augury?
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marlinh
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Re: Parsimonious Seal Puller

Post by marlinh »

Cool idea. I can't open the attachment to make it bigger, but I can make out what it is.
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ARCHINSTL
Goldie Forever
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Re: Parsimonious Seal Puller

Post by ARCHINSTL »

marlinh wrote:Cool idea. I can't open the attachment to make it bigger, but I can make out what it is.
Yeah - it came right from the Miata site. I tried to enlarge it, but it just came out a bunch of blurry pixels.
For those who have probs - it is a typical metal paint can opener key (with bottle opener) and the thin plastic found in blister packs.
Tom M.
T4WD augury?
"Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?' Let us go and make our visit."
T.S. Eliot - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
"Now and then we had a hope that, if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates."
Mark Twain
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Petros
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Re: Parsimonious Seal Puller

Post by Petros »

a lot of paint stores give those away, they are for prying off the metal lids on the one gallon paint cans. I find them in "free" boxes at garage sales/estate sales all the time.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
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ARCHINSTL
Goldie Forever
Posts: 6369
Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2005 1:52 pm
My tercel:: Goldie is a 1986 SR5 attualmente con Weber/also owned the first T4WD in STL in late '82
Location: Kirkwood, a 'burb of St. Louis

Re: Parsimonious Seal Puller

Post by ARCHINSTL »

OK - this worked GREAT!
I used it today to remove the front crank seal.
I planned for a second photo, showing the seal partially out, but when I gave it just a slight tug, the seal popped right out!
You insert the tool at a 90º angle and deep enough to hook under the seal and then rotate it as shown in the photo and tug - that's it!
Attachments
002.JPG
T4WD augury?
"Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?' Let us go and make our visit."
T.S. Eliot - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
"Now and then we had a hope that, if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates."
Mark Twain
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Jonymoto
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Re: Parsimonious Seal Puller

Post by Jonymoto »

Thanks ARCHINSTL, I've got to replace the small seal where the 4wd gear lever connects to the lhs of the gearbox this weekend. I will use the paint tin opener idea to get the seal out. I don't think there's room there to drill a hole in the seal in order to pull it with a self tapping screw. Also, I think I may have to reduce the width of the blade as the seal is small (16mm dia from memory).
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