54 panhead belt drive needs mainshaft seal

[SeaHag]

I'm running a dry open primary belt drive on a '54 and it leaks oil out the main seal (ya I know they were designed to do so). I heard there may be ways to seal this up for belt drives. Is this the correct Colony part and the best way to do it?

Colony 7411-2

[RUBONE]

That seal is for a '55 up, not a '54. And NO, they were never intended to leak, and if the original sealing ring is good they do not!
Robbie

[Hog54]

Main seal on the tranny or the motor?

[SeaHag]

Sorry, forgot to mention this is for the engine left side sprocket shaft, not transmission. Oh, ok, I thought they were supposed to leak oil onto the front sprocket or something like that. "Oil slinger"? So mine is the press in kind then? And it's not supposed to leak a drop? So how do you get the old one out destroy it or gotta split the cases on get it out from the inside? Looks like the last person hit the ring around it with a punch right at the edge to deform the metal to keep it in.

[Cotten]

That seal is for a '55 up, not a '54. And NO, they were never intended to leak, and if the original sealing ring is good they do not!
Robbie

But Robbie!

The original "seal" was only a "slinger".
It was indeed intended to leak if the motorcases filled from sumping.
Machines with full seals block this escape, and can fill the cases completely, makeing for messy start-ups.

....Cotten

[RUBONE]

It was indeed intended to leak if the motorcases filled from sumping.

I would like to see documentation of that statement. I doubt that H-D ever intended any such thing, as they did not intend sumping either!

[caschnd1]

You need Colony part #7411-2.
To remove your old "slinger" you need to remove the retaining snap ring. Clean things up real well and get a bright light on your work and you should be able to see it. I use a instrument similar to a dental pic to pull the old seal out of the case.

The Colony kit will come with a new snap ring so don't worry about boogering up the old one.




Old seal removed. Ready to install the new seal. That's the bearing thrust washer you can see in this photo...



Place the new seal over the shaft. I use a large deep socket to gently drive the new seal into place...



Install the new snap ring being careful not to damage it.

[Cotten]

It was indeed intended to leak if the motorcases filled from sumping.

I would like to see documentation of that statement. I doubt that H-D ever intended any such thing, as they did not intend sumping either!

C'mon Robbie!

You know a slinger can't seal anything.
(Just a reverse-cut thread to toss the oil back, Folks.)
And its a good thing they don't.

As far as documentation:
Wondering what the MoCo knew or didn't know is folly.

Even a blind dog finds a bone occasionally!

....Cotten

[Pomike]

The hole in the case was out of round on my Shovelhead, and made a mess with the vented belt drive primary. So I put the chain back on, and forgot about it. Out of sight, out of mind, no problemo. Maybe it is the gods telling you to put the chain back on.............. Fixing that out of round hole in the case? Not with my wallet. Mike

[Hog54]

It depends which oil seal you have.I had an older colony one where they didnt make any room to get the snap ring out and I had to split the cases to get the seal out from the inside.The newer ones use a thinner snap ring and a thinner outside diameter seal so you can do it from the outside.


This is the seal that was in mine and theres noway you can get the clip out from the outside.

[SeaHag]

You need Colony part #7411-2.

Ya that's what I looked up and Amazon.com showed that picture of the threaded one in the first post.

[caschnd1]

The picture didn't match the part#. Kind of a gamble in that they might send you that threaded seal which won't work. Or they may have just been lazy and used a photo from the later seal. One way to be sure is to go to your local shop and have them order 7411-2 for you. That way you know you'll get the right part.

-Craig