Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of front crank seals...success, finally

[Jonathan Monetti]

After beating my head against the wall repeatedly trying to get the front
crank seal out, I finally got there, and Rube Goldberg would be proud.

First of all, many thanks for the suggestions & empathy I got on this
disobedient little risserfrasser.  This was harder than pulling Angelina
Jolie off Billy Bob Thornton.

I went through a homemade, threaded puller thingamajig (laughable), the
drywall screw method (surely they jest), Dremeling in for more grab (aborted
when I realized what I could be doing to the journal), a mini, hand held
hacksaw to try to remove a section of the seal (same fear reaction as
above).  I was moments away from dropping the pan and having at it from
inside.  Huw's suggestion of 'now's a good time for a windage tray' almost
closed the deal on that one.

My brother in law runs a steel service center (yes, I am one lucky SOB) and
mentioned that they use a special slide hammer on equipment with stubborn
bearings.  My little remaining wattage heated my mental filament up to a
faint glow...

Using a steel rod about 14" long, a length of heavy-walled pipe about 7"
long, and a small "grabber" I quickly built a simple slide hammer.  You can
see pics here:

http://www.home.earthlink.net/~groovy_monkey/Audi/Homemade%20slide%20hammer-
parts.JPG

I drilled through one end of the rod to accept a stop (drove in a 16-penny
nail and cut off both ends) and used a small drill bit & then a Dremel to
cut a notch in the other end of the rod to receive a tab on the grabber
(which was the most difficult part to get right).

The grabber (someone, rename this for me, please) is a piece of steel about
4" long with a 3/8" tab bent on one end and about a 1/8" tab bent on the
other.  The long tab goes in the notch in the hammer's rod, the short end
slips behind the seal to pull it out.  I had to do a bit of experimentation
(bend, grind, rebend, regrind) to make sure I could maneuver the grabber's
small tab behind the main body of the seal, but still have enough meat on
there to gain purchase.

A detail shot:
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~groovy_monkey/Audi/Homemade%20slide%20hammer-
grabber%20detail.jpg

Assembled, the tool looked like this:

http://www.home.earthlink.net/~groovy_monkey/Audi/Homemade%20slide%20hammer-
assembled.JPG

It only took about 4 tries to get well seated behind the seal.  Once I did,
about 10 raps of the pipe was all it took.  One key thing--I needed to have
the rubber on the seal cut away, and at least one part of the face bent out
so I had the room to finagle the tab of the grabber behind the seal.

Anyway, it's late and I'm tired (but oh so happy), so I'm sure this could be
clearer.  If interested, let me know and I'll try to repost in something
that resembles the Queen's English, but shorter than War & Peace.

Jonathan Monetti aka "Billy Bob"
2002 A4 1.8tq
1987.5 CGT



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