77' Rear Main Seal Question

[qbrew]

My 77' Long bed (350) has a really bad leak at the rear main seal. Upon my usual mechanic's advice, I took it to a transmission shop. The Transmission guy called me and told me that the Seal wasn't like the ones he normally replaces, and isn't anything he feels comfortable doing. He said it checked with the Mechanic he normally refers people to and he said he would prefer to work with the Transmission connected rather than dropped.

Any idea what would be different, and why the engine mechanic wouldn't want the transmission out of the way? My normal guy is too far away to drive with that bad of a leak, but I may have it towed if it sounds like I may be getting screwed.

[raws67]

He is probably used to replacing a 1 piece rear main seal. You can replace the two piece seal with the transmission still hooked up. Drop oil pan remove rear main cap install new seal and reinstall rear main cap and that should do it. So yep I can see where he is coming from on that.

[qbrew]

Ah.. That answers both questions. Thanks for the info and so fast! Since this doesn't require dropping the transmission, would you say this is a job a novice (me) could do?

Edit: Nevermind, I think I'd be best to take it somewhere.

[raws67]

Yep if you dont have the correct tq wrench etc it can be a tedious process and you have to be extra carefull with the rear main bearing so if your not too comfortable I would just take it somewhere. You also might want to check and make sure you dont have oil dripping down from your sending unit port on the top of the block behind the intake. There have been many times where a false indication of a rear main seal was coming from a leaking sending unit. Good luck.

[qbrew]

I'll have them check that too. The oil sprays everywhere as if it is hitting the fly wheel, so I'm assuming it is the real main.