Replacing Bad Oil Seals

[viking4christ]

My 78' 550 is leaking oil at two seals and I am having a hard time getting the old seals out.
So I'll describe the two seals. To get to them I have taken off the cover on the left side that covers the chain drive sprocket and the clutch. One is the seal around the clutch rod (is that what its called?) as it enters the crankcase. The other is the seal around the shift selector rod as it enters the crankcase.
I, obviously, don't want to take apart the engine, is there a trick here?

Also, while I have your attention, I have purchased the R/R and Stator from Electrex (Sp?) and am installing it. The old R/R are two seperate units, right? Also, where do I mount this new unit, and why are there not long screws included with the new unit?

Thanks for your help.

[Nessism]

Yes, for the '78 550 the regulator and rectifier is separate. On my '79 and '81 550's the R/R is one unit which is located on the backside of the battery box on the LH side.

I've never taken out the seals in question on a 550 but I did the job on my 450. In that case you just have to dig them out with a screwdriver. Be careful not to scratch the bore in the case or it may leak. Not a hard job but at first it seems kind of barbaric digging the seal out (which tears it to crap in the process). When I did the shift rod seal I pulled the shift shaft out first but I've heard of people doing the job without.

Good luck.

[rapidray]

Actually, it is much easier to get seals out by screwing a sheetmetel screw into them & pulling the seal out by grabbing the screw with visegrips. Ray.

[chef1366]

Just don't do what I saw someone here do. He tightened the screws in too far near the center and in too far and buggered the bearings.

[viking4christ]

Thank you all for the quick responses, I'll get on it.

[viking4christ]

After some wrangling I got them out. Waiting on the new ones to arrive from www.bikebandit.com. Should be here this week. Thanks again.

[arveejay]

Clean the shaft of nicks before installing new seals as 1 nick will cut the seal. Use a fine emery cloth to clean the shaft first.

[viking4christ]

Good call. I didn't think about that, but I will. Thanks for the tip.

[viking4christ]

Thank you all for your help. The seals are in, the bike is running, and there are no leaks! Wahoooo!!! It might be of interest that I am running fully synthetic 10W-40 which tends to find leaks where there were none before. I'm loving this bike!

[chef1366]

Good for you. Thanks for sharing.:-D

[BassCliff]

Hey howdy hey!

Mr. viking4chrst,

I don't believe I've had the pleasure. So let me just say...

Let it be known that on this day you are cordially and formally welcomed to the GSR Forum as a Junior Member in good standing with all the rights and privileges thereof. Please note that "good standing" implies pictures! :-D

Congratulations on your successful wrenching session and thanks for sharing it with us. The good folks here are teaching me to be a better motorcycle mechanic and a better motorcycle rider. Thanks for joining us.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
(The unofficial GSR greeter)

[viking4christ]

Hey BassCliff,
How do I add pictures? It asks me for a URL. Do I need to set up a ShutterFly or something?
Thanks for the welcome. I'm excited to be here.

[Nessism]

Hey BassCliff,
How do I add pictures? It asks me for a URL. Do I need to set up a ShutterFly or something?
Thanks for the welcome. I'm excited to be here.

Load the photo somewhere and paste the link here using the following notation

[IMG]httphoto link paste [/IMG]

Photo will show up like magic.

[atchbo]

More re oil seals

Hello folks,

Does anyone know if oil seals from the GS550 will work on the GS400 (which seems to be harder to find parts for)?

I found oil seals here:

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Suzuki-GS550-Oil-Seal-Kit-NOS-NEW-GS-550-GS-550_W0QQitemZ350157671448QQihZ022QQcategoryZ50462QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262

Cheers,
Atchbo

[bwringer]

Just order them from a Suzuki dealer, Bikebandit, or whatever your favorite source for Suzuki parts is.

They're only a few bucks each and you'll know they're high quality.


With that said, it's quite likely they're the same, at least the two seals we're discussing in this thread. You can compare the part numbers using the fiche at http://flatoutmotorcycles.com