Countershaft Seal replacement,'80 GS450L

[Anonymous]

'80 GS450L
leaking oil badly. replaced the shiftershaft seal in hopes of fixing, but now find the leak at countershaft. i need to know how difficult this is and any technical information anyone can provide. gonna cost me more to fix at the local dealer than i paid for the bike

Much Obliged
Byron Morgan
Tupelo MS

[chuckycheese]

Not hard

Hey Byron, I replaced the countershaft seal on a 650 Yamaha several years ago and it was very easy. I imagine it would be similar on a GS. You need to remove the sprocket and gently pry out the old seal. Also, you need to be careful putting the new one in because you don't want to damage it. As I remember, I used a very large socket to tap it in. If you do that, you'll have equal pressure on all parts of the seal and it will go in straight. Also, be sure to put a little oil or Vasoline on it. Having it slide in there EVENLY is the key to getting it done right. It's really pretty easy..you just have to be careful. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

so you'd say similar in difficulty to the shifter shaft seal replacement?

[chuckycheese]

yeah

Yes, it's similar but I think it's a tighter fit. Be really careful when you get it started because it will be damaged if you put it in crooked. I wrecked one the first time around. I think they cost about 5 dollars. When I removed the old one, I punched a hole in it with an awl and pryed it out....that way, I didn't have to worry about damaging the circular area where the new one goes in.

[1100ED]

I did a 650 recently and it was easy except for the face that i slipped and scored the bearing surface. I have never done seals on a gs though. One comment i wanted to make was that i seem to remember some folks saying that the seals were not made to be removed from the outside of the cases on some models. This seem crazy but i distinctly remember some conversation on just that. In fact i think Hap said it still could be done from the outside. I would like to hear more on this subject myself Byron.

[chuckycheese]

One other thing

One more thing....you need to make sure that the leak isn't coming from the clutch pushrod seal. :roll: It's small and easy to damage.

[Anonymous]

how much

how much could reasonably leak from the clutch pushrod?
this is a drip per second for a couple minutes after running.

[nabrams]

I've got a slow leak on my 1980 GS450L from that area. I was always under the impression that the cases had to be split in order to replace the shifter shaft seal, clutch pushrod seal and countershaft seal. So I never did anything about it. Your post got me curious, so I looked at my Clymer manual and took off the the cover. The Clymer indicates that the plate that holds the countershaft and pushrod seals in place can be removed and the seals can be replaced without splitting the cases. However, it does not seem to make any mention of the shifter shaft seal.

You seem to have replaced the shifter shaft seal without splitting the cases. Was it successful? Does it seal OK? If so, I think I'm going to take the plunge and replace all three seals.

Also, how did you get the old shifter shaft seal out?

[Anonymous]

shifter shaft

my first one was replaced by a professional, took him about an hour. (cost me a half case of beer, great things friends are, especially when they're club riders and wanna take some back for the pack) anyway,
he moved off by the time i decided to replace it again, because of lack of improvement in the leak. This time, i was over at a mechanic/machinist friends house (and fully equipped machine shop). I found out that the little hook tool used for prying out stuck keystock from keyways and and pulling kotter keys and such is the perfect thing. once i had thoroughly stripped the @#%^ing phillips head screws that some dipstick decided was a good thing to hold those, and retapped for 1/4x20 threads and gotten proper length die bolts to replace all 5 with, (an hours work all told) the replacement of the seal took about 20 minutes. I'd suggest some mystic JT-5 grease or the best you can find on the inner part of the seal and the shaft to help it slide on easy. (don't get jt-5 on your hands, it has to wear off, diesel, gas, white gas, jet-a, laquer thinner, spirits, and kerosene won't even cut it) that 20 minutes is total from getting the cover off to putting everything back all the way to the shift lever. if you want to retap those holes for die bolts/socket head, it's not a difficult job with the right tools. . . . any more questions i can try to answer.