Hello all,

I am currently in the middle of replacing my rear main seal in my 96 xj 2.5L. She has a 5 speed manual trans. Took the 4.0 route and went through the oil pan. Figured out my Jeep has a 1 piece rear main seal. Ended up getting the seal out by cutting it and realized I can’t get a new one back in (Hint 1 piece = dumbass moment). So I have read older forums on how people
need to pull the tranny and clutch to get to the RMS. Is there any way of going around this? Could I use a 2 piece RMS made for the 4.0 instead? If not feel free to let me know. It looks like I’m gunna have to put the oil pan and gasket back on and pull the tranny, clutch, and transfer case out.

 

Short answer, No. The 2 piece seal in the 4.0 sits inside the rear main cap. The 2.5 does not. You'll have to pull the trans, etc. to get it around the crankshaft.

 

How did you manage to cut it going through the oil pan?



A short writeup of the steps.
https://www.jeepforum.com/threads/2-...cement.683830/

 

Yeap!
Ya gotta pull the transfer case, transmission, and take the clutch and flywheel off to get to your RMS.

To pull the RMS out I ""CAREFULLY"" put a screw into the flat part of the RMS so I can pull it out. DO NO HIT THE CRANKSHAFT WITH THE SCREW!!!!!!
BTW
Hows your clutch?
Maybe a good time to throw a new flywheel and clutch on it??
OH! And just one more thing.

You can not surface a 2.5L flywheel. They have a concave surface, so they need to be replaced when you do a clutch on these Jeeps.

 

I was wondering about that too?

 

it was behind this guy

 

After taking off the rear cap, he cut the seal and pulled it out. Also why he asked if he could use the 4.0 2 piece seal.

 

Ah, gotcha. Looking at the picture, it makes sense now. Probably want to cleanup the surface rust on the crank before putting in a new seal. I'd compare the new seal too, and make sure it's going to ride on a clean polished part of the crank.