Hey.. whats the consensus.
Pack it with grease? or dip it in motor oil, then install.

 

What does the FSM say?

My gut feeling is motor oil, but I've never replaced that seal personally.

 

Don't know what FSM says ? But I'd just put some clean oil on the lip of the seal. Don't know that I'd put anything on the case cover ? I may be going there soon, be watching to see what others think. There's been a ton of oil up behind my harmonic balancer, I'm assuming from the belt slinging it up in there from a bad oil pan leak ? I was worried that the prolonged exposure to the oil might compromise the balancer and cause it to explode! Anyway, I'd still like to pull it to get in there and clean behind it. May go ahead and just replace the seal, balancer, timing chain, and gasket along with new water pump and ZJ fan clutch !

 

I have replaced that seal on a couple of engines. I just use a thin coat of engine ol and then use a piece of wood on top and tap straight in with a mallet. If needed, I use a socket to get it seated all the way. It's press fit ant too difficult.

 

This is out of the FSM for my 97.

"Apply a light film of Perfect Seal, or equivalent, on the outside diameter of the seal. Lightly coat the crankshaft with engine oil."

"Apply a light film of engine oil on the vibration damper hub contact surface of the seal."

If you need to replace the keyway in the crankshaft...

"Apply Mopar Silicone Rubber Adhesive Sealant to the keyway in the crankshaft and insert the key. With the key inserted in the keyway in the crankshaft, install the vibration damper, washer, and bolt. Lubricate and tighten the bolt to 108 N-m (80ft-lbs.)."

 

There you go - so I'd use motor oil and press it in like suggested by dzywicki unless you happen to have some "Perfect Seal" kicking around.

 

Yah. That was my gut feeling as well. But, I wanted to be sure. When rebuilding an old VW engine we tended to pack every seal we could with grease. But then, the tolerances were a lot more lax in an engine designed in the 30's I suppose.

Thanks for the advice.

And CRLAMBERTJR.. seriously man. I'd absolutely recommend replacing your timing chain and gears as well. Since going through all the trouble of getting that harmonic balancer off.. why not? A fresh new timing chain and gears set is surprisingly cheap.

 

I didn't find the harmonic balancer to be too bad to get off. I thought mine was pretty bad since there appeared to be some rubber coming off, but once I had it off it was still pretty damn solid. I replaced it since I had it off anyway, but it was good enough that I'll be giving it to my buddy if he buys my 00 TJ (as a backup since he'd be using it as a mud truck).
I just used the AZ puller and install tools and it came out easy and went in pretty easy.

I've never done a timing set, but it's on my "future maintenance" (aka, sometime next spring) list.

 

Yeah, at 208k, I would just feel better knowing it's all been done. At that point, I will have pretty much gone over the hole engine. Next will be motor and tranny mounts follwed by tranny fluid change, filter and pan gasket.

 

The Cloyes timing set is around $50 and would definitely be worth replacing while you are in there