Shift shaft seal removal help!!

[fiku_miku]

Hi, I'm struggling to get the old seal out from where the shift shaft protrudes from the engine. Put a woodscrew in one side and pulling very hard with mole grips but it's not budging. Prised bit of rubber off and metal underneath. Not clear from manual if the open end of rubber seal slides onto metal bit of bike or if I'm trying to gouge the whole lot out. Mine is a 2002 Suzuki gs500 (K2). Any advice much appreciated 👍

[The Buddha]

If you have the replacement seal, well, all those things which are in the new seal are what you get out and nothing more.
BTW, you've got aluminum case on the outside and the steel shaft on the inside. Unlikely you're hurting those with your dentist pick.
Dont go in there with a drill or a power jackhammer. Hand tools and gentle work.
Cool.
Buddha.

[fiku_miku]

Thanks, picked out as much rubber as possible and the old spring which holds the seal, became clear the metal race type thing must have been part of the old seal, whole thing just wedged in there, began bashing and trying to dislodge without damaging aluminium around, will work at it a bit more tomorrow and let you know how I get on 👍

[The Buddha]

BTW I have never removed and replaced that seal. Maybe I had a few bikes that needed it, but I still ignored it.
I'm sure someone has replaced it here, they's come along, to help more, hopefully.
Cool.
Buddha.

[Sporty]

I haven't removed that particular seal.  I have removed a lot of oil seals in other thing.
You must be careful not to damage the shaft or the housing.

If there is enough room in the metal part of the seal to drill (or punch) a small hole and insert a sheet metal screw, the you can use a slide hammer to pull it out.

Shifter seals usually don't have much metal though. You might be able to use a hook and slide Hammer. Or a hook and lever.



There are specialty puller for car trans shifter seals. IDK if they make them is. A size that would work on the bike or if you can improvise.

some photos for ideas.

[moe_tunes]

I've replaced this seal. All I did was slide a small screwdriver between the seal and shaft and as i was about to pop it off the seal fell out. I was going to use the screwdriver to lever one side out a bit then move the screwdriver around to lever another part of the seal out a bit. Yours does sound like it is a bit tighter than mine was but it's another thing you can try.

Good luck with it.

[chris900f]

I did this on my Honda. I started with a dental pick and didn't get that far with it, these seals are very tough. I ended up drilling a very small pilot hole
on one side of the seal and then driving in a woodscrew and using some vise-grips to pry it out. Doing it again I would go back to the store and get a proper
set of seal hooks and then use one of those to pull it out by the drilled pilot hole. I got lucky, but if you scuff up the shift-shaft the new seal will leak.

[sledge]

I have said this before, gonna say it again........if you took it to a shop and paid someone to change the seal and they did it this way would you be happy? More then likely you would be all over this place complaining about them and how they could have damaged something!!

Instead of bodging and kludging, encouraging poor workmanship and introducing unnecessary risks lets do the f%$king job properly eh?

Drain oil, ignition trigger parts off, disconnect oil pressure switch, R/H cover off, clutch and basket off, selector mechanism off, withdraw the selector shaft......THEN flick the seal out and replace it. Its not even a particularly difficult job FFS!

Then when it goes back together you can replace the oil, check the clutch plates and set the clutch up......you can even change the sig-gen seal.

[The Buddha]

Sledge - He's on the other side of the motor. Not ignition and oil pressure sending unit, the shifting and chain side.

Yea pick and screwdriver - and please do not use that thing that looks like a dent puller. This is a small seal like 1" or less OD.
Slow and steady.

Cool.
Buddha.

[Giles]

I been looking at the shift shaft seal on mine but it just looks like a metal surface, so I'm not sure if the seal is missing or not...

[Giles]

[Giles]

[Bluesmudge]

Do you have a photo? There should be a black rubber seal around the shift shaft.

[Armandorf]

i have changed that seal, but that was when i splitted the case so it was obviously effortless and i only had to install it.

changing seals can be difficult, i remember that removing the cush drive seal was very difficult without destroying it, and in that case you can be as savage as you want, to get leverage you have a bearing that usually you should be also changing.
t. the pry bar method works but as the centre hole gets smaller is more difficult.
you may need to remove the sprocket to have more room.
.
in this little seal i would attempt:

-compressed air, maybe pops out
-pulling it out with screws, in the middle hole or 2 screws in each side between the case housing and the center hole

you have to avoid scratching the housing, that is the outer race/lip/edge of the seal and the shaft, that seals in the center hole.
you can remove the rod so it is not that bad.

i dont see the problem sratching beyond the seal if you dont ruin the aluminum housing.

-using a hook could work like an L or even a J

what is the correct way? Anyone checked what the service manual suggests?

Edit: My bad, thought it was the clutch push rod seal

For the gear selector shaft seal it is tighter and removing the selector shaft is out of the question, you would need the other side cover of the motor open.
Seems beefy enough to withstand a screw, it has around 1 cm of depth

[HPP8140]

I have removed from a 1995 and 2002 GS without much issue. Just used a pick in the inside and careful not to gouge the shaft

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