Rear main Seal replacement ( Stuck seal)- ////// I followed shop manual procedures and unloosened the intermediate bearing caps (torqued so tight I had to use all my might and a cheater pipe on the breaker bar to loosen them) and then removed the Rear Main Cap. I could not get the seal out of the lower cap...it was hard as a rock...stuck. I took my oxy-acetylene and heated it up (bearing out of the cap, of course) and had to literally pry and peel the seal out of the lower cap. The rubber had literally melded to the flange and I used a razor to get the rest off. I went to take the upper seal portion out and forget it...it ain't coming out.////////////// ------------- if you can afford the time, try a real strong solvent that will literally eat the neoprene rubber, or soften it at the very least. Could be someone once put some engine sealer in there to make the seals stop leaking. That stuff is a strong petroleum solvent which makes the rubber often and swell a bit. But it might make it so gummy it welds onto the block. You've got the lower half of the seal to experiment on. Try some xylene or paint stripper, or lacquer thinner on it. See if anything will dissolve it gordon richmond ---------------- Before fussing I would remove the upper half of that rear main bearing. Your local parts house should sell a little tool for removing it. This tool is sorta T-shaped and the stem of the T fits into the oil groove in the crank. As you then rotate the crank the bar of the T forces out the bearing half. Do be sure to rotate the crank so that the bearing is forced out, and not so that the bearing tang is forced into the block. One direction only. I too have only ever used the blunt screwdriver technique on the seal; but I don't think I've ever tried to remove a Brummer seal that had been in place for 40 years either..... Since these can be difficult in the best of times you may be in for a lot of work. As a last resort you can always pull the motor. ------------------- ( This can't be true...) This relates only obliquely to this subject but on my one and only V-8 rear main seal replacement project, I was able to get the upper section out of the motor but was absolutely unable to slide the new upper half seal up into place and screwed up a couple of half seals trying. Desperate for some solution (as I usually am when working on a motor), I jammed rag up each side of the seal slot with a hammer and screwdriver, being careful not to scratch the crank in the process. I was amazed at how big of a rag which could be jammed in there. I left a little sticking out to mate with the lower half-seal. This solution has worked for 150,000 miles. -------- The old "wick" style wasn't bad, but the new neoprene rubber seal is mucho better. It slips right into place where the old seal was. The hardest part is getting the old wick type seal out. They have "Chinese finger puller" type tools to get it out, but I've always had real good luck putting a good metal screw into it, put a piece of piano type wire around the head of the metal screw, and pull it out. Note, you can push from the other side using something flat, but make VERY sure that nothing touches that crank. (jan 2003) ------------ Thanks to everyone who offered advice on my rear main problem...the dern thing would not come out in a 289 that hadn't been touched in 39 years. I was afraid I would have to pull the engine.... Gordon Richmond said to use chemicals. I took a spray bottle with 1/2 Berrymans Chemdip (nasty smell) and 1/2 paste paint stripper and mixed it all up in a pump spout oil can. I then proceeded to get up around the upper rear main seal and douse it completely with this concoction. I let it sit and swath overnight.. This morning I went out and with a long pair of needle nose pliers, grabbed onto the edge of the metal spine of the thing and Voila! It began to slide right out! Right on! That was great advice Gordon! The chemicals just ate away at the neoprene and the thing came right out...thanks again....