Home made grease seal installation tool hint.

[Doug Rodrigues]

Thought I'd pass this helpful hint on to someone else in the same position: I had to install brake drum grease seals into dual bearing 1977 Ford Motorhome brake drums. Nobody had any tool to rent me. The automotive seal installation tools were too small. The grease seals fit into a 3 1/2 inch bore in the drum housing. I finally got the idea to go buy a 3 1/2 inch water line end cap and use the end cap as the installation tool. Amazing, nobody has metal end caps of that size. Replan: I then got two PVC water line couplers. One was for a 4 inch pipe and the other was for a 3 1/2 inch pipe. The 3 1/2 inch coupler fits inside the 4 inch coupler, that is by using a 2 pound short handle sledge hammer to force the 3 1/2 inch inside of the 4 inch coupler. The result was that the 4 inch coupler fit perfectly on the outside diameter of the grease seal and kept the 3 1/2 inch coupler perfectly centered on the raised ring of the seal. Both couplers together are strong enough that the sledge hammer didn't damage them what-so-ever and the seal was driven into proper position almost effortlessly. So now you know: You don't have to go have a special tool made at a machine shop. Just go to your local hardware store and spend no more than 5 bucks.