Nice was wondering if I could use a hard wood dowel instead of something metal... Saw a post where someone said they made something specifically for this. Almost looked like a mushroom and the stem fit in the oil hole and cap stayed on top of the crank...I have done it on large diesel engines but not on small engines or a turbo buick. Large diesel engines are made to be overhauled in frame. You pull off the bottom cap and bearing then make a tool from a cotter pin. Spread the open end of the cotter pin and stick the round end in the oil hole on the journal of the crank and rotate engine over and it will roll the upper bearing out. Do it again to roll new bearing in. Repeat procedure for each journal. Works slick on big diesel engines. Like I said not sure if it will work on Buicks.
Are you doing this so that you dont have to remove the engine or do you have a little knock? If you've pulled off a cap and see any galling on the crank you'll probably need to pull it out anyway for a polishing. Unless you are the original owner or know the history of the engine you may be taking a guess on the size of the bearing also.
Sweet made a u and used that to push them out... Wonder if I could use something like a strip of plastic laminate hate to scratch anything..I used a cheap knife from walmart, bent it into a u shape. didn't scratch anything, worked fine.
I changed my rear main seal with the engine in the car, crank in the block of course.
Got rid of the rope seal and installed the lip type back in the early '90's.
I thought it was fairly easy.
A ring type seal that just goes around the end of the crank?
Screwdriver not a bad idea... Scared to scratch crank journals thou...did you take the belt off ? nevermind..i see motor is out of car so why not pull the timing cover and chain and do it right as to the leaving bearings that might be ok for 2-3-4 but #1 is pulled up from chain and belt and definitely needs to be looked at ,,, just tap the bearing edge with a screwdriver it will roll out or put a bent cotterpin in the oil hole and roll it out with the crank
Yep for sure. Bearing were fine but figured while I was there.. ended up just pulling the crank and doing it right. Open up a mess if I scratch something...I too have used the existing bearings to push out the old shell in the top of the journal - it worked fine but did not solve the issue causing the bearings to be bad to begin with and thus it was all for nothing - good luck.
I tried it because I have seen it done in some plain old 1970's passenger car...Not so sure it is a good choice for an engine that gets stressed like a Turbo Buick.