my 88 has developed a massive oil leak from the front of the engine, to the tune of 1 quart every 50-75 miles.
i think the front main seal went from sitting for 3 years, then being run again.
how big of a job is a front main on a 88??
will i have to take the front clip off??

 

You can actually replace the front main seal only removing the harmonic balancer.

Remove the harmonic balancer.
Carefully pry the old seal out, being careful to not scratch or bend the timing gear cover plate.

Ford has a special tool to install the new seal, but you can use a socket slightly smaller than the seal and hammer to carefully tap it in place.
When the seal is flush with the timing cover, it is in place.

 

thanks for the hint Dave. the service manual i have calls for removing half the truck. shroud, radiator, air conditioner, alternator, vac pump, power steering pump, balancer, water pump, injector pump, and timing cover. then press the seal out from the front of the cover, and install new seal through the rear of the cover. so i figured it might be easier to just remove the front clip.

 

My three main concerns just removing the harmonic balancer and doing it that way would be,
The location is going to be hard to see what you are doing.
The timing gear cover is rather thin metal, may be easy to bend.
It is going to be hard to drive the new seal in straight, but that is because of the location.

Ford uses a tool that srews onto the front of the engine to press the seal in.

I could see using a short piece of pipe that fits the seal just right, a big flat washer and the harmonic balance bolt to reinstall the seal though.

Going the route you posted, I see no reason to remove the IP.
And when I rebuilt my engine, I installed the seal from the front of the timing gear cover.
The seal lip goes toward the back, it is hard to drive it in from the back without damaging the seal.

Do look at the harmonic balancer shoulder, if you have a wear groove in it you need a Speedi Seal to take care of the groove or a new harmonic balancer.
If you have a groove and the seal lip rides in the groove, you will still have a leak.

I would pull the radiator before I did it either way, a slipped wrench can cause radiator and hand damage.
Radiators are expensive, and those radiator fins remove a lot of skin rather fast.

Besides the extra room will probably be nice to have.

 

OK. thanks. it should not have a wear groove, cause it only has 91k miles on it. this was always my truck and never had any animals driving it besides me, so it did not get the mileage all the others got.
i think the seal went cause the truck sat for 3 years with a blown transfer case after i had my heart attack. then i had one of the kids put the C6 in it and started using it again, and the leak has just gotten steadily worse since i put it back on the road in the spring of 05. it went from 1 quart every 2000 miles to the quart every 50 miles it is using now.
i am not even sure it is the front main, but the whole front is covered, so i am assuming the main is gone and the fan is blowing it all over the place just like the Mack's do.