First a little history- I have had a lot of oil leaking from the under the sprocket cover on my '75 550F. I first replaced the 3 o rings under the oil pump (with new genuine honda ones) but that didn't help at all. After running the hot engine with the cover off I found the oil pump cap was leaking- eventually got the honda goldwing part that is the correct o ring for under the cap and ran the engine with the cover off again to find the oil gallery plug in the oil pump (and the two oil gallery plugs under the front of the engine) and the gear shaft seal were all leaking. Replacing the o rings in the gallery plugs was a breeze- I soaked the new genuine honda o rings in oil before fitting them & used a 3/8 drive 14mm impact socket (with a hand powered breaker bar) to crack the plugs loose without damaging the heads.
All good so far, but I was nervous about drilling the gear shaft seal to pull it out with a screw so I tried it on a spare motor first. The drill can't get to the seal squarely - I had to drill at an angle the drill decided to break through/wander toward the shaft- doh! -as I was using a hand drill I didn't damage the shaft but when I screwed a screw into the crooked hole it's threads cut into the shaft
I was able to pull the seal out with just one screw by levering against the back of the screw head with a large screwdriver but with the damage done to the shaft this method is completely unsatisfactory!
So my question is- If I take the clutch cover off and remove the gear shaft to change the seal what's the recommended method for removing the seal if the shaft has been removed?
Note- I know I could use the drill and insert screw method without risking shaft damage but with the engine in the bike it wont be easy to lever it out like it was in my loose spare motor...
