While taking apart a 550 engine I discovered an interesting way of dealing with the leaking oil seal on the shift shaft.
Someone put a washer on the shaft which is pushed towards the seal by a spring. A piece of metal tube is used as a spring tensioner.
The spring is held by the sprocket cover. Looks like this was meant to keep the oil seal in place.
At first I thought this mechanism was supposed to be there by default. Couldn't find those parts in the shop manual so I searched the forum and came up with the problem of the "wandering" oil seal.
At least this is a pretty clever idea for someone who completely ruined the oil pump's JIS screws with a Phillips head screwdriver.
Maybe I will re-install this mechanism after rebuilding the engine if the leaking will occur over time.
