Trying to get this stupid front cover back on, but the inner-most oil pump gear just keeps pushing right through and not staying with it’s fellow gear mates. Any advice for getting this back on?

 

Got it on… some lessons I learned I’ll share with future fellow strugglers.

1. Don’t PACK the Vaseline in like a lot of past posts prescribe. If it’s too packed, you can’t rotate the oil pump by hand. I scooped most of the Vaseline back out and used a lighter weight grease instead. That let me turn the oil pump gears WAY easier to align them. I use Park Tools Polylube 1000 (cycling/bike grease).

2. I got a short ladder and laid myself over the engine so I could see the oil pump inner gear moving toward the woodruff key. I had two fingers jammed through the front main seal, and was sort of able to move the gear here and there as needed to align as I eased it onto the crank. This also prevents the inner gear from pushing through like I was struggling with.

3. Sometimes a non-response from forum members forces ingenuity and perseverance haha.

 

I usually always mark the key way location on the front cover. Then when I'm putting the front cover on I verify it's still aligned and usually that's all it takes.

 

You waited half an hour between your original post and saying that the forum hadn't responded.

 

Oh I know. Haha, I’m not griping or complaining, just making the overall point that it’s sometimes easy to use this forum as a crutch, rather than just sit with the problem for a moment and figure out a solution on my own.