Seal replacement

[calvin81]

I am replacing the two seals on the vertical shaft of my 1986 50ETLJ outboard. The seals are set inside the housing that is also part of the water pump.
My question is : How far do you push the seals into the housing? Till they bottom out? That is what I am assuming, only if I do that, there is a small port hole that goes into the water pump itself and I don't know if the seal would be hindering its purpose. In fact I don't understand the purpose of that port in the first place, it doesn't make sense to me.
I would greatly appreciate a little enlightening.

[99yam40]

I believe Yamaha makes special tools to install to proper depth.
If you do not have the tools and did not measure the depth they were at before removing, You are going to have to wait for someone that has measured that depth and wrote it down to responde to your post.

I would think the experts use the tools and not measure

[calvin81]

seal replacement

Thank you for the reply. Yeah, there was no way to measure the depth before removal as the lower of the two seals had actually dropped out of the housing, traveled down the shaft and was riding on top of the bearing.
I talked to a friend at work who use to work at a marina, he said that the seals should be bottomed out in the housing and that the port I spoke of is to create pressure on the lip of the seal, promoting better sealing to the shaft. That makes sense but is it correct?

[99yam40]

Hopefully Rodbolt or Boscoe will give you some info on it