Newbie

Welcome to the ACMOC and thanks for becoming a member. Your machine has an slinger that works like a seal at the rear of the crank. Someone will chime in soon with all the details.

Hi PWygant, the rear main bearing is elongated - 2/3 of it is "regular" bearing, and then there is more of it covering a thread in the crankshaft journal. This thread serves to "screw" the oil back into the engine. There isn't a seal, but the rope you mention is used to seal up the edge of the bearing cap that sits flush in a slot in the block. If it's pouring out that fast, perhaps the thread is gummed up and ineffective, and/or the back 1/3 of the bearing is broken off. Another possibility is that (and I'd need to go look at my parts to confirm this) a plug is missing out of the rear of the block and/or a stud is out that is allowing the oil to escape. If you can take the clutch cover off, you might be able to see if the oil is coming out lower down or higher up - seems unlikely that you'll be able to determine it though without pulling the engine and flywheel. I'll see if I can find some pictures to show what I mean. Do you have a parts and/or service manual for it? Sounds like you're going to need one. Also, update your profile with your location because you might have a member in the vicinity that can come take a look.

No slinger or seal, just the thread to pull oil away from the back section of the bearing. Leakage gets worse as bearing wears.

I have a diesel mechanic working on it in my back yard, we already determined that the engine must come out, just getting ready to pull the radiator and hydraulic tanks out of the way and off.....need to fix the water pump anyway, it was leaking from beneath the pulley.
I'll keep you informed, this seems like it may be a looooong project...

Thanks for the info so far.....stay with me....

One thing to check before you go ahead with the engine removal is to clean the engine crankcase breather. If this is plugged with dust and allows positive crankcase pressure, oil will be forced out the rear main bearing.

The slinger that was mentioned is behind the flywheel to make sure the oil that normally gets through the rear bearing does not coat the clutch. The clutch housing was originally sealed with a solid plug and you were instructed to remove it periodically and drain the accumulated oil from the rear main bearing and the clutch release bearing oil cup. Drilling the plug was a solution that simplified routine maintenance. Usually a large cotter pin is put in the hole to rattle around and keep dust from building up in it and blocking it.

Neil, what kind of money are we looking at here? I'm getting scared.....

Enough money that cc's advice is the cheapest most effective way to determine if crankcase pressure is the issue!
Of course the other thing could be is that it has a "Multi-Weight" oil in it.
A good heavy single grade oil will cure a lot of mysterious oil consumption issues! 👍

Well, I'm grinding my crank plus a full set of new main and rod bearings and that's coming in at $925, but totally check out your breather and oil etc. as Jeff and cc mention - at least to rule them out. If you've already tried mono grade 30 oil, try straight 40 instead. But, if you do have to fully re-bearing it, that's what it currently takes....