Crankshaft seals do not typically come with a gasket set. I suggest you try your local NAPA Auto parts dealer, may take them a day to get the gaskets and seal. You MAY be able to get the sump gasket separate. I would go for a .009" thick. End play should be at least .002", that is about the amount you can feel when push/pulling. I would only add a couple of things to what has been said. I would drain the oil first thing and clean the area around the lower crankshaft, the 3/8" or so before the step down so that the sump can slide off the crankshaft without binding in the bottom bearing with possible damage if forced. I use 400 wet/dry sand paper. When you have the sump off, check the mounting hole in the oil slinger. That old an engine may have elongated the mounting hole. If this gets too bad, the oil slinger/governor starts stripping/jumping teeth. Torque for sump bolts is 140 inch lbs. No sealant is required nor recommended for the sump gasket but because sump gasket failure is a common problem with most B&S vertical shaft engines, 10 hp and up, I use Copper Coat. Try to get the new seal in evenly all the way around, coat it with oil or grease between the double lips, assuming it has double seal lips. Walt Conner wconner5 at verizon dot net

Laurie, Thanks for your suggestions, but I will not switch to canned food. I've seen what it does to teeth. I do brush my dog's teeth frequently, and I give her hard bones to chew on...but I am just not into canned food. I will find other ways to prevent the UTI's. Also, she drinks tons of water as it is. Thanks for your input though. Cynthia, Yes, same dog. That's what my vet said...he said it may be from the neuro issues. I couldn't see why, but the truth is that it's gotten worse since she had the spinal meningioma. She does see a neurologist, and had an MRI 6 weeks ago which showed scar tissue in the area where the tumor was removed (and also radiation was done). Her current neurologist (and also a top neurologist in my state that did the initial surgery) both say that surgery to free up the scar tissue is way too dangerous and probably won't fix the situation, since scar tissue is WAY too difficult to remove...and the surgery could likely end up in paralysis. She also has bad reactions to steroid treatment. So there is nothing I can do "medically". However, she goes to a chiropractor weekly (I know, I thought it was crazy too...in the beginning - but I had to find other ways to help her), and since she has started going she is able to JUMP into my SUV (couldn't do that for 3 years...which was when this all started) and she also immediately stopped having BM accidents (which was a result of the decline in anal tone). So the chiropractor visits are helping. She's also taking a holistic anti-inflammatory pill daily. I started putting water in her food last night as per Laurie's suggestion, and I will continue to do that indefinitely (I hear what you are saying about not letting it soak...I also don't want to do that because that will defeat the purpose of giving dry food for her teeth). And I will go get some cranberry capsules today. Thank you so much for your suggestions - I really appreciate it. Gabi

If the bladder was over distended then the tone can be lost. It is usually temporary but the trick is to keep the bladder small - in other words they need to leave the catheter in place. My guess is they should have him catheterized for several days before pulling it. I would not be in a rush to get the catheter out of him. Another thing that should be considered is putting him on IV fluids - this will increase his urine production and with the catheter in place will aid in flushing the crystals out of his bladder. The crystals are very much like a fine sand and will settle to the bottom of his bladder so these cats are at a risk of reblocking in the first few days after the catheter is pulled if the bladder has not been adequately flushed. He should be on antibiotics and pain meds they can even add another drug to decrease the urethral spasms - ask about this. The Hills c/d diet is an excellent food for cats to prevent crystal formation but it is not a diet that will dissolve crystals that are already present. For this he needs s/d or another diet called urinary S/O. A wet food is better than a dry food at this stage. He should stay on a dissolution diet for a good month before switching him to c/d. He can stay on urinary S/O indefinitely. In Todds case, because he has had several episodes of blocking, I would not chance putting him on anything else than a prescription diet formulated for this problem. If the vet is reluctant to try additional meds and measures before going to a PU then I would get a second opinion. BTW - if the catheter is in place and not kinked then urine will flow independent of bladder tone. Ask if they flushed the catheter with saline to see if the crystals have just blocked it. Also ask what the results of his urinalysis showed and what type of crystals were present. Two types commonly seen are struvite and oxalate...struvite will dissolve, oxalate not so much. These are the acronyms in the S/O diet . HTH. Good luck to poor Todd I hope he gets this sorted soon.

When we had take our cats anywhere, and they were in a cage/carrier we found out they were less stressed out, and very little crying if we just put a towel/light blanket over the cage. That seemed to give them security. Marie PS and played the radio especially music This post was edited by marie-ndcal on Tue, Apr 22, 14 at 10:37