Outlander 450 4x4 seal blowing? This may help

[Mike Lee]

Have you ever had your 4x4 seal literally pop out of the 4x4 housing on the Outlander 450?  You will want to try a simple fix to keep this from happening.  First, get the old seal out and clean the seal surface on the 4x4 unit with brake cleaner.  Take your new seal, and remove the spring.  Untwist it and clip off a half a centimeter or so of spring.  Don't clip off the wrong end!  I do this because these seals fail far too often and this seems to fix the issue.  Put it back together.  Tap seal into place.  This is where you get creative.  I was able to cut pieces of shelving metal that clamped against the 4x4 unit to prevent the seal from popping out and holding them in place with zip ties.  You can do whatever you think you can pull off with what you have on hand.  Just get something on the 4x4 that holds the seal in place on opposing ends.  Oh, and always replace the yoke o-ring.  Those never retain their shape and will cause leaks if you do not do so.  Inspect the wear ring on the yoke and replace if you can feel a fine groove where the seal rides.  Remember to use RED locktite on the yoke bolt and tighten that bolt tight as ****.  This is the one that always comes off during abusive riding. 

[Ajmboy]

Great info, thanks for posting!

[Moto.muppet]

Do you have a photo of your creative seal holder?