Hi Big Frank and all,

Here's an update.

The 1987 trail boss inner cover I purchased off of Ebay had a very good condition engine clutch seal. The inside diameter of this seal was smooth. I filled the groove on the engine with Permatex Clear Slilicone then mounted the inner cover and seal but the seal kept slipping off. I think the uncured silicone had enough lubricity so the seal wouldn't "grab" the engine cover. So I pushed the seal towards the engine until the inside edge of it was in the groove of the engine where the Loctite 401 is supposed to go. Thought this was a pretty odd design element but what the heck. I then put bead of silicone in the gap of the edge of the seal and engine that was exposed inside of the groove. My hope is that the edge of the seal being in the groove with silicone on the inside and outside will hold it in place.

Well I was looking at the old engine/clutch seal which is shot and that seal had a ridge on the inner diameter that fits perfectly inside of the groove of the engine. You can see where the super glue is still on the seal around the this protruding edge.

I am guessing that the inner cover and seal that I purchased was actually not from a 1987 Trail boss hence the new inner seal not having the ridge to fit in the engine groove. I will leave it as is for now but if I have to take it apart in the future I will try to keep the seal flush with the engine to provide more surface area for the seal to glue to the engine with silicone.

Now I have another problem where the outer cover ( p/n 5430771) does not fit tightly to the inner cover (5430772). These parts are supposed to fit and I have two inner covers and they both have the same problem. When a bolts is installed at one end the the other end of the cover bolt is off by at least a quarter of an inch. When you tighten the bolts the outside cover pops off the inside cover and there is no seal. I will start a new thread for that issue.

Thanks