Onan 140 Elite crankcase gasket

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I have an Onan 140 (14 HP) torn down to the point where I'm ready to remove the front part of the crankcase in order to replace the gasket. My question is, when I unbolt it, will it slide right over the PTO shaft? Do I need to replace the oil seal there? Thanks.

Refer to this thread - I had the same problem:

http://simpletractors.com/Club2/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=112022

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So I found that the crankcase half just slides right over the shaft, just by doing it. I procrastinated a long time.

Here are pics of my tear-down. I wonder if that gear snags on the gasket a little and causes this?