I dropped the oil pan on my 70 Charger (with the 440 engine in the car) to replace the rear main seal. I purchased a rope seal to replace the leaking seal. I was surprised to see that the existing seal was a rope seal.

Is it possible to take the upper half of the rope seal out without removing the crank? If so what method works?

If not, should I just replace the bottom rope with new and button it up?

Thx
Tom

Loosen all the main caps and pry down a little on the crankshaft a little so it gets some room between the crank and the upper rear seal, use a 1/4 inch drive extension to push the seal up on one side so you can grab and pull it out with a set of needle noose pliers.
Installing the new one is the hard part
Before you remove the upper half make sure the rope seal is leaking and not just the side seals, look hard at the engine side of the crankshaft flange to see if it has oil slung out onto the flex plate and not blown back onto the flex plate from the oil pan rails
If the side seals leak they usually won't leak onto the crankshaft flange like it leaks from under the main seal on the rear mains
Good luck

Beware! The original factory rope seals were easy-to-cut asbestos.... the new generation of rope seals (which entered the marketplace by the early-mid-1980s) are extremely-difficult-to-cut non-asbestos rope seals... plan on extra time and to use a serrated type cutting blade (razor blade will not cut the non-asbestos rope as it contains Kevlar.. tougher than steel).

My opinion is to only use a rubber seal surrounding the crank.. and soak the side seals with mineral spirits before installing them so that they'll properly swell and expand within the side cavities.

thanks Guys, all good advice!

I would never use a rope seal, but if you want to try. this tool kit is how you do it. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/lil-27000

And if you want to try a rope type seal, the ones that the parts store sell are junk this company makes the only one I have seen that work. https://bestgasket.com/

Also, just to add....if the crank does not have the knurling on the journal, using a rope seal will most likely leak. The rubber seal have the knurling pattern embossed in them to use with perfectly smooth crank seal journals.