If you do seal work then you know how to remove it without drilling.
As far as chips, that front cover comes off easily without removing the engine if you feel that is a problem, but that area does not lead directly to the crankcase to allow this.
The crank pto main journal is lubed/flooded under pressure through a hole in the main bearing surface behind that seal, all the lube it then removed through a drain back hole on bottom of that seal bore area.
If that drain back hole is obstructed by anything
( silly cone comes to mind) it will blow the lip of that seal out
but not the seal, as it is retained by the pto clutch locating nubs
Install the seal OD. dry, no sealer/silly cone.
Apologies if you know this.
When cold those engines can and do reach #80 oil pressure but settle to #20 @ idle on a worn/warm engine.
The kohler service manual (avail here free to down load) gives pix's of lube system and crankcase cover.
On a side note, if the cover originally has a gasket, reinstall one, if sealer is used instead of a gasket, use sealer, if for some reason you remove the crankcase cover.
