Rear axle seals

'Morning from central Kaulifornia.

Yesterday I received mailorder bearings, seals and a hub to do the left axle. I was surprised to find that the seals were NOS (I missed that in the description when ordering). The inner looks like a standard oil seal but the seal material is fiberous. The outer seal material is felt.

The hub I got appears to be NOS too which is ok, I guess, but, the surface where the outer seal will ride is "rough" machined, not "smooth" machined ... which seems ok for a felt seal.

I don't particularly want old style seals, unless they happen to work as good as new materials. I assume I'll be a lot better off getting modern seals(?) Does anyone have seal #'s so I might be able to get them at my FLAPS? Can the outer seal (felt in steel surround) be removed from the stamped steel retainer and replaced with a modern seal, or will I need to get the whole deal from a different supplier?

As for the hub: to cure the seal surface's rough finish, is it ok to use a wire wheel, super fine emery cloth, etc to smooth/polish the surface for use with a modern seal?

 

toss up I suppose
I prefer the leather inners and felt outers
maybe the neoprene are better at keeping water out ?

 

Ok, thanks for the input. Guess I'm all set to go as-is

 

Sure appreciate Jim's input. I guess I stumped the brain trust or, all the old iron folks agree or, don't really care or ...

 

patience
no responses doesn't mean nobody cares....
some folks may not realize there are differences in the seals
that's all

 

Another job well done! Nice to have Willy roaming these hills once again. As with most endevours, many things learned from this operation