Pinion Seal Material selection: Leather or Nitrile Rubber

[Don Frelier]

I've got the yoke out of my 8-3/4" (742 case) and am going to put a new seal in it.
It didn't come out particularly easy but I did win the battle.

The National oil seal uses leather (surprisingly) as the sealing surface while the Timken uses rubber.

Questions:
1. Does anyone with more experience changing these have a preference?

2. Should I put blue loctite on the metal seal casing where it contacts the housing or use a different sealant?

Thanks.

 

[AR67GTX]

I use a thin smear of RTV on the metal seal casing. Leather for a modern seal is a real surprise to me. The ones I recently put in my Dana 60 and tail of the 833 from Breweres and Dennys were of some rubber compound.

 

[roadrunnerh]

When I replaced mine, same carrier 742, I had a beautiful NOS Chrysler seal and it was leather. I opted for a brand new nitrile seal. But, I was concerned with the leather being old, even though it looked great. If a NEW leather seal was an option, I would have obsessed about it for a little...

(5 years later and nitrile seal is still doing it's job)

 

[1 Wild R/T]

As stated, nitrile, And I like leather seals..