I hope I can get this in one post. I recently noticed that one of my axles was leaking grease and oil. I wasn't sure what was inside, but decided I had to take it apart to see what the problem was. Here is a pic of the old seal on left and the new seal on right.
Next two of old seal
New Seal
As you can see the old seal is intact, but was leaking pretty bad. The boot is longer, but thinner. Also the area that touches the sleeve is thicker. On the new seal the area that touches the sleeve is indented. Glen Chaffin talked about that in an earlier post.
What I am showing above and the leakage - was it due to age or construction of the old seal. Have I solved my problem? What do you think?
Observations:
The flange on the old seal is thicker.
The seal is made at different locations on the axle. (distance from the seal face to the boot)
The old seal seems to be flared out at the end.
The inside surface of the new seal that contacts the axle seems to be about the same length as the thin boot.
Answer to your question - Only time will tell!
The new one by Chaffen is supposed to be better, The old modern seals the I removed were like your old ones. As I understand, the old one didn't allow for a little horizontal play that is needed. My bad one had all kinds of grooves cut into it by the hyatt and caused premature failure.
These seals are easily nicked by the key way and fail when that happens. Be sure that you tape over the key ways and. Slide the seal only overs smooth axle surface.
Also slather some grease on the axle before you slide the seal on it.
The old seal was our original design. It had a longer lip and a full thickness shoulder. The longer lip had more grip on the axle and would sometimes bind to the axle if not properly lubricated. The thicker shoulder pushed the axle sleeve out a little more. The new seal has a thinner lip which reduces grab of the axle but still provides a good seal. The reduction in the thickness of the shoulder reduces how far the sleeve is pushed out while still providing a good seal around the outer edge. You should always wrap the axle keyway with paper or other material to prevent the keyway from damaging the seal lip. The beauty of this seal is that it is flexible and will follow the axle off center as the axle, bearing and sleeve wear. A lip type seal will not do that very far. The old style seals are still being sold by Mac's as they copied our design before we changed it. Hope this helps.
Thanks Glenn, I couldn't remember all that stuff. Mine are working well.
George n L.A.