1937 ZTU seals and gaskets

I don't know if it will be this year, next year, or 5 years down the line, But I'm going to restore my grandpas 1937 ZTU sometime. It was the first tractor bought new on the farm(second tractor, traded in a fordson it). Its going to be absolutely everything, taking it down to bare castings front to back. I took a couple of the numbers for the felt seals and gaskets to my local agco dealer and they said that they can't get them anymore. I was wondering if anyone knew of any sources for them? The service guy that I know said on some tractors they do when they can't get felts they try to match up a normal lip seal, even if it doubles up two lips. Has anyone ever heard of that? Just trying to get some ducks in a row so when I get a chance to pull it in the shop I can just keep going and not constantly waiting on parts every couple days.

Yes I have doubled up more then once on seals to take room where felt seals would be at and never had any
issues with it at all.

If you get in a bind, my uncle mentioned once about getting a felt boot liner to use to
make one.

random_farmhick,
All of the seals on a ZTU are currently available in modern lip style. Right now I stock just about every ZTU seal. The felt seals that could not be switched over to rubber are mostly made in F1 felt and Buna-N sandwiches.The most common F5 seal that needed remade was the #10A6958 seal. Many times the spiral cut on some cranks would tear the new seals in short order.
F1 pads are also there to cut those lube pads that have deteriorated from water. Many of the jute style seals can also be replaced by Teflon and aramid packing. That stops dry galling when there is no oil on startup.
Odd seal sizes can always be remade if one is willing to make a few hundred, to cover the tooling costs.

It is a common thing to double up lip seals to improve performance and move to a new spot when a shaft has been scored. The most common example is the #KT458B axle seals, that are carried in original form. I always recommend customers use our #KT458B-S double seal to insure no axle leaks. A lot of grit gets past the original outer felt seal and trashes the shaft surface at the seal line. A double rubber lipped seal setup just needs some moly infused grease between the lips and that solves the seal problems for another lifetime.
Charlie

Hi Charlie, How can I get ahold of you to talk about some parts?

random_farmhick,
I see you show no email. Call me at seven two four, six two eight, seven three one 'oh' any evening. If you are outside of the USA; have someone email me your phone number, and when you want called. I just got a new international phone line and it is a flat rate to call most places.
Remember; I only speak three dialects of hillbilly. We may need a translator.
Charlie