Rope packing for rear main seal

gregarpp · May 27, 2012

I am showing 2 part numbers for a 1955 TO-35
1006635M1
1021673M1
I would hate to order something online that has shipping twice the cost of the item!

Or can I just purchase some cotton rope to use?
What size diameter?

John(UK) · May 27, 2012

You could use cotton rope, but what you need to do is make sure that whatever you use to pack this bearing is compacted really tight or it will leak. Use an old screwdriver with the sharp blade cut off, so that you can use it to ram the rope or whatever into the Bearing Block, make sure that it goes all the way up to the Block and the leave a little sticking out at the bottom, just enough to compress when you fit the oil pan, make sure that you leave enough to compress or again it will leak...John(UK)[email protected]

Bruce(OR) · May 27, 2012

I got my TO-20 kit from this site. The cotton string it came with seemed excessive. I packed it all in per John(UK) and never had a leak.
79 hours and counting. . .

2tractors · May 28, 2012

I got a bag off ebay and had enough to do 2.

Brad V · May 30, 2012

When I rebuilt my Tea 20 petrol engine over a year ago I purchased a full engine gasket set that included the felt seals for the rear main crankshaft cap and followed the instructions of a well known engine rebuilder that works on the Ferguson engines in England and I just could not get the felt seals to fit the correct way without compacting them. I could have compacted them as mentioned in various posts but feared a possible leak and I did not want to take off the oil pan again to correct this.
My solution which may or may not be approved by many was to use as I have on engines in the past High temperature silicone and after approx 12months of good use I have not had one drop of oil leak from the machine.
Has anyone else used high temp silicone on the rear main cap?
Regards Brad

John(UK) · May 31, 2012

The felts must be compacted, you can't just lay them in the grooves and if you did they would definitely leak.It is the correct method to compact them. If compacted they don't leak as the felts go really hard when done properly. They do recommend that you soak the felts in shellac first, but this was not always available when we were doing them in the 1950's so we often used them without and we just didn't get problems with leaks. I don't know of anyone using high temp silicone, but there probably is somewhere, really there is no need to go to such lengths, after the experiences we have had, we know that it is perfectly safe without. Just be sure that it is compacted. We did this on Engines that were getting thrashed and were always working hard, unlike most to-day that are being used more as a hobby. The Continental engines used on the TE20's and the TO20's and TO30's have exactly the same idea on the Rear Main Bearing, so it is not exactly a new idea and it has never shown up to be a "weak" spot. I know from the emails I get, that a lot don't understand that they should be compacted, but once they are advised of the correct way to use them they don't have any further problems..John(UK)[email protected]

Brad V · May 31, 2012

(quoted from post at 05:09:23 05/31/12) The felts must be compacted, you can't just lay them in the grooves and if you did they would definitely leak.It is the correct method to compact them. If compacted they don't leak as the felts go really hard when done properly. They do recommend that you soak the felts in shellac first, but this was not always available when we were doing them in the 1950's so we often used them without and we just didn't get problems with leaks. I don't know of anyone using high temp silicone, but there probably is somewhere, really there is no need to go to such lengths, after the experiences we have had, we know that it is perfectly safe without. Just be sure that it is compacted. We did this on Engines that were getting thrashed and were always working hard, unlike most to-day that are being used more as a hobby. The Continental engines used on the TE20's and the TO20's and TO30's have exactly the same idea on the Rear Main Bearing, so it is not exactly a new idea and it has never shown up to be a "weak" spot. I know from the emails I get, that a lot don't understand that they should be compacted, but once they are advised of the correct way to use them they don't have any further problems..John(UK)[email protected]

Thanks for your response John and I know that compacting the felt would have worked but I still had some doubt in my mind so I used the High temp silicone option. On reading your views on the subject next time round I would do it your way as you obviously have the knowledge and experience to know that it works.
Many thanks
Regards Brad

John(UK) · Jun 1, 2012

Brad, we all have doubts when doing something like that and I don't blame you for querying it. I have been doing it for so long now I just won't tell you anything that is even a little bit doubtful, rather than do that I will not say anything..Thank You for your comments as always..John(UK)[email protected]

Rope packing for rear main seal

gregarpp

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John(UK)

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Bruce(OR)

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2tractors

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Brad V

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John(UK)

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Brad V

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John(UK)

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