Front Axle / Front Suspension: Outer control arm seals?

[Ron Dame]

As I was scraping 53 years of caked on grease and dirt from the front end today, the what-used-to-be-rubber protective seals on the outer control arm trunions fell apart. Without taking them off, is there any kind of replacement or work around?

[gordr]

Truth be told, they weren't very effective seals, even when new. If you grease the fittings regularly, the grease itself will keep water from entering the bushings. If you feel you must have some sort of seal, there is self-bonding rubber tape available that could be wrapped around each bushing/pin area. Would be a chore, and you would have to clean the area very well first.

[r1lark]

I've tired to come up with a replacement for those seals. Tried heater hose but it eventually gets soft and/or swells when contaminated with a petroleum product (ie, grease). Looked into a hydraulic hose, figuring that would not swell/get soft, but could not find anything right off. I agree with gordr, not sure if they are really that effective. A lot of other makes used similar trunnion-type bushings........did they use seals also?

[StudeRich]

I use the "O" Rings that also come in the New Outer Upper and lower Pin kits, the round ones work almost as good as the square ones, the upper Rear one will get squished against the Rear of the Pin and fit very tight once it has been aligned to about:
-2 1/2 Degrees Caster.

The Bearing and Seal Warehouses sell the "O" Rings, like Applied Industrial Technologies does in our area. They may have bought Bearings Inc.

[TWChamp]

I wonder if the shock or tie rod seals for Model A's would work for you?
Do none of the Studebaker Dealers sell these parts?
Do a Google search for "Model A Shock seal" or " Model A tie rod seal", and a picture should be shown.
Some Model A parts dealers are "Bert's", "Bratton's", and "Snyder's".
There is also "Metro Rubber" in the Twin Cities, that sells lots of rubber parts for older cars.

[Ron Dame]

I use the "O" Rings that also come in the New Outer Upper and lower Pin kits, the round ones work almost as good as the square ones, the upper Rear one will get squished against the Rear of the Pin and fit very tight once it has been aligned to about:
-2 1/2 Degrees Caster.

The Bearing and Seal Warehouses sell the "O" Rings, like Applied Industrial Technologies does in our area. They may have bought Bearings Inc.

I was looking for something to install without disassembling anything, teh self bonding tape sounds like a good idea, but then again, reading the responses, I may not worry about it at all.