Ive replaced the seals in my COE with felt and they worked great, both front and rear. I bought discs of it at McMaster Carr and cut to size. A circle cutter for a drill works wonders. I had to use felt as the seal was inside a lipped flange on the truck. No way to use a standard oil seal there.

Recently I went through both front and rear axles and pulled the lipped portions off and plan on using newer nitrile seals for all the hubs, because my rear hubs were made to run grease and there was a seal which rode on the axle nut to keep the oil from transferring into the hubs. Up until recently they worked great, but I noticed a small stain inside the tire and pulled it apart to find that the outer seal had failed (due to pitting on the axle nut) and that fluid had gone through the hub and past the felt seal contaminating the brake linings.

An expensive mistake, but live and learn.

Good luck, Jeff

My 1953 Chevrolet
1947.1 Gallery
1972 C-10 1/2 Ton & 1972 C-30 1 Ton