Hi all, my apologies if I'm posting this in the wrong forum - first time poster!

I need to replace the diff pinion oil seal in an XK8 I'm working on. Looking at the old seal, it seems to be made of Bakelite on the top - any ideas why this material is used for this application? It seems quite old-fashioned. 

Thanks in advance,

Hi Geoff, I suspect what you are looking at is a rubber seal that has baked hard due to age, wear and heat. Putting your part number into the search engine produces multiple "hits", including OEM seals available and they all look like rubber items to me.

N6 JMX

Hi Jim,

Thanks for the quick response. The seal I am looking at has a hard surface on one side (see the brown material in image attached). It's not something I've seen before on a pinion seal so it piqued my curiosity. 

Thanks,

Geoff