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I've had the water pump apart on my 1937 L, and there are no seals in the contemporary sense. The shaft is a close fit in a bronze or brass bushing, and like Gene said, the grease keeps it from leaking. Cooling systems on the older tractors aren't pressurized, and I think there's internal suction in the pump that keeps it from leaking when the engine is running. I use lithium grease in mine, but ordinary grease would probably be OK, too. I try to remember to give it about half a turn every hour or so of operation, and when I shut the tractor down, I give it another shot while turning the fan by hand. That pretty well keeps it from dripping while it's parked. If yours is badly worn, it would be a fairly simple machine-shop job to make a new bushing and resurface the shaft. The catch is that by my experience and that of a few others, it's nearly impossible to get the pump out without breaking something. They're almost always rusted tightly in place. Oh, and be careful turning the grease cup while the engine is running, or you'll get sore fingers or worse.
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