Upper rear rope seal

It is best to leave the top seal alone. The top seal does not carry the load that the bottom seal does and even when there is a rear main leak it is usually because the main bearing is worn and the crankshaft has dropped down letting a gap in the top rope seal. If you will thing you will see that the top bearings and the tops seals on a tractor engine see little wear because the top bearings do not carry any load when the engine is working. The only time that a tractor engine carries a load is when coasting down hill and we all know that tractors don't do much coasting downhill.

There is a way that you can tighten up the top rope seal without removing it.Unless you want to remove the crankshaft don’t even think about trying to remove the upper main bearing seal on the N engine.

There is a better way to fix it if it really needs fixing. First the rear main bearing itself must be in good condition or trying to fix the rear seal is just a practice in futility.

If the rear main bearing is OK you should first remove the hood tank and the front axle and radiator etc. This will give you ample room to drop the pan. This will save much wailing and knashing of teeth! Obtain an original rear main bearing seal kit for the Ferguson TO 20 engine. This consists of a bottom seal similar to the one used on the N engine and a big ball of cotton roping. Cotton Roping is what a big cotton thread looks like before it is twisted in the cotton mill.

Using a soft welding rod of about 5/32” start packing the cotton roping into the upper seal. Don’t try to remove any of the original upper seal but pack all of the roping you can get into the upper seal slot. The old seal will be compacted and fill any void that is in the upper seal.

Replace the lower half of the seal with an original N seal. Don’t worry about the different colors on the ends of the seal if it matters I haven’t been able to find out what it is in the last 40 years.