What size of packing do I need. There's a couple of shops close by that have packing for Berkley type irrigation pumps. Will it be OK to use that kind of packing if it's the correct demensions. Thanks

I wouldn,t think the size would matter too much as long as you get the cavity full around the shaft & tighten up the nut to compact it around the shaft.The Cat packing had a coating of graphite I believe it is on the cord.

Thanks for the reply SJ, I'll give it a try. Should the packing be cut in several strips to fit around the shaft and then stagger where they meet? Thats the way I do it on my irrigation pumps. Or should you wind just one longer piece around the shaft until you have enough to fill the cavity? Thanks

I don,t think it would matter too much but if I recall the regular Cat packing is one piece but is split around the cord in places but the graphite tends to hold it together. Doesn,t Cat have the seals anymore? If I recall the older D7 & D8s had the same packing in them. This is just my idea but if the cord you get is just plain cord with no coating of any type on it maybe soak it for a little while in water then it would pack tighter.Don,t over tighten the adjusting nut first but you may have to take it up a little more after the engine is run for a little while to correct any seepage out of it.

those multiple ring packings are for high pressure applications.

If you pull out what's in the gland already, or at least back the nut completely off and move it out of the way, you can measure the space where the packing starts into the gland and see how wide of a packing it takes to fill it. then take the shaft size and they can cut square packing rope to fit.

My local industrial supply sells this stuff cut to size, by the pound. My occasional needs don't even compute on their system:D

Or you can get some and cut it to fit. It's easier if you don't have to split it down lengthwise, but that can be done as well.

Or you can buy the faucet repair graphite/teflon string from a home center and wind it around enough to take up the space in there.