Not sure if outer seal is important
Bob- To your question of what have I done about these seals, not much. I've looked for replacements even talked with Victor and CR representatives basically what they have told me is that the outer-ward sealing seal is an obsolete seal concept as it increase the speed across the seal face. I have encountered two designs of seals on similar to what you are showing and the second is a felt seal between two washers.
I’ve been running my HUP without the outer rear seals for thirty years with no rear axle gear oil making it through to the brakes. If the rear bearings are well packed with bearing grease and the inner axle seal is good there should not be a leakage problem. Add to this the angle that you need to tilt the truck to get the gear oil to start traveling down the axle tubes something like 10 degrees right tilt and 12 left tilt. (see picture)
Checking the 39 and 40 civi Chevrolet truck manuals, they don’t show or list an out-axle seal. I suspect that the outer seal was added as part of increasing the resistance to water infiltration in fording situations. The other advantage of the outer seal is that the axle shaft can be removed without worry of dirt getting into the wheel bearings.
What is important of course is the locking key and pins to keep the nuts from walking off.
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