Business Acquisitions and Investments - Narrative (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended			0 Months Ended	6 Months Ended	0 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended		3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended				0 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended	0 Months Ended										3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended
	May 31, 2014	Jun. 01, 2013	May 31, 2014	Jun. 01, 2013	Nov. 30, 2013	May 01, 2014 Stanadyne [Member] employee	May 31, 2014 Stanadyne [Member]	Dec. 16, 2013 Air Filtrations Segment of General Electric [Member] employee	May 31, 2014 Air Filtrations Segment of General Electric [Member]	May 31, 2014 Air Filtrations Segment of General Electric [Member]	May 31, 2014 Industrial/Environmental Filtration [Member]	Jun. 01, 2013 Industrial/Environmental Filtration [Member]	May 31, 2014 Industrial/Environmental Filtration [Member]	Jun. 01, 2013 Industrial/Environmental Filtration [Member]	May 31, 2014 Engine/Mobile Filtration [Member]	Jun. 01, 2013 Engine/Mobile Filtration [Member]	May 31, 2014 Engine/Mobile Filtration [Member]	Jun. 01, 2013 Engine/Mobile Filtration [Member]	Dec. 03, 2013 Bekaert Advanced Filtration SA - Belgium [Member]	Dec. 03, 2013 Bekaert Advanced Filtration SA - Indonesia [Member]	Dec. 03, 2013 Bekaert [Member] employee	May 31, 2014 Bekaert [Member]	May 31, 2014 Bekaert [Member]	May 08, 2014 Modular [Member]	May 08, 2013 Modular [Member]	May 09, 2012 Modular [Member]	May 09, 2012 Modular [Member]	Dec. 16, 2013 Term Loan [Member] Air Filtrations Segment of General Electric [Member]	May 01, 2014 Credit Facility - Swing Line [Member] Stanadyne [Member]	May 01, 2014 Term Loan [Member] Stanadyne [Member]	Dec. 16, 2013 Revolving Credit Facility [Member] Air Filtrations Segment of General Electric [Member]	May 31, 2014 Equity Method Investee [Member]	Nov. 30, 2013 Equity Method Investee [Member]	May 31, 2014 Cost-method Investments [Member]	May 31, 2014 Cost-method Investments [Member]	Nov. 30, 2013 Cost-method Investments [Member]	May 31, 2014 Engine/Mobile Filtration [Member]	Nov. 30, 2013 Engine/Mobile Filtration [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Net sales							$ 8,992,000		$ 66,985,000	$ 112,363,000	$ 0	$ 49,535,000	$ 15,422,000	$ 100,600,000	$ 19,781,000	$ 26,272,000	$ 46,837,000	$ 50,459,000				$ 3,526,000	$ 6,303,000
Number of employees in acquired business						200		700													170
Net assets acquired						328,012,000		260,312,000
Net assets acquired			595,621,000	0																	7,297,000
Gross payments made to acquire business						328,012,000		263,758,000																1,391,000	1,530,000
Cash acquired from acquisition						0		3,446,000
Debt instrument, face amount																												100,000,000		315,000,000
Line of credit, amount outstanding																													10,000,000		50,000,000
Post-closing adjustment related to amount of working capital on hand at closing date, days after purchase date							60 days
Goodwill	510,485,000		510,485,000		241,299,000	193,144,000		74,324,000																													215,131,000	21,868,000
Operating profit (loss)							(1,927,000)		4,820,000	3,772,000	746,000	2,840,000	6,426,000	(2,401,000)	6,240,000	4,381,000	10,485,000	4,801,000
Percentage of outstanding shares acquired																			100.00%	100.00%						100.00%	100.00%
Purchase price excluding cash acquired																											7,875,000
Acquired finite-lived intangible assets						147,280,000		133,020,000													2,057,000
Bargain purchase gain			(2,815,000)	0
Gross profit	125,370,000	98,214,000	221,957,000	179,700,000																		(303,000)	(554,000)
Initial payment made at acquisition date																										5,237,000
Ownership percentage																																30.00%
Additional investment made, amount																																		0	473,000
Investment-related liabilities																																21,000
Equity method investments																																3,077,000	3,097,000
Cost method investment, ownership percentage																																		15.65%	15.65%
Cost method investments																																		$ 2,677,000	$ 2,677,000	$ 2,204,000