Heads up-bearing kits

 Just a heads up to anyone changing the bearings on their trailers. The kit as pictured( Ford version) is supplied with a seal which is absolutely useless. The lips on the labyrinth which are responsible for keeping water away from your bearings and races come nowhere near contacting  the stainless inner. As a result, water enters very quickly and will destroy your inners. I know this can happen with any seal if you don't pump enough grease in, or try to use an ordinary  seal, but there would be at least 3mm gap all around--you can drop the seal into the inner and just move it around. The Ark kits which BCF normally stock have a good triple-lipped seal. As to the bearing quality itself, I can make no comment. This first happened to me last year, but it took a while for the penny to drop--I fitted new kits of the type shown above on a new axle, and found water in the grease after just one launch. The inner race shown is one of two I have just replaced-they were both of the kind of kit mentioned above,  only 12 months old, but the two sets of BCF supplied bearings fitted at the same time were fine.

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