Installing the seal so you don't damage it

Welcome back to frontloadbearings.com and this is video number 12: Installing the Seal.  So, something i want to point out to you here real quick is that the seals that I provide are completely flush.  Remember when we looked at the old one and it had ridges and so forth that collected water.  Mine are completely flush.  Plus, they are a double lip seal and they are sprung on the back.  Also, there’s a metal spring that runs all the way around there.  So, obviously this is gonna go straight in this space right here.  What we’re gonna do here is first of all, we’re gonna prep the seal.  On this inner lip, I’ve just found that it works well if you buy yourself some white lithium grease.  You can get it at Harbor Freight or Home Depot, Ace Hardware, any Automotive store like Autozone, just white lithium grease.  All you want to do, between the two lips here, is just put some in there.  You don’t have to go crazy with it, you don’t need tons and tons of it.  Also, if you go too much and go really silly with it you’re gonna have the grease coming right back out on your clothes so obviously, you don’t want that going on. There we go, just put it in there.  There we go, just put a little more in.  There’s like a little trough in there so we’re gonna kind of fill that trough up.  Alright.  And then when we’re all done we’ll wipe this off so you’re not getting grease on your clothes when you go through the wash. Alright, so now, all we’re gonna do is line this up.  Now, you don’t need anything to glue this in.  It’s just a press fit just like the bearings were so you don’t need anything there. Other than white lithium grease, you can also use silicone lubricant as well on the inside if you want to. I’ve been using the white lithium grease for ages and it’s served its purpose so I just keep using that.  Alright, all we’re gonna do now, obviously, we’re just gonna tap this in real gently.  We’re not having to put much pressure on it like the bearings.  Just get it down into place nice and gently.  You can even move the bearing over to the side a little bit to give it a little bit on the side.  I’m just gonna knock this all of the way in until we don’t feel any more motion.  And again, I’m doing this at a bit of a weird angle so that my head doesn’t get in the way so you’ll probably do a bit of a better job than I am.  Yeah, there it goes.  It’s going in nicely.  Lovely.  Alright, that’s home.  So basically what we have going on here is that the seal is all of the way in.  Again, you don’t need any silicone or glue or anything.  That will actually just get in the way or risk getting in the bearings.  Any pressure you apply once you start putting some force behind it needs to be on the outer edge.  Then you have your grease in here which I’m just gonna wipe off real quick.  And also, once you get this all assembled and you get the tank back into the washing machine, run a load through with some soap in it and not any clothes in it first so if there are any grease bits anywhere, you get a chance to wash that out before you go put some nice white blousers in there or something.  

Good, so that’s the end of this video, bearings and seal are all in, we’re ready to reassemble the basket and the tank back together and we shall do that next.  Thanks for watching!