Well we finally got some weather I could work in. After a complete cleaning and rebuild of my van hub assembly (tapered wheel bearings) I went and got a dust cap free for the 5 minutes it took me to pop one off a junker at the local yard. (originally I did not install the cap as I figured this was all routered in behind the blade assembly, no water no problem, wrong) The water had dripped through the joints between the blades right on to the spindle inside and with a nice new grease seal had no place to go. Freeze, thaw then rust and made a real mess, totaled the bearings. New bearings, races (cups) a customized new rear grease seal cut to the exact size of the spindle reducing drag and repacked with synthetic snow mobile grease. Dust cap is installed and joints at the blades caulked also just in case. Great to see it running very easy in low wind and in very cold temps. besides. Thanks to everyone for the advice. Dave B.
