Guys, in those days it was normal for the seals in the wheels of tracked vehicles to be primariy intended to keep the mud and water out, not the grease in. Any mud that got past the seal was intended to be flushed out when the bearing was greased which was a daily task in bad conditions. The manuals on British cruiser tanks stress that the relatively modern style lip seals that they use must be fitted with their open sides out to allow the grease to push out any mud. This practice only stopped in British armoured vehicles when modern hardened face seals were introduced, I think firstly on the FV430 series.
David
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