Patent ID: 7452134

Claim:
A bearing assembly for facilitating rotation about an axis, said bearing assembly comprising: an inner race having a raceway that is presented outwardly away from the axis; an outer race having a raceway that is presented inwardly toward the axis and toward the raceway on the inner race; rolling elements located between and contacting the inner and outer raceways; an extension joined to the outer race and projecting axially beyond the raceway of the outer race; a first wear ring carried by the extension on the outer race axially beyond the raceway of the outer race and having a wear surface located at a steep angle with respect to the axis; a second wear ring having a wear surface located at a steep angle with respect to the axis and contacting the wear surface of the first wear ring; and at least one backing element supporting one of the wear rings and urging it toward the other wear ring, so that the wear rings are biased together and establish a dynamic fluid barrier at their wear surfaces; the wear rings being slightly larger than the envelope formed by the rolling elements around the inner race so that in the absence of the outer race the wear rings may be withdrawn over the rolling elements.