swing69 wrote on 04/07/15 at 14:28:37:Are you adding the HD rubber to keep elements out?
If you were to place your hands on the front and rear of the belt pulley, with a used bearing you can wiggle the pulley with your hands. This means that as the wheel spins the pulley hub and wheel hub are constantly moving around.....as the tension of the belt constantly is pulling the pulley forward. A fresh bearing has little movement - but it take very little time for the bearing to become worn as they really aren't good at taking eccentric loads.
The rubber mat is to take up some clearance and make that bearing hold up longer. The entire force of the belt is riding on that single bearing in the pulley hub. Adding the rubber mat takes up some clearance and stops the pulley from being able to rotate forward.
After the first year of riding my Cafe' bike, I was not satisfied that the cut up rubber floor mat was the best solution to the pulley wobble. The pulley hub has a machined stub that extends into the wheel hub - but the sizes don't match and it allows the pulley hub to wobble. This is the recess in the wheel hub where the pulley hub slides into......and the wheel bearing is visible.
I first bought a piece of brass tube 2" OD x 1.75" ID from Online Metals.
I then put the pulley hub in my lathe and machined the stub so the brass tube was a tight fit.
I then machined the brass to be a slip fit into the wheel hub recess shown in the first photo.
Now I no longer have any pulley wobble. The outer bearing stays in good condition as the entire load of the belt is not putting an eccentric load on the bearing. The outer bearing spins on the axle with the wheel....the inner bushing only moves the small amount that the rubber cushions move....so it does not need to be a bearing and the bushing does fine.....I apply a small amount of grease on the bushing when it is assembled.