i've always used spacers on sealed bearing wheel conversions where the spacer's OD are ≤ the OD of the inner race of the bearings... so they sit against the race nicely/don't touch anything else. just what i've always heard is best practice to avoid binding etc.
but now that i only have some phatty spacers on me a question popped in my head. ----> have i always been overly cautious? when looking from the side, the inner races stick out slightly further than the seals on bearings (right?) as long as the spacer and bearing's ID match, does the spacer's OD even matter? when tightening the axles up is there some force that is going to get the seals to rub, even though the spacer and them theoretically have a tiny gap between them?
TLDR using a photo in case that isn't clear... is the bottom image fucked?
