Sealing a Triumph

The ultimate in seal design

When you’re looking for the ultimate in seal design for a specific application, there’s no-one better than Pioneer Weston. When the engineers at Triumph Motorcycles needed a sealing solution for the gearbox output shaft of a new model, they needed it quickly. So they turned to Pioneer Weston, part of the ERIKS Sealing Technology Centre and home of the Materials Technology Centre.

As an organisation which not only has proven expertise in seals, but also an excellent reputation for providing a fast response, Pioneer Weston submitted a detailed offer, including full engineering drawings, within just nine days of being approached. It was a tough challenge: the seals were required to work continuously at temperatures in excess of 70ºC in an oil-laden environment on a shaft rotating at up to 3000rpm.

With its own in-house materials laboratory and dynamic test facilities, Pioneer Weston produced the first samples in less than three weeks. As these samples proved to be right first time, an initial order for production quantities was placed in plenty of time to meet Triumph’s request. The results delighted David Lakin, Triumph’s Purchasing Manager: “We were very impressed with the performance of Pioneer Weston on this project,” he said, “though now we’ve seen that seals can be developed and produced this quickly, we’ll expect the same service on all of our future orders!”