As MGG, says if your going to by new Fryers is by far superior. He has all of his castings done locally, uses a sealed bearing with ceramic seal and all done in house and made in America.
He also uses a VERY small bearing from a air conditioner compressor.
This is very close to the seal and all seals leak. They need to leak some
because this is what lubricates the seal and seat. This water becomes
super hot and a small amount gets into the bearing leading to bearing
failures. I have seen a number of these pumps that were sent back to
the rebuilder 3 or 4 times before being sent to Skip who converted them
back to bushings. In the 20,000 or more bushing pumps Skip has rebuilt
we have only seen maybe a dozen with worn out bushings. These were
worn by the belt being pulled up to tight and some even wore through
the casting. Even then the pump didn't fail the, pump was changed
because the back of the pulley was dragging on the face of the pump
and making a loud noise. In a bushing pump there is a thin film of
oil between the shaft and bushing. The shaft rides on this film of oil and
NEVER touches the shaft. With pumps in service over 20 years NO ONE
has ever been charged for a repair if it failed. G.M.