In your first Photo looks like from the picture, that were the hole/divet was that making seal not having equal compression. By trying to fill that void making seal Out of round…. egg shape so to speak. Taking a crank that completely round trying to seal and out of round seal. Under load. Thats why I fill the divots. The graphite seal isn’t like the old rope seal. Hey all I can tell you is that its worked for me never had a issue.
__________________
|