Wear protector

Work tools, such as buckets of earthmoving machines, have a high wear rate from moving material or other activities. It is advantageous to provide replaceable wear protectors that are sacrificed to reduce or eliminate the need to repair or rebuild the work tools themselves. It is also important to provide a wear protector that is readily installed at the job site and can be securely, but simply retained in place. And the wear protector should not overly affect the operation of the work tool, such as through excess weight, resistance to material penetration or the like. Provided is a wear protector utilizing a connector element fastened to the work tool and a protector slidably engageable with the connector element. A simplified retainer assembly holds the protector in place on the connector element. The wear protector accommodates a compact design to address the problems described.