Wildwest Bearings- Your Bearing source
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Wheel bearing maintenance repair tips
Ever been driving down the road and heard a faint squeal coming from your car as you accelerated up to speed? Well your probably not the first one, lets just hope your not the one who ignored it, until something catastrophic happened. What are the signs indicating you ask? Well most will think its a sticking break pad and that its no big deal and don't pay much attention to it. Well ignore it and the next thing you know you may start to have more signs of a failing wheel bearing. If you have a grinding or clunking sound at lower speeds to about 30-40 mph there may be a chance you have a tapered bearing that is needing the attention of you or a mechanic. Dont ignore the signs of a bearing needing repacked or replaced. The ramifications of ignoring faulty bearings can be quite severe. Ignoring a simple maintenance that takes about an hour of your life and a few dollars in bearing grease could cost you thousands. If you ignore the signs the bearing needs repacked you could be going down a road and lose the wheel and bash the front end of the vehicle into the pavement and cause you to either severely damage front end steering/suspension to even more serious consequences such as a totalled vehicle and badly injured or worse yet dead!
The front wheel bearings found on a typical rear-wheel-drive car or truck employ two-piece caged bearing assemblies. Good maintenance dictates that the bearings should be cleaned and repacked any time the brake disc is removed from the spindle. there are actually two complete bearing sets per wheel -- an inner and an outer -- and both have a separate inner race. Together, they support the entire brake disc (or drum) and wheel/tire assembly. Wheel bearings should be replaced as axle pairs. Don't just replace, for example, bad left front wheel bearings without also replacing the right front ones, regardless of their condition. You also should replace the spring-loaded seals that keep the wheel bearing grease from escaping out the backs of the hubs and dirt and water from intruding into the grease cavity, also make sure you have enough wheel bearing grease to properly pack your bearings. Inspecting wheels for faulty bearings The first step when checking for worn wheel bearings is to get the tire off the ground. Chock the wheel on the opposite corner fore and aft. Set a safety stand under the corner you're working on after you jack it up. Grasp the whole wheel assembly at the top and bottom (12 o'clock and 6 o'clock positions) and try to rock it in and out. (Rocking side to side is more indicative of bad tie rod ends.) Also, spin the wheel and feel for roughness. A slight amount of play is expected, but any more than a few millimeters of movement at the top or bottom of the wheel as you rock it calls for a closer look. Remove the lug nuts, which probably will mean setting the wheel back down to keep it from spinning. Next remove the brake caliper, which usually requires taking out a couple of caliper bolts or retaining pins. Make sure not to damage the brakeline going to the brake caliper when removing from the drum. If you have drum brakes, front or rear, you may need to back off the brake adjustment stars; refer to the shop manual for the specific number of notches. Now pop off the dust cap with a chisel and a light hammer tap. Then, use pliers to straighten the cotter pin. Remove the locking crown if there is one (some cars use just a castle nut) and unscrew the axle nut. While pulling the brake disc (or drum) from the spindle with one hand, catch the small outer bearing and the washer in front of it as they fall into your other hand. Pull the large inner bearing out past the grease seal from the back of the hub. You may have to pry out the seal first. Both sets of rollers should be gooey with no signs of dirt in the grease. Rotate the cage assembly on the inner race with your fingers. Look inside the inner race and on the axle spindle for score marks. Nothing? The rollers spin true? Are the surfaces of the bearing race and rollers a little textured, but there are no chatter marks (called brinelling) or obvious wear? No blue metal from overheating due to lack of lubrication? Is the grease sticky and not like the crumbly bar of Irish Spring in your shower soap dish? If so, you can simply repack the old bearings and put it all back together. Clean the old grease -- all of it -- out of the hub, the bearings, and off the spindle, washer and nut. Follow up with mineral spirits and a small paintbrush or aerosol brake cleaner to remove the last of it. Dry any remaining solvent with a rag or compressed air.
The front wheel bearings found on a typical rear-wheel-drive car or truck employ two-piece caged bearing assemblies. Good maintenance dictates that the bearings should be cleaned and repacked any time the brake disc is removed from the spindle. there are actually two complete bearing sets per wheel -- an inner and an outer -- and both have a separate inner race. Together, they support the entire brake disc (or drum) and wheel/tire assembly. Wheel bearings should be replaced as axle pairs. Don't just replace, for example, bad left front wheel bearings without also replacing the right front ones, regardless of their condition. You also should replace the spring-loaded seals that keep the wheel bearing grease from escaping out the backs of the hubs and dirt and water from intruding into the grease cavity, also make sure you have enough wheel bearing grease to properly pack your bearings. Inspecting wheels for faulty bearings The first step when checking for worn wheel bearings is to get the tire off the ground. Chock the wheel on the opposite corner fore and aft. Set a safety stand under the corner you're working on after you jack it up. Grasp the whole wheel assembly at the top and bottom (12 o'clock and 6 o'clock positions) and try to rock it in and out. (Rocking side to side is more indicative of bad tie rod ends.) Also, spin the wheel and feel for roughness. A slight amount of play is expected, but any more than a few millimeters of movement at the top or bottom of the wheel as you rock it calls for a closer look. Remove the lug nuts, which probably will mean setting the wheel back down to keep it from spinning. Next remove the brake caliper, which usually requires taking out a couple of caliper bolts or retaining pins. Make sure not to damage the brakeline going to the brake caliper when removing from the drum. If you have drum brakes, front or rear, you may need to back off the brake adjustment stars; refer to the shop manual for the specific number of notches. Now pop off the dust cap with a chisel and a light hammer tap. Then, use pliers to straighten the cotter pin. Remove the locking crown if there is one (some cars use just a castle nut) and unscrew the axle nut. While pulling the brake disc (or drum) from the spindle with one hand, catch the small outer bearing and the washer in front of it as they fall into your other hand. Pull the large inner bearing out past the grease seal from the back of the hub. You may have to pry out the seal first. Both sets of rollers should be gooey with no signs of dirt in the grease. Rotate the cage assembly on the inner race with your fingers. Look inside the inner race and on the axle spindle for score marks. Nothing? The rollers spin true? Are the surfaces of the bearing race and rollers a little textured, but there are no chatter marks (called brinelling) or obvious wear? No blue metal from overheating due to lack of lubrication? Is the grease sticky and not like the crumbly bar of Irish Spring in your shower soap dish? If so, you can simply repack the old bearings and put it all back together. Clean the old grease -- all of it -- out of the hub, the bearings, and off the spindle, washer and nut. Follow up with mineral spirits and a small paintbrush or aerosol brake cleaner to remove the last of it. Dry any remaining solvent with a rag or compressed air.
Signs indicating bearing failure
Any signs of damage or wear, however, mean you need new bearings.
Look for two indents inside the hub just behind the races, 180
degrees apart. Use a hammer and punch to carefully bang out each race
from the other side of the hub, alternately tapping at one indent and
then the other. A hydraulic press with the correct arbor will make
short work of this. If you can't get the races loose, you can take
the hub to your local machine shop and have a mechanic press them
out for a nominal fee usually. Before installing the new race -- which you've carefully
kept matched to its respective bearing -- make sure its land is clean
and burr-free. A hydraulic shop press works best for installation,
but with a certain amount of care it is possible to install the new
race using a hammer and a punch. Don't scratch the tapered area that
the rollers ride on. The best way to minimize any chance of doing
damage is to tap in the race with a socket large enough to fit the
race's circumference. The new bearings will not come out
of the box pregreased. So pack each thoroughly. Put a generous dab of
grease in the palm of your (clean) hand and push the grease between
the rollers and the cage. Do this all around the circumference of
both bearings. While your hands are slathered, cup some more grease
and glob it into the disc (or drum) hub. Don't pack it full -- about
50 percent grease is plenty. Then, insert the large inner bearing
into the back side of the hub. Tap the new grease seal into the back
of the hub.
Reinstall the brake disc (or drum) on the
spindle, insert the small outer bearing, and place the washer and
thread on the nut. Spin the bolt into the washer by hand, then tighten it a little
more with a wrench while spinning the brake with the other hand. This
seats the bearing further and sets its preload. Keep spinning while
tightening. You'll feel the bearing start to bind slightly as you
tighten more. Stop there.
Now back off the nut with the
wrench until you feel that resistance dissipate, and one of
the castellations on the nut lines up with the cotter pin hole. Use a
new cotter pin. Don't overtighten the spindle nut. Better to keep it
on the looser side than make it too tight if the cotter pin holes
don't line up just right. To finish the job, fill the dust cap
halfway with grease and tap it back on. Reinstall the brake caliper,
then scrub the brake disc with brake cleaner to remove any grease or
even handprints from the friction surface. Reinstall the wheel by
torquing the lug nuts to the manufacturer's specified torque in a
star pattern. Remove the safety stand, lower the vehicle and take it
for a road test.
Estimated time for complete bearing removal and reinstall 1-2 hours.
Dont forget we not only have maintenance and bearing tips but we supply them as well. visit us online today at Lonestar Bearings to get yours!
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Free shipping on already low priced products!!!
Well with the month of October we have been celebrating by having free shipping on all of our products!!! But I regret to inform you this deal wont be around much longer so dont wait or you may miss out on something really spectacular!!! Remember all inventory ships free through oct 31st and then this deal is gone no exceptions!!! So act today by hurrying on over to get your bearings now by visiting our online store! Radial, disc harrow and tapered bearing headquarters! We thank all those who have already made their purchases and continue to spread the word to their friends about us at Lonestar Bearings .
Friday, September 30, 2011
Monster of a Sale
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Reduced Prices On all Bearings
We have reduced prices again on all our inventory this time not just some bearings. Get your tapered ball bearings, radial ball bearings and disc harrow bearings from your one stop for bearings Lonestar Bearings. And as always dont forget to check our blog for useful information about Bearing maintenance care and news and happenings related to our industry and the business. Like our page on Facebook or follow us on Twitter
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Bearing Friction
Ever wondered about bearing friction, or perhaps wanted to design something but not sure what type of bearing you should use to prevent premature failure do to to much friction keeping bearing from performing as designed. Well below you fill find some useful information to better help you understand how different type of applications and bearing combinations work with friction created by moving parts to help you choose the right type of bearing for your application. This also gives you a brief intro to how different lubrication methods help with friction.
Torque required to put a bearing into motion from rest is usually higher than that required to keep the bearing running once it starts. Starting friction, therefore, has an important influence on the power required in a bearing drive system.
Externally pressurized bearings have very low starting torque. Roller bearings have a low starting torque and underpressurized sleeve (fluid-film) bearings have substantially higher starting torque. The coefficient of friction at start-up for self-lubricated bearings is highly variable. It may range from 0.04 to 0.16.
The fluid-film bearing has a high starting torque because it passes through boundary lubrication stages as it comes up to speed. Once running under a hydrodynamic film, the fluid-film bearing exhibits friction characteristics comparable to a rolling-element bearing.
At running speed, the externally pressurized bearing runs with low friction. Friction in a self-lubricating sleeve bearing is quite variable depending upon the application.
Running friction for a rolling-element bearing is lower than its starting friction. If torque characteristics are critical to a bearing design, starting and running frictional characteristics should be measured experimentally.
When a bearing must be started repeatedly under heavy load, rolling-element bearings offer a better choice than sleeve bearings. When the increased complexity is acceptable, an externally pressurized (hydrostatic) bearing is the best choice. When starting load is light and load increases gradually with speed, the conventional hydrodynamic sleeve bearing usually is preferred.
The frictional properties of any plain bearing depend on the lubrication system. Either hydrodynamic or hydrostatic lubrication can provide low friction. A gas bearing offers the lowest friction levels.
Friction in hydrodynamic and hydrostatic bearings is a function of lubricant viscosity and shear rate. Shear rate increases with increasing rotational speed and decreasing film thickness. Friction coefficient is generally below 0.001.
Self-lubricated bearings vary widely. It is difficult to predict performance for a given bearing / lubricant system. The range of coefficients of friction is 0.01 to 0.10 for boundary lubrication and 0.01 to 0.3 for self-lubrication.
Caution must be used when applying friction coefficient handbook data. Conditions under which the values were measured should be known and duplicated in the application. Coefficient of friction tends to increase with increasing surface roughness, dryness, and cleanliness of surfaces, and decreasing temperature.
Torque required to put a bearing into motion from rest is usually higher than that required to keep the bearing running once it starts. Starting friction, therefore, has an important influence on the power required in a bearing drive system.
Externally pressurized bearings have very low starting torque. Roller bearings have a low starting torque and underpressurized sleeve (fluid-film) bearings have substantially higher starting torque. The coefficient of friction at start-up for self-lubricated bearings is highly variable. It may range from 0.04 to 0.16.
The fluid-film bearing has a high starting torque because it passes through boundary lubrication stages as it comes up to speed. Once running under a hydrodynamic film, the fluid-film bearing exhibits friction characteristics comparable to a rolling-element bearing.
At running speed, the externally pressurized bearing runs with low friction. Friction in a self-lubricating sleeve bearing is quite variable depending upon the application.
Running friction for a rolling-element bearing is lower than its starting friction. If torque characteristics are critical to a bearing design, starting and running frictional characteristics should be measured experimentally.
When a bearing must be started repeatedly under heavy load, rolling-element bearings offer a better choice than sleeve bearings. When the increased complexity is acceptable, an externally pressurized (hydrostatic) bearing is the best choice. When starting load is light and load increases gradually with speed, the conventional hydrodynamic sleeve bearing usually is preferred.
The frictional properties of any plain bearing depend on the lubrication system. Either hydrodynamic or hydrostatic lubrication can provide low friction. A gas bearing offers the lowest friction levels.
Friction in hydrodynamic and hydrostatic bearings is a function of lubricant viscosity and shear rate. Shear rate increases with increasing rotational speed and decreasing film thickness. Friction coefficient is generally below 0.001.
Self-lubricated bearings vary widely. It is difficult to predict performance for a given bearing / lubricant system. The range of coefficients of friction is 0.01 to 0.10 for boundary lubrication and 0.01 to 0.3 for self-lubrication.
Caution must be used when applying friction coefficient handbook data. Conditions under which the values were measured should be known and duplicated in the application. Coefficient of friction tends to increase with increasing surface roughness, dryness, and cleanliness of surfaces, and decreasing temperature.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Help Japan Before time Runs out!!!
Well here we are at the end of March and as promised would donate half of our profits to the recovery efforts in Japan. Hurry and help the cause before its to late as today is the last day of the event "buy a bearing for Japans Recovery" For more information about whats going on with Lonestar Bearings Follow us here or find us on Twitter and Facebook.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Tapered Bearings Going for Cheap while they last.
Check out this spring Blowout on lm11949 tapered bearings!!! 95 cents a piece get them while they last!! With prices this cheap they arent going to be available long so act now! We also have many more tapered bearings radial bearings and disc harrow bearings available for purchase on our website Lonestar Bearings or contact us by phone or email for any questions you may have.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Common Bearing Failures
Common Bearing FailuresEver wondered what the root cause of your bearing failing is. Well often times its not just because its old. There are many things to look for when finding a failing bearing and replacing it that may potentially help you eliminate more down time and costly repairs. Many times we are upset that we have to shut down to replace a bearing and in a h...aste to get our piece of machinery back together and producing for us, that we sometimes end up causing more down time by failing to examine failed bearing to get answers to reason its failed to correct those issues and prevent another premature failure. Below I have broken down each reason for premature failure and given you the common tell tale signs you will see on the failed bearing you pull to replace.
Excessive Load
Tight fits,brinelling and improper
preloading can bring about
early failure.
The solution is to reduce the
load or redesign using a bearing
with greater capacity.
Overheating
Symptoms include discoloration of the metal from
silver or gold to a blue or purple color around ball or rings.
Temperatures in excess of 400 degrees F can cause brittle metal
allowing for stress cracks/pitting and deformation in severe cases.
Excessive heat will degrade/destroy lubricants.
Brinelling(Pitting)
Commonly called pitting. this occurs when the load
surpasses the elastic capabilities of the ring material
The visual indication of this is indentations in the race
This increases bearing noise and creates vibrations which
causes unnormal wear and premature bearing failure
These are just a few common symptoms of premature bearing failure.
For more information on proper care and mainentance of bearings as well as all things happening within our company and all our product promotions.
follow us here or at Lonestar Bearings News Page
or follow us on Facebook
Excessive Load
Tight fits,brinelling and improper
preloading can bring about
early failure.
The solution is to reduce the
load or redesign using a bearing
with greater capacity.
Overheating
Symptoms include discoloration of the metal from
silver or gold to a blue or purple color around ball or rings.
Temperatures in excess of 400 degrees F can cause brittle metal
allowing for stress cracks/pitting and deformation in severe cases.
Excessive heat will degrade/destroy lubricants.
Brinelling(Pitting)
Commonly called pitting. this occurs when the load
surpasses the elastic capabilities of the ring material
The visual indication of this is indentations in the race
This increases bearing noise and creates vibrations which
causes unnormal wear and premature bearing failure
These are just a few common symptoms of premature bearing failure.
For more information on proper care and mainentance of bearings as well as all things happening within our company and all our product promotions.
follow us here or at Lonestar Bearings News Page
or follow us on Facebook
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