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.


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