Service Questions with Dakota: Bearings and Shafts

Bearings and shafts are fundamental components of heavy machinery, playing a crucial role in ensuring smooth operation and efficiency. Bearings reduce friction between moving parts, allowing machines to run with minimal wear and tear, while shafts serve as the backbone, transmitting power and rotational motion. Proper maintenance of these components is essential to prevent breakdowns, extend machinery lifespan, and reduce costly repairs. Neglecting them can lead to premature failure, decreased performance, and even hazardous working conditions. Eagle Crusher Service Technician Dakota will explore the best practices for maintaining bearings and shafts to keep your crushers running optimally.

Bearing Inspection

Proper bearing lubrication and inspection are crucial for maintaining your equipment efficiency and preventing costly failures. As always, when you are performing any maintenance on your equipment, start off by locking and tagging out.

• Visual Inspection: Regularly inspect bearings for signs of wear, damage, or excessive heat.
• Temperature Monitoring: Track bearing temperatures to detect overheating or excessive friction.
• Noise and Vibration Analysis: Monitor noise and vibration levels to identify potential problems.

Always refer to your lubrication list for intervals and grease amounts. If you cannot find your lubrication list, reach out to a certified Eagle Crusher dealer or Service Technician for help.

Example of a bearing lubrication chart

If the bearings do not pass your inspection that you followed in the above list, let’s look at potential causes of bearing issues.

Causes of Bearing Misalignment:

• Incorrect installation procedures can lead to misalignment, imbalance, and other issues.
• Out-of-Square Components can cause misalignment.
• Bent shafts can lead to misalignment.
• Dirt on shaft or housing shoulders can cause misalignment.

Signs of Bearing Misalignment and Damage

• Excessive Noise
  • Grinding, humming, whining, or squealing sounds, especially when the shaft is in motion or under load, can indicate bearing issues.
• Vibrations
  • Excessive or unusual vibrations, especially when the shaft is in motion, can indicate bearing problems.
• Unusual Heat
  • Overheated bearings and couplings can indicate poor lubrication or misalignment.
• Visible Damage
  • Look for signs of wear, damage, or contamination on the bearing surface, including pitting, scoring, scratches, or discoloration of the lubricant.
• Reduced Performance
  • Reduced efficiency reduced rotating movement, or difficulty in operation can indicate bearing issues.
• Lubricant Contamination
  • The presence of metal particles or discoloration of the lubricant can suggest bearing wear.

Shaft Inspection

Similarly to the bearings, it’s important to inspect the shafts regularly, keeping an eye out for the following:

• Visual Inspection: Scratches, gouges, pitting, corrosion, rust, cracks, fractures, and wear patterns on the shaft’s surface.

Signs of Shaft Misalignment and Damage

• Balancing Techniques:
  • Check the sheave with a dial indicator for signs of damage.
• Vibration Analysis
  • Analyzing vibration patterns can help identify imbalances and other issues that need to be addressed.
• Field Balancing
  • This involves adding or removing weight to the rotating components to achieve balance.

Knowing Who Has Your Back

Regular maintenance of bearings and shafts is not just a recommendation, it’s a necessity for ensuring the longevity and reliability of heavy machinery. By implementing proper lubrication, routine inspections, and timely replacements, you can prevent costly downtime and improve overall efficiency. Prioritizing the care of your machine is an investment in the performance and durability of your equipment, ensuring productivity and profitability for years to come.

You are not alone on this journey. Eagle Crusher has a wide network of dealers and technicians ready to assist you with anything you need. You can reach out to any Team Eagle member or check out our previous Service Questions blogs where our certified technicians talk about the various maintenance items you may experience with your rock crusher.