What Causes Bearing Failure?

If you’re in charge of maintaining machinery, you know that bearing failure is always a possibility. No matter the size of your operation, from a small single-product manufacturer to a massive, multinational assembly line, you’ve likely experienced slowdown – or shutdown – due to component failure. But what causes bearings to fail? What’s the root source of wear and tear? Better yet, how can these contributing factors be mitigated – or avoided entirely – to ensure that your operation maintains its output, productivity, and profitability? In today’s post, we’re going to look at the most common causes of bearing failures and – more importantly – look at some steps you can take to avoid them.

The most common causes of bearing failure

There are a lot of factors that can impact the health of your machinery. Because of this, it’s important to properly train and educate your workers on the operation – and maintenance – of your equipment. When it comes to bearing failure, though, one of the following causes is likely the leading cause:

• Corrosion
• Electrical plating
• Improper fit or installation
• Improper adjustment or maintenance
• Mishandling
• Dry or improper lubricant
• Impact load

The best way to be certain that your equipment is being taken care of is to thoroughly train your employees. Best of all, if you don’t have the time – or the capability – to provide this training in house, Bearing Service offers a wide range of courses. Whether you’d like your employees to know more about bearing maintenance and installation or linear motional fundamentals, you can be confident that our team will teach your team everything they need to keep your line moving.

At Bearing Service, we strive to provide the best bearing products and services on the market. If you’re looking for a supplier – and partner! – that will work with you to optimize your line, contact us today to learn how we can help.