Bearing installation locked

No further action is necessary. View Grid List. Add to Cart. Show 8 8 12 16 24 48 All per page. SKU: Most installation errors can be avoided through proper training, correct procedures and selection of products with design features that are compatible with operating conditions of the application.

The most common mounting and installation causes of bearing failure along with some recommended approaches for avoiding these problems are detailed here:. Insufficient Tightness —When installing a bearing, it must be correctly forced up its tapered adapter sleeve.

Improperly tightened bearings and adapter assemblies may slip or turn on the shaft. Historically, in adapter-mounted bearings the point at which the installer reaches a sufficient amount of locknut tightness has been difficult, if not somewhat cumbersome, to achieve. An installer would either use feeler gauges to measure the amount of clearance reduction in the bearing when tightening the locknut, or tighten a locknut a fixed amount after it had been snugged tight with a spanner wrench to take out the clearance between the mounting components.

Using feeler gauges to measure the clearance reduction in a bearing while mounting is time consuming and can be inaccurate if the gauges are not properly read. The problem with tightening the locknut a fixed amount after it has been snugged tight is that when snugging up the locknut the amount of snug tightness varies from one installation to the next, depending on the installer. If the feeler gauges are not properly read or the amount of locknut snug fit is not just right, the mounting can be left too loose or too tight.

To overcome these problems, bearings that actually help an installer determine when they are properly tightened are available see Sidebar 1. Incorrect Shaft Diameters —Typically, commercially available shafting is used in most applications due to cost. These shafts usually have a fairly wide range of under-nominal size diameters.

The proper shaft mounting option is crucial when selecting a bearing. Bearings that use spring and eccentric cam locking collars see Fig 2 and Fig 3 are subject to excessive fret or possible fracture of the inner ring when the shaft is undersized by more than one to two thousandths of an inch depending on the size.

Bearings that use tapered adapter sleeves usually can mount to commercial grade shafting without hindering the service life of the bearing. These bearings are provided with housings, and the housing seat diameters are properly sized before they leave the factory. Prior to bearing selection and installation , the shaft should be inspected and measured with micrometers.

Nut 8 is fixed axially with respect to second adapter 6 , but able to rotate relative to the second adapter by virtue of the flange 56 and groove 55 arrangement described above. Therefore, rotation of nut 8 can be used to draw the oppositely angled, outer tapered surfaces 23 , 35 of the tapered adapters together within a bearing in order to create an interference wedge fit within the inner ring member 10 of the bearing to lock the bearing to shaft 3. Furthermore, fasteners 50 of split nut 8 can be subsequently tightened further to provide additional anchoring force to hold the first and second tapered adapters to the shaft to prevent axial movement along the shaft.

This additional anchoring force combined with the anchoring force generated by the interference fit of the tapered surfaces allows the bearing assembly of the present invention to withstand increased axial loads along the shaft. It is anticipated that the axial load bearing ability of the bearing assembly of the present invention will raise the axial load rating to equal the maximum load acceptable to the bearing.

An important feature of the present invention is that the dual tapered surfaces of the first and second adapters automatically create the correct clearance for the bearing when used in conjunction with the specially formed bearing inner ring member 10 described above and a shaft of the appropriate diameter.

The lesser diameter inner ends of the first and second tapered adapters are each formed with a radially extending shoulder that defines a limit to axial travel of the first and second tapered adapters toward each other on the shaft by inter-engagement of the shoulders.

When the shoulders abut, the tapered surfaces and bearing inner ring member 10 are designed and dimensioned to generate a interference fit sufficient to reliably lock the bearing assembly to the shaft while automatically positioning the inner raceway of the inner ring member a distance from the shaft that achieves the correct bearing clearance. This arrangement also avoids pre-loading of the bearings. When designing tapered bearings, it is possible for designers to establish a ratio between the amount of running clearance transverse to the axis of the shaft that a bearing will give up and the distance the tapered adapter moves into the bore along the axis of the shaft after full contact is made between the tapered adapter and the inner race.

Therefore, it is possible to determine how much axial movement of the tapered adapter will result in a given reduction of the radial clearance of the bearing. Given that a bearing can operate satisfactorily over a range of running clearance, then the axial movement of the tapered adapters of the present invention will work satisfactorily over a range of shaft diameters. The tapered bearing of the present invention provides a limit to the axial movement of the tapered adapters by virtue of the two opposing tapered adapters engaging each other from opposite sides of the bearing to create a stop position.

This is unlike conventional tapered bearings that have no limit to the axial movement of the tapered adapter through the bearing bore. The wedging arrangement of the present invention also offers the advantage that no pre-loading of the bearing occurs. Two opposing tapered surfaces being pulled into a bearing inner ring member from opposite sides of the bearing avoids axial pre-loading of the bearing. With conventional tapered bearings, it is difficult to locate a bearing precisely at a particular location on a shaft as there is a tendency when tightening the tapered adapter to pull the bearing axially along the shaft towards the nut on the adapter.

If the bearing housing is in a fixed position, then tightening of the adapter results in axial pre-loading of the bearing with conventional tapered bearing designs. The design of the present invention avoids this problem by having the tapered adapters enter the bearing from opposite sides in opposite directions.

In the second embodiment, parts identical to those of the first embodiment are identically labelled. The second embodiment employs a modified first tapered adapter 74 that a second sleeve portion 75 extending from the greater diameter outer end 26 of the adapter opposite to the first sleeve portion Second sleeve portion 75 is adapted to receive a second locking member 78 for exerting a clamping force on the second sleeve portion to assist in retaining the bearing assembly on shaft 3.

Preferably, the second locking member 78 is a second split nut 80 having an axial portion with internal threads 82 to engage external threads 77 formed on second sleeve portion Second split nut 80 is formed from at least two nut segments that are tightenable together about the shaft using transversely extending fasteners between nut segments to provide additional anchoring force to hold the bearing assembly to the shaft. In the illustrated embodiment, second split nut 80 is identical to the first split nut 8 of the first embodiment to the extent that the second split also includes a groove In fact, in the second split nut, this groove is unnecessary and unused and is illustrated to emphasize that the two split nuts are preferably identical to reduce the number of different parts.

Second split nut 80 is preferably rotated into position on threads 77 to abut the bearing housing which defines a convenient stop location prior to the nut segments of the second split nut being tightened together for their clamping effect on shaft 3.

It will be apparent to a person skilled in the art that the second locking member 78 can also be a conventional clamping member such as a hose clamp or the like that engages a non-threaded second sleeve portion Installation of the bearing assembly of the present invention involves inserting first adapter 4 positioned over shaft 3 through the internal bore of inner ring member The cylindrical sleeve 25 of first tapered adapter 4 is dimensioned to protrude from the opposite side of the bearing a sufficient distance to position external threads 27 to be engageable with internal threads 52 of split nut 8.

Second tapered adapter 6 is then slid along shaft 3 into position within the internal bore of inner ring member 10 from the opposite side of the bearing over sleeve The nut segments 8 a and 8 b of split nut 8 are then installed about shaft 3 so that groove 55 engages flange 56 of the second adapter. Fasteners 50 are tightened to form split nut 8 into a single unit. Split 8 is then rotated so that nut internal threads 52 engage first adapter external threads 27 which serves to draw the tapered surfaces of the adapters together within the inner ring member 10 of the bearing.

Nut 8 is rotated until the inner shoulders of the tapered adapters abut each other at which point the tapered surfaces are positioned to create an interference fit between the inner ring member and the shaft that reliably lock the bearing assembly into place and at the same time positions the inner ring member a distance from the shaft that provides appropriate bearing clearance.

Fasteners 50 can be tightened further to provide additional clamping force to maintain the bearing assembly in place on the shaft. In the case of the second embodiment of FIG. Removal of the bearing assembly involves loosening of the second locking member in the case of the second embodiment. Then, split nut 8 is released by loosening fasteners 50 , and rotating nut 8 to draw apart the tapered adapters.

After the first locking nut 8 has been removed from second tapered adapter 6 , second nut 80 can be rotated on threads 77 of second sleeve 75 of first tapered adapter 74 to cause the nut to move in the direction indicated by arrow This results in the inner face 98 of nut 80 and internal nut threads 82 applying forces that result in relative axial movement between the inner race member 10 and the tapered adapter The applied force acts to withdraw the first tapered adapter 74 from the inner race member along shaft 3 as nut 80 is advanced along threads Although the present invention has been described in some detail by way of example for purposes of clarity and understanding, it will be apparent that certain changes and modifications may be practised within the scope of the appended claims.

A bearing assembly lockable onto a shaft, the bearing assembly comprising: a first tapered adapter defining a first axial bore for the receipt of the shaft, and having an outer, annular tapered surface tapered from a greater diameter outer end to a lesser diameter inner end with a sleeve portion extending axially from the lesser diameter inner end of the adapter;.

The bearing assembly of claim 1 wherein the locking member is a nut having internal threads formed on the first axial portion and the sleeve portion of the first tapered adapter is formed with external threads engageable with the internal threads such that rotation of the nut acts to move the first tapered adapter axially along the shaft with respect to the nut. The bearing assembly of claim 2 wherein one of the second axial portion of the nut and the second tapered adapter is formed with a flange and the other is formed with a complementary groove, the flange being engageable in the groove to lock the nut and the second tapered adapter together with respect to axial movement along the shaft while permitting relative rotation.

The bearing assembly of claim 2 wherein the nut is a split nut formed from at least two nut segments that are tightenable together about the shaft to provide additional anchoring force to hold the first and second tapered adapters to the shaft to prevent axial movement along the shaft.

The bearing assembly of claim 1 in which at least the first tapered adapter is formed with a slot extending axially along the length thereof. The bearing assembly of claim 5 in which the second tapered adapter is formed with a slot extending axially along the length thereof. The bearing assembly of claim 1 in which the lesser diameter inner ends of the first and second tapered adapters are each formed with a radially extending shoulder that defines a limit to axial travel of the first and second tapered adapters toward each other on the shaft by inter-engagement of the shoulders.

The bearing assembly of claim 1 in which the first tapered adapter includes a second sleeve portion extending from the greater diameter outer end of the adapter and a second locking member having an axial portion for engaging the second sleeve portion of the first tapered adapter. The bearing assembly of claim 8 wherein the second locking member is a second nut having internal threads formed on the first axial portion, and the second sleeve portion of the first tapered adapter is formed with external threads engageable with the internal threads of the second locking member.