Check
the Oil-Bath Bearings
Visually check the oil-bath bearings daily. Oil-bath bearing assemblies can leak oil from three
locations and attention should be paid to these areas.
A
- Oil can seep from between the bearing
housing and the end cap or from around the bolts that
hold the end cap to the housing. This condition is
caused by loose bolts or damaged gaskets. Gaskets
are placed between the end cap and the housing to
preload the taper bearings in the housing. The
solution is to tighten the bolts (30 ft/lbs) or replace the
gaskets.
B
– Oil can seep past the check plugs. Plugs
may use a pipe thread. Remove, clean the threads,
apply “pipe dope” or Teflon tape and reinstall.
C
– Oil
may seep by the metallic duo-cone seals. This may be
caused by worn seals, loose gang axles or extreme
temperature fluctuations. Worn seals should be
replaced immediately to prevent catastrophic bearing
failure. Such a failure will ruin all the other components
of the bearing. Loose gang axles can allow the bearing
flanges to move outwards and thereby allow the seals to
separate. Be sure to keep gang axles tight. Because
the seals are made of metal, they can expand and contract with extreme temperature fluctuations.
When they contract the sealing surfaces separate and small amounts of oil can escape. This will
normally occur when the disk is in storage. Putting the disk to use will normally allow the seals to re-
seat themselves. Check the oil and add 90W gear oil if necessary.
20
Grease wheel bearings (H) sparingly
– six “shots” of grease every 150
hours.
