Worn bearings can spell disaster in threshers, plows and harrows
Heavy industry demands heavy machinery. This includes things like tractors and pieces of large farm equipment, like threshers, plows, and others. All of these machines are subject to the same wear and tear that smaller, consumer vehicles and machines are, so they need large heavy-duty ball bearings that are up to the task of preventing and mitigating friction between their moving parts.
Any type of bearing, whether or not it’s a roller, linear, or ball bearing, deforms a tiny bit when it is subject to use. This lost of shape is virtually undetectable to the naked eye, but still results in a tiny reduction of its efficiency at controlling friction. The more heat, pressure, and other stress a bearing is subjected to, the more it can potentially deform. For this reason, bearings come in a lot of various sizes and materials, based on what they’re needed for. When it comes to heavy industry and agriculture, ball bearings can be placed under a lot of exceptional stress. These machines are large and heavy, with motors that generate a lot of heat and vibration. Using the improper kind of ball bearings here can result in bearings that fail prematurely, and cause a sudden mechanical failure. Sometimes, this might just mean a hefty repair bill for the machine’s owner. When it comes to large, potentially dangerous equipment like threshers, however, the results of a mechanical failure can be a lot more critical. Therefore, choosing the right ball bearings is a must.
Lately, the ball bearings industry has been encountering problems with counterfeit products. People seeking to buy bearings usually can’t tell whether bearings are real or fake, and bearing distributors can have a hard time, too. There have been numerous successful efforts to control the infiltration of these bearings into the market, but the problem is ongoing. Counterfeit bearings are usually lower quality than the real McCoy, which can have serious implications for the machines they’re used in. That said, there are a number of trustworthy manufacturers that produce bearings for industrial and agricultural applications. Timken bearings, for one, are used in transmissions, axles, gear boxes, and many other components of large agricultural and industrial vehicles. NSK bearings also come in a high-speed, high-performance assortment that’s widely used in harvesters. Lastly, NTN bearings find their way into disc harrows, planters, threshers, and many other large machines.
The stresses of agriculture and heavy industry call for special machines, and special machines demand special ball bearings. For manufacturers of these items, getting good excellent bearings and staying away from counterfeit products is of paramount importance.
