Installation of bearings

Avon Bearings are convered with a rust preventative/preservative coating in order to protect them during shipment and storage. This coating must be removed from the bearing before mounting. An all-purpose industrial strength cleaner can be used.

Remove any nicks or burrs from the bearing that may have been caused during shipping and handling, using a hand file
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Clean the bearing, including pilots and mounting holes, one last time to ensure that they are free of foreign materials.

Use eye bolts in the mounting holes for handling and moving the gearing. If slings are used, use only nylon web type or equivalent in order to avoid damage to the bearing.

Lift the bearing into position for mounting. Position the loading plug and the spot marked with a "G" on the opposite race 90 degrees from the loading axis whenever possible as depicted in Figure 1. These are the unhardened "soft spots" in the induction hardened raceways. They should be located perpendicular to the axis of principle loading.

Mount the bearing to both surfaces of the machine, aligning it with the bolts. Always use Grade 8 bolts or better. Do no distort the bearing's races to align it with the bolts. Do not tighten bolts at this time. First, check the bearing torque by rotation and record the results.

If the gear backlash is adjusted by means of locating the bearing with respect to a fixed drive system, it should be done at this time. The point of minimum gear clearance on the bearing is marked on the face of the gear teeth with paint.

Tighten all bolts by the method recommended and to the level of preload as instructed by the bolt manufacturer. The preferred technique when tightening the bearing mounting bolts would be to tighten in the order depicted in Figure 2.

Continue tightening bolts until all bolts are tightened and the bearing is uniformly secured to the structure. Note that improper bolting can cause failure of the equipment.

Recheck the bearing torque and compare it to the first reading. If the torque of the mounted bearing has increased significantly over the first reading, the bearing is being distorted. This condition needs to be corrected before continuing. Periodic torque checks should be taken during bearing installation and compared to the first reading. There should be no significant difference.

Adjustable drive gears can now be adjusted for proper backlash.

For detailed installation instructions, request Avon Bearings SPEC #BES 5-2-050.