Over time, bearing replacement can be a necessary move for your applications. However, there are ways that you can help delay the inevitable. Proper bearing maintenance can help extend your part’s lifespan (or notice potential failure before it becomes a bigger issues), but there is another option as well – refurbishment.

Bearing refurbishment allows you to potentially fix up bearings instead of outright replacing them. This process offers significant savings compared to replacement parts – but exactly how much can refurbishing your bearings really save you?

Cost saving of bearing refurbishment

Turns out, quite a bit. An article by Plant Engineer estimates that “the cost–benefit analysis of remanufacturing can save as much as 80 percent against the cost of a new bearing.”

Let’s say that again – as much as 80 percent. That’s definitely a potential cost savings worth investigating.

How to assess which bearings are eligible for refurbishing

One example of an application/industry that could benefit from bearing refurbishment are spherical roller bearings used in a continuous caster machine. But there are others where the bearings may be eligible for refurbishing, such as:

Radial Ball Bearings Cylindrical Roller Bearings Slewing Ring Bearings

To decide if a bearing is suitable for remanufacturing, start with these three steps:

Disassemble Clean Inspect

The inspection involves a visual and microscopic inspection, a measurement of ring hardness and dimensional inspection. Once the inspection is complete, a report is furnished offering the reclaim and scrap rates on the bearings. This allows you to determine if you would like to proceed with the reclaim process.

If the bearing passes the inspection it is ready for remanufacturing.

What happens in the bearing refurbishing process?

The bearing refurbishing process consists of five general steps:

Grinding or polishing of bearing side faces, bore diameter, and outside diameter Regrinding or polishing of surfaces to their original dimensions Refitting bearings with new rolling elements Inspection of cages, replacing if necessary Bearings are reassembled

A written report will be issued with a limited warranty.

See if bearing refurbishment can help your business save money

If your business is getting hurt by frequent bearing replacements, refurbishment could be beneficial for your company. Contact Ritbearing today to talk to one of our experts about refurbishment or other solutions to improve the lifespan of your bearings.