Three causes of gearbox failure

Gear reducers could be complex machines that apply the science of gearing and mechanical advantage to perform thousands of complex procedures in lots of different industries. Gearbox manufacturers have designed a number of gearboxes in multitudes of different configurations and gear ratios. When failures happen it is advisable to understand how to repair the failed devices and preventing future failures in order to keep production ready to go.

Three things that can cause premature failure are poor lubrication, misalignment and overloading. Failure modes can involve bearing failures or gear failures, or both.
Lubrication is critical for both bearing and gear life. Important aspects of lubrication are the volume of lubricant that can be delivered to each gear mesh and bearings, and also the properties of the lubricant. The lubricant forms a thin film that helps prevent metal-to-metal gear reducer box contact between gears and between bearing components. Modern industrial gears make use of an involute tooth form and tooth engagement, which really is a mixture of rolling and sliding. The oil film is usually a slim barrier between moving parts that allows the rotating push to carefully turn the gears very easily without damage to the metal surfaces. Contamination in the lubricant can lead to scuffing and much faster use for both the bearings and the gearing in a gearbox, so it is imperative that maintenance mechanics examine gearbox lubricant for contamination periodically, once for year as a minimum. Each gearbox could have a recommended oil level as well as a method to lubricate both bearings and the apparatus set. With bath lubrication, all moving components dip listed below the oil level. With splash lubrication, essential oil is splashed around inside the gearbox casing by fast moving elements, covering all shifting parts. With pressure lubrication, oil is usually pumped to each gear mesh and bearing through spray nozzles or essential oil passages from the gearbox oil sump or from and external reservoir.