Bearing Life & Absolute Max Loadings

[markocosic]

Hi all,

I've searched the texts and fora and haven't comes across the answer I'm looking for yet.

Bearings - they've got a basic load rating such that for a 'standard' deep-groove ball bearing:

(L10) life (in millions of revolutions) = ((basic load rating)/(applied equivalent raidal load))^3

I'd like to use just two bearings throughout the car - one for steering column/arbs and another for wheels/diff.

If (when) numbnuts romps on the brake pedal at full throttle in 1st gear, the applied equivalent radial load will exceed the basic load rating of the bearings I'm proposing using.

Sanity-check: this is ok, and will simply reduce the life expectancy of the bearing, no?

Question: how far can you push this before you run the risk of the bearing exploding into zillions of little pieces and lengths of chain getting intimate with spectators?

[markocosic]

Hi all,

I've searched the texts and fora and haven't comes across the answer I'm looking for yet.

Bearings - they've got a basic load rating such that for a 'standard' deep-groove ball bearing:

(L10) life (in millions of revolutions) = ((basic load rating)/(applied equivalent raidal load))^3

I'd like to use just two bearings throughout the car - one for steering column/arbs and another for wheels/diff.

If (when) numbnuts romps on the brake pedal at full throttle in 1st gear, the applied equivalent radial load will exceed the basic load rating of the bearings I'm proposing using.

Sanity-check: this is ok, and will simply reduce the life expectancy of the bearing, no?

Question: how far can you push this before you run the risk of the bearing exploding into zillions of little pieces and lengths of chain getting intimate with spectators?

[D J Yates]

It's probably ok. If the bearing fails, it shouldn't explode, it'll just seize up and you'll have to replace it. I could only see a bearing exploding if there was a fatigue fracture of a rolling element at high speed, ala Raikkonen. It's more likely that you'll just deform the rolling elements if static, or get some wear on the bearing surfaces if rolling... it think.

[Welfares]

That is correct, it will just shorten the life a bit.

There is a method for doing it, i'll try and track it down for you, i'll need it this year anyway.