Understanding why a bearing has failed is one of the best ways to prevent the same failure from happening again. Almost all bearing failures and damage are either caused by:

• Improper lubrication
• Contamination
• Poor installation
• Handling or maintenance regimes

All these reasons can be prevented in future once identified.

The team at J A D Associates has years of experience studying bearing damage and failures that have occurred in automotive, agricultural, general and heavy engineering applications. We extract evidence from the bearing parts and, where available, their mating components; with this evidence we carry out a failure analysis of the application to determine the most likely root cause of the problem.

J A D Associates provides its customers with a source of straightforward failure analysis reports to assist in the resolution of customer complaints or technical queries. We try to keep our reports on a common sense basis and do not generally resort to complex calculations of stress or metallurgical analysis unless demanded.

Failure analysis is valuable in situations such as:

• Where an end user is claiming compensation for being supplied a 'faulty bearing'
• Identifying the reasons for a catastrophic bearing failure having occurred
• Determining a problem in a machine when the bearings need to be replaced frequently
• When a machine or vehicle is stripped for routine maintenance and bearing damage is seen
• When selling an improved solution to an existing user

The bearing failure experts at J A D Associates understand that an academic bearing failure study and investigations can be expensive. We therefore utilise our years of experience to identify the problem before any further expense is required.

Reports from J A D Associates are easy to understand with, wherever possible, photographic evidence used to demonstrate the points being made. We include a conclusion section that not only highlights the most likely reason for the problem, but also makes recommendations as to how the problem can be prevented in the future.

In most cases the failed bearings, along with any associated parts such as shafts or housings, are carefully packaged by you and supplied to our bearing failure experts at our premises in Lincolnshire. We ask you for as much information in respect to the problem or complaint as possible as this assists with the failure analysis in the build up to and final stages of bearing life.

Our experts will review the items sent or described to us and advise an approximate cost to carry out the type of bearing failure inspection, investigation or analysis appropriate to the situation. Our costs are generally based on an hourly rate for small bearing failure inspections or a daily rate for more complex investigations that may need a site visit.

We produce a written report appropriate to the circumstances and discuss the findings with you before completion and before advising that the damaged parts are available for your collection.

We pride ourselves on producing a rapid response to queries, as we know you often need answers urgently and cannot wait for the original bearing manufacturer to comment or report.

As we are independent, we can also impartially study applications where bearings from more than one manufacture are used.