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Shattered snap ring


Gearclash

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Anybody care to speculate why this snap ring disintegrated so completely?    Been in use about 2 years, came from McMaster Carr. This is one of two snap rings that retain a pair of back to back tapered roller bearings. Ring seated diameter is around 2-7/8” I think. The opposing snap ring was fine  

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Just thinking out loud here but the ring has a definite wear mark on it. It’s like it was turning in the housing or the bearing was spinning against it?? If that’s true, is it possible that there was enough end play on the shaft to move back and forth? Possibly enough to “slam” into the ring and break it upon impact?? I know nothing about the application, just wondering. Or like Hammer said heat treating. Is the other one the same size? Replaced at the same time? If so you would think that they both could be bad. So why didn’t the other one fail? I have no answers. Just questions. Sorry 

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It did not look like the bearing was spinning in the housing although the bearing it retains is a slip fit, per factory.  If anything, the end play on this assembly was on the tight side.  In theory, it is not possible to put a significant amount of end thrust on this assembly as there are free floating splines on each end.  

I was wondering if the snap ring got slid in the bore and “snapped” in place during installation (rather than being placed directly in the groove with a tool) and that “snap” led to fracturing.  

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"Snapping" into the groove would not be enough to cause fracture.  It looks like impact loading, especially against a slip fit bearing.  Even with splines on both ends the shaft or whatever part it is, will see some radial and axial loading.  Also coming from Mcmaster Carr, who knows what the quality is, it could be more brittle than it should be, like Sledge said, improper/inconsistent heat treat.

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5 hours ago, just Dave said:

It looks like it got hot in service. That’s bad for HT. 

I didn’t see any kind of discoloring at all.  What’s more, this whole assembly is submerged in transmission oil.  

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On 9/16/2023 at 6:55 PM, Gearclash said:

I didn’t see any kind of discoloring at all.  What’s more, this whole assembly is submerged in transmission oil.  

Old eyes and pictures make for a lot of room for error.

So a pair of tapered roller bearings should have a preload, how is that set with snapping containment?

If not a preload on bearings then they could slam upon loading causing fracture?

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9 hours ago, just Dave said:

So a pair of tapered roller bearings should have a preload, how is that set with snapping containment?

Most shafts in these tractor transmissions that use two tapered bearings to support them call for x amount of endplay, off the top of my head usually around .003" to around .005” endplay.  Endplay is set by shims behind the snap rings.   I think this set was too tight, and possibly catching some pounding from the front axle pivot being loose.  I was pulling a dirt pan some with this tractor last summer and a little this summer and that can get pretty hard on the driveline.

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