On Friday, December 9, 2016 at 5:22:36 PM UTC-5, Christopher Tidy wrote:
Thanks for all the useful answers. I'm looking for examples of common products which are currently in production, and where a risk of sudden failure exists if the bearing fails to behave properly. Slow and lightly loaded applications aren't so interesting, as the design isn't critical and the price is going to be the main factor.

Car engines and jet engines are interesting. The last small engine I took apart (400 cc) had rolling element main bearings, whereas a similar older engine (600 cc) had huge plain bearings and hardly any signs of wear. I also saw a compressor with a ball bearing in the big end of the connecting rod recently. This got me thinking. I don't see so many plain bearings in modern products, or at least nothing so visible as the bronze sleeves in my 1960s power hacksaw and 1940s sewing machine. But maybe "see" is the important word.

Can anyone tell me what kinds of bearings are used in specific car engines from well-known manufacturers today? Volkswagen, Ford, Mercedes, etc.? An example or two would be useful

Thanks for the information.

Best wishes,

Chris

Every make you mentioned uses plain shell bearings. Very few engines are built with roller crankshaft bearings today, and those are, as far as I know, all small, high-performance 2-strokes. Even they may have switched; I haven't kept up.

The advantages of roller bearings in an engine apply where there is little lubrication and high loads -- thus, the two-strokes. There were some roller-bearing F1 4-strokes among the V10s (they were ceramic) but no longer.

The friction issue is about a wash overall in IC engines. One additional issue with roller bearings is that they take up too much space in a compact engine crankcase.

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Ed Huntress