MAJOR

9
REASONS
FOR LINE SHAFT BUSHING (GUIDE BEARING)
FAILURES IN CENTRIFUGAL PUMPS
Line Shaft Bearings do not cause pump problems, unless the
wrong bearing material is selected for the pump operation.
With pressure to cut costs many pump manufacturers have
selected inferior quality line shaft bearings in an e!ort to
reduce expenses.

For example, many companies use thermoplastic, elastomer, or

rubber line shaft bushings or line shaft bearings. The problem
is that these bearings break down under “Pressure,” or
“Elevated Temperatures;” two things you Do Not want for any
type of pressure items such as pumps. Also, thermoplastic,
elastomer, and rubber bushings break down from
contaminants such as sand, silt, or grit!

Guide bearing failures can also be the result of other problems

that the pump is experiencing such as a mechanical unbalance
of the impeller, or rotor, or the result of high radial loading
caused by a hydraulic unbalance.
MAJOR CAUSES OF PREMATURE
BEARING FAILURES ARE:

INCORRECT BEARING EXCESSIVE SHAFT

1 MATERIAL SELECTED FOR 2 MOVEMENT CAUSED BY
THE PUMP OPERATION CAVITATION

HIGH RADIAL LOADING EXCESSIVE RADIAL

3 BECAUSE OF HYDRAULIC 4 MOVEMENT AS A RESULT
UNBALANCE OF A MECHANICAL
UNBALANCE OF THE
IMPELLER, OR ROTOR
 LACK OF PROPER CONTAMINANTS IN THE
5 BEARING LUBRICATION 6 LUBRICATION

IMPROPER MACHINING IMPROPER SHAFT

7 AND/OR ALIGNMENT OF 8 ALIGNMENT, OR IMPROPER
THE BEARING ALIGNMENT OF THE
HOUSINGS, OR BORES FLANGES ON THE PUMP,
THE COLUMN PIPING,
SPIDERS, OR PUMP BOWL
ASSEMBLIES
IMPROPER ALIGNMENT
9 OF THE PUMP WHEN
MOUNTED TO THE BASE
PLATE FOUNDATION
 SOLUTION

Use Structural Composite Line Shaft Bushings such as

SIMSITE® manufactured by the SIMS PUMP Valve Company,
Inc. in Hoboken, New Jersey. SIMSITE® Bearings do not break
down under pressure, or temperature and they hold up much
better when operating with sand, silt, or grit.

SIMSITE® Line Shaft Bushings are the best guide bearings. because
they NEVER CORRODE in Seawater, Wastewater, Sewage, or
Chlorinated Water, and because they are machined from solid blocks
of structural composite, which makes them mechanical superior and
allows them to hold the shaft more securely and to take higher
mechanical loading.
 
Since hydraulic and mechanical unbalance, are major modes of failure
for guide bearings, impellers in centrifugal pumps should be upgrade to
SIMSITE® Structural Composite! 

SIMSITE® Impellers are machined from solid blocks of the patented

SIMSITE® Composite so they Do Not su"er from mechanical, or
hydraulic unbalance!  And because they do not corrode, or su"er from
cavitation, or electrolysis, they do not go into an unbalance.