Precision bearings meet the needs of landing gear technology

Precision bearing specialist Carter Manufacturing is an approved aerospace bearing supplier to industry leading landing gear manufacturers and is accredited to ISO9001 incorporating the requirements of AS9120 with flow down from AS9100.

These specialist bearings are key components of modern landing gear systems, with the common applications being landing gear struts and actuators. Where required Carter’s bearings include AS9120 Aerospace First Article inspection reports for traceability of all raw materials and special processes along with full dimensional analysis.

One of the main issues with landing gear components, either when installing or maintaining, is their size and the risks associated when moving them to different departments.

Special, customised aerospace portable bearing tools are available from Carter to alleviate the pressures, such as clearance restrictions including anti-rotation features which have been proven over decades of experience from thousands of successful projects. Using a portable set of tooling can allow for the safe removal, installation and testing of the bearings without having to move the component.

In most landing gear systems the bearings are usually situated at the end of a very long and heavy tube with limited access which means special fixtures need to be designed to ensure the component is square and secure to the hydraulic press, or vertical milling machine. This issue can be overcome by using the portable tools. For example, a staking force for a 4” OD bearing would be around 50,000 lbs, while the swaging force for portable tools is so low it can be simply applied by hand with a wrench.

Carter’s swaging tools are precision engineered to suit specific landing gear bearings helping to reduce operational risks and reduce costs by minimising the possibility of damaging expensive bearings and housings. If the customer doesn’t want to use portable tools (or the application dictates a different approach), drill press style swaging tools are another option providing a better option than anvil staking tools because the swaging force required is a fraction of the overall staking force and will drastically improve the quality of the swage.  

Carter also supports projects using their proprietary bearing application software to validate theoretical bearing performance and they can also provide detailed reports which better educate customers and validate mission critical decisions.