Thordon Bearings - Greaseless Propeller Shaft & Rudder Bearings

Most vessels use the traditional cutlass bearing design for their propeller shaft bearings and rudder bearings. This is the way that it has always been done. With the cutlass-style bearings on the propeller shaft and the rudder, you have routine service checks. You have to ensure that the bearing has the proper grease applied. It is one additional item that has to be added to the service checklist of the vessel.

Believe it or not, you now have more options with both propeller shaft bearings and rudder bearings. Thordon Bearings is the leader in greaseless style bearings. You read that correctly! You no longer need to apply grease to your propeller shaft bearing or your rudder bearing. It utilizes seawater for lubrication.

Thordon Bearings Features:

• Zero pollution risk (no grease required)
• Lifetime Wear Life Guarantee for COMPAC in bluewater operation
• Turnkey engineering and installation support
• Easy fitting
• Reduced seal maintenance costs
• Inspections without shaft withdrawal
• Resistance to shock and edge loading
• Survivability (our non-catastrophic failure mode allows the ship to get to port)
• Global availability

A lifespan of 10-15 years

These bearings are everything you could envision and more. In addition to the time savings of not having to service them, the Thordon greaseless rudder bearings and propeller shaft bearings have a longer life cycle than the traditional cutlass bearings. When appropriately sized, we typically see the greaseless bearings last between 2-5 times longer than the traditional cutlass bearings. We routinely see vessels replacing their traditional cutlass bearings every 6-12 months. That is not uncommon and obviously is quite an expense every time a new bearing is needed. With the Thordon greaseless bearings, we typically see a life span of 10-15 years.

Quick Installation

Thordon greaseless bearings are incredibly quick and simple to install. In most cases, it takes 30 minutes or less to install these bearings in both the propeller shaft bearings and rudder bearings. 

Cost Savings

We don’t need to do the math for you, but the increased life span of these greaseless bearings will absolutely add up to cost savings over the lifetime of the bearings. The initial cost of the Thordon greaseless bearings is very comparable to the traditional cutlass style bearings, which makes the switch over to the new greaseless style bearing even that much more of a compelling case.

Give us a call the next time you replace your propeller shaft bearing or rudder bearing, and we would be more than happy to talk to you more about these Thordon greaseless bearings!