NORD Gearbox Repair and Rebuild

NORD builds modular drives across a wide torque range, from small worm gearmotors moving packaging lines up to industrial gear units in the hundreds of thousands of newton meters. The thing that makes a NORD unit distinct, and the thing that matters when we open one up, is the one piece UNICASE housing. There is no split case line, so there is no gasketed seam to leak and no sealing surface carrying torque. That design holds large roller bearings and keeps the gear axes in tight alignment, which is great for service life but also means a worn bore or a spun bearing has to be brought back true rather than shimmed out. That is exactly the kind of work we do in house. See our full gearbox repair capability and the brands we service.

Every NORD job starts with a free inspection and a free teardown report. We tell you what failed, why it failed, and what it costs before you commit. Then we pick the unit up, crate it, and ship it both ways at no charge, so it makes no difference whether your line is in Pasadena, Baytown, or three states away.

After enough teardowns you learn where each architecture gives out, and NORD units are no different. The patterns we see again and again:

• Output shaft bearing fatigue. The big roller bearings the UNICASE housing is built around take the radial and thrust load from the driven machine. On overhung conveyor loads they spall and brinell over time, and a failing output bearing is usually the first thing knocking before anything else lets go.
• Tooth pitting and micropitting. NORD runs case hardened and hard finished gearing, but startup overloads, marginal lubrication, and contamination still drive surface fatigue. Once pits open up and spalling begins, the tooth profile degrades and noise climbs.
• Worm wheel wear and thermal overload. On the worm units, the bronze wheel is sacrificial against the steel worm. Run a self locking ratio over its thermal rating, use the wrong oil, or take shock loads, and that bronze wears fast and the unit overheats.
• Seal leakage at the output and hollow shaft. Lost lubricant and ingress of dust or washdown water is one of the most common reasons a unit comes in, and it almost always means secondary bearing and gear damage by the time we see it.
• Backstop wear. On inclined conveyors the integrated backstop holds the load. When it wears, the belt can roll back, which is both a production and a safety problem.

We diagnose all of this on the bench and document it in the inspection report so you are never guessing.

NORD drives are everywhere in the industries that built this region. We see them on terminal and port bulk handling conveyors moving grain, aggregate, and petcoke, on process and packaging lines across the petrochemical corridor, on aerators, clarifiers, and screw conveyors in municipal and industrial wastewater plants, and on food and beverage lines running washdown rated units. For more on the sectors we serve, see industries, plus our oil field and mining equipment work.

Distance is not a factor. We pick up local NORD units ourselves, and for everyone else we crate, rig, and ship both ways for free. As our home base, Houston gets same day local pickup and delivery. Our 24 hour line is open when a line goes down at three in the morning.