Bad Bearing and bad Auger collar = bad Auger motor?

Hello
This good quality GA auger motor is only 2.5 years old! The SAE 841 oil imprgegnated bronze dried up bushing with black pitch inside and the dirty stripped auger collar is approx 10 years old on a St Croix Prescott. The original lower quality auger motor with less magnetic plates lasted 10 years. The pellets are good, the stainless steel auger and auger chute is in good shape.
Therefore, could these 2 little seemingly innocent parts make the good quality gear box motor throw up grease and cause the motor shaft to bend because removing the motor was so darn difficult?
Now the gearbox motor is junk after only 2.5 years! ! !

Pic 1 - bushing & collar
Pic 2 - Gearbox auger motor leaking grease at base of bent shaft & bronze bushing and auger collar

 

Was the shaft bent, or deformed? I had a very hard time removing my auger motor, because the set screw had been tightened so much it deformed the auger shaft. A bit of filing cleaned it up, and this auger motor will be easier to remove. I had to use a 3 foot pry bar, carefully, to get the old motor off the auger shaft. The shaft had been mushroomed by over-tightening the set screw.

The upper bushing on mine was stiff, and old grease had hardened, making the auger hard to turn. A cleaning and some high temp grease fixed that, and the auger is still free to move 2 years later.

I would imagine the extra load caused by binding bearings would shorten the gearbox life. My Versa Grate motor and gearbox were pretty loud until I cleaned and lubed both bushings for the shaft. Now it's quiet, and I expect will last much longer now that it doesn't have to fight all the time.

 

Yes, the set screw did make a crator on the auger shaft but it was way to much harder to remove than normal!
I did clean the top bearing and the auger turned freely when I put it back in with the new bottom bushing.

Pic - crator from set screw not so bad