Temperature is not normally something that is measured from a maintenance point of view. I have never seen any limits mentioned in a manual for a swashplate. Not to say that is definitive.
Normal maintenance action would involve greasing and checking the outgoing grease for contamination, metal or other debris. Other checks would be visual including paint discolourisation, rotational roughness check including break out forces and checking for play.
As too temperature itself. Aeroshell 22 which is a common grease used in swashplates has an upper temperature limit of 204 deg C. So the temperature needs to be under that. The rest depends on what the swashplate is made from. The bearings themselves being steel will stand quite high temperatures. The body could well be alumininum alloy and be more susceptable to temperature. Aluminium alloy for high temperature use falls into between 260-370 deg C. I would hazard a guess that material used for swashplates falls somewhere in that band.
So I would sugest that the grease and it's operating temperature is the limiting factor.
Then Bell 206 engine driveshaft (all steel) does have temperature monitoring. Originally temperature indicating tape and now a band of green primer paint. The paint changes colour from green to brown at about 300 deg C. If you are unfortunate to have suffered a fire affecting the aircraft structure a quick check is to look at the aircraft primer internally, if brown you have a problem. Conductivity checks should be carried out in any case.
Last edited by ericferret; 3rd Aug 2017 at 19:41.