TIMKEN 388 A Kegelrollenlager (57,531)

As a tapered roller bearing, this bearing carries high combined radial and one-directional axial loads and is usually adjusted in pairs. The available technical details for this bearing are given in the specification table. As a separable design, this tapered roller bearing is mounted in two parts: the inner ring with its roller and cage assembly on the shaft, the outer ring in the housing.

Tapered roller bearings transmit load through tapered rollers between tapered raceways whose extended surface lines meet at one point on the bearing axis; this is where the combination of high radial and one-directional axial capacity that characterises the design comes from. Because axial force is supported in one direction only, the bearing normally works against a second bearing adjusted against it in a back-to-back or face-to-face arrangement.

Operating clearance is therefore not preset in the bearing but established during mounting as the two units are adjusted against each other; the adjustment travel, the preload and the thermal behaviour of the surrounding design determine it jointly. The inner ring with its roller and cage assembly and the outer ring are separable, so both rings can be fitted with an interference fit.

For the design, the contact angle, the chosen adjustment method and the equivalent load resulting from the axial share should be drawn upon.