Looking for Source for small thrust bearings

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to find a source for a small needle roller or ball thrust bearing. The thrust bearing ID must work with a 3/8" OD shaft. I need to keep the OD of the bearing at .71" or smaller, the thinner the bearing is the better. The closest thing I've found is a part # BR5-1 from

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I've tried mcmaster, mscdirect, reidsupply, globalspec, stock drive products, and online searching but I haven't found anything smaller than a .802" OD.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a company or supplier that may have what I need ?

Thanks John

Reply to
John2005
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BR5-2 was the Berg number, I goofed up.

Reply to
John2005

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looks like it will fit your bill, if you can turn your shaft end down to 0.3543.

David A. Smith

Reply to
N:dlzc D:aol T:com (dlzc)

I don't think thrust bearings come as needle rollers do they? If the thrust is low, you might possibly take a leaf out of the outboard makers' book. Oil and grease attract dirt, but plastic washers carefully chosen give useful, long-lasting dry low friction bearings.

Brian W

Reply to
Brian Whatcott

Thanks for the feedback N:dlzc D:aol T:com (dlzc) & Brian,

Brian Wrote: I don't think thrust bearings come as needle rollers do they?

I was calling the Berg BR5-2 a needle roller thrust bearing. It's not a ball bearing, but caged cylindrical rollers between two steel washers. Perhaps I should have called it a cylindrical roller. WmBerg.com sent me a cheap looking set made in China that run a little noisy, and a better set made in the USA that work real nice.

I actually just thought of a way that should allow me to use the .802" diameter bearing but it's always nice to have more than one source.

John

Reply to
John2005

Naah - I think it was more a case of my ignorance showing through. I had it in mind that thrust bearings that don't use balls necessarily use taper rollers. But if you look at these pictures, the "needle " rollers don't look tapered at all. I was surprized to see it!

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Whatcott Altus OK

Reply to
Brian Whatcott

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You are correct in this case.

They have to be. A straight pin will not sweep a circular path without scuffing. Consider tires that are preferentially driven around an oval / circular track.

I was surprized to see it!

Tapered, just not evident. The inner and outer tips of the rollers are fixed as to angular speed, but must travel different distances... therefore the rollers *are* tapered.

David A. Smith

Reply to
dlzc

Just out of curiosity I measured each end of the rollers on the Berg BR5-2 and each end appears to have the same diameter, I could not detect any taper with dial calipers. I also downloaded a 3D CAD file from Berg and the rollers measure the same at each end.

A tapered pin between two flat washers would only touch at one end, and would seem to have running problems. If the bearing races are made to accommodate the tapered pin like standard tapered needle roller bearings then that works well, but these small thrust bearings are just straight caged needle or cylindrical rollers between two flat washers. Perhaps there is minor scuffing but it does not seem to be causing any noise or problems, at least with the American made units, the Junk from China runs noisy because the rollers are rattling in their cage.

John

Reply to
John2005

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