Simple Bearing Assembly

In its simplest form the wire bearing elements are installed into a 3-part housing as shown below.  This can be adjusted by using steel shims to give a range of operating conditions from free-running through to pre-load depending on the application.

The above shows the two 'outer' wire races placed into position.

The bottom half of the inside housing and the 'inner' wire are now introduced.

The ball retainer or cage and steel balls are now placed into position along with the washers.

The upper and lower halves of the 'inner' housing and wire races are now fitted onto the assembly.  These are fixed by a set of screws.  The bearing is now fully assembled.

Retaining screws

We would recommend the following pitching of retaining screws when usung a 3-part housing which should be eqi-spaced about the circumference:

When aluminium alloy housings are used, weight savings of over 60% can be made over that of steel.  Another important advantage of this material is that because of greater elastic deformation, impact stresses are gently absorbed which reduces brinelling.  Hence this is ideally suited to military applications.