A thrust bearing is a particular type of rotary bearing. Like other bearings they permit rotation between parts, but they are designed to support a high axial load while doing this.

Thrust bearings come in several varieties.

 

Ball thrust bearings, composed of ball bearings supported in a ring, can be used in low thrust applications where there is little radial load.

Roller thrust bearings consist of small cylindrical rollers arranged flat with their axes pointing to the axis of the bearing. They give very good carrying capacity and are cheap, but tend to wear due to the differences in radial speed and friction is higher than with ball bearings.

 

Tapered roller bearings consist of small tapered rollers arranged so that their axes all converge at a point on the axis of the bearing. The length of the roller and the diameter of the wide and the narrow ends and the angle of rollers need to be carefully calculated to provide the correct taper so that each end of the roller rolls smoothly on the bearing face without skidding. These are the type most commonly used in automotive applications (to support the wheels of a motor car for example), where they are used in pairs to accommodate axial thrust in either direction, as well as radial loads. They can support rather larger thrust loads than the ball type due to the larger contact area, but are more expensive to manufacture.

 

Fluid bearings, where the axial thrust is supported on a thin layer of pressurized liquid—these give low drag.

Magnetic bearings, where the axial thrust is supported on a magnetic field. This is used where very high speeds or very low drag is needed, for example the Zippe-type centrifuge.They are commonly used in automotive, marine, and aerospace applications.

 

Thrust bearings are used in cars because the forward gears in modern car gearboxes use helical gears which, while aiding in smoothness and noise reduction, cause axial forces that need to be dealt with. The double helical or herringbone gear balances the thrust caused by normal helical gears.

 

One specific thrust bearing in an automobile is the clutch "throw out" bearing, sometimes called the clutch release bearing.

 

Thrust ball bearings consist of two precision chrome steel washers (ring) and a ball complement spaced by bronze retainer. They can be supplied with or without radius ball grooves in the rings. Thrust bearings are used under purely axial loads.

 

SKF double direction thrust ball bearings consist of one shaft washer, two housing washers and two ball and cage thrust assemblies. The bearings are separable so that mounting is simple. The various parts can be mounted separately. The housing washers and ball and cage thrust assemblies are identical to those of the single direction bearings.