Angular contact spherical plain bearings have sphered sliding surfaces on the inner and in the outer ring which are arranged at an angle to the bearing axis. They are therefore particularly suitable for carrying combined (radial and axial) loads. A single angular contact spherical plain bearing can only accept axial loads acting in one direction. Under radial loads, a force acting in the axial direction is produced in the bearing which must always be opposed by an equal force acting in the opposite direction. Therefore, the bearings are usually adjusted against a second bearing. If two angular contact spherical plain bearings are arranged so that their sphere centres coincide, a spherical plain bearing is obtained which can accommodate heavy radial loads as well as heavy axial loads in both directions.

Virtually maintenance-free and environmental friendly

Steel/steel spherical plain bearings typically require relubrication as part of a regularly scheduled maintenance program. The fresh grease pumped into the bearing does little more than expel contaminants and wear debris and redistribute the grease. Relubrication extends bearing service life but also adds cost. Whether it is the cost of labour, downtime, the cost of new grease or the cost to dispose of used grease, these costs add up over time.

To help reduce these costs, SKF has introduced SKF Extended Life Plain Bearings. These sealed steel/steel spherical plain bearings do not require relubrication in applications where contamination levels are clean to moderate. Under these conditions these new developed bearings last at least as long as standard steel/steel plain bearings even if those standard bearings are relubricated in accordance with recommended maintenance schedules. Because SKF Extended Life Plain Bearings do not require relubrication they automatically offer built in protection against bearing failures due to missed relubrication intervals.

Radial spherical plain bearings have an inner ring with a sphered convex outside diameter and an outer ring with a correspondingly sphered but concave inside surface. Their design makes them particularly suitable for bearing arrangements where alignment movements between shaft and housing have to be accommodated, or where oscillating or recurrent tilting or slewing movements must be permitted at relatively slow sliding speeds.

Radial spherical plain bearings have an inner ring with a sphered convex outside diameter and an outer ring with a correspondingly sphered but concave inside surface. Their design makes them particularly suitable for bearing arrangements where alignment movements between shaft and housing have to be accommodated, or where oscillating or recurrent tilting or slewing movements must be possible at relatively slow sliding speeds.

SKF radial spherical plain bearings requiring maintenance have the sliding contact surface combination steel/steel. Bearings with this sliding contact surface combination require regular relubrication. The high wear resistance of the sliding surfaces makes these bearings especially suitable for bearing arrangements where heavy loads of alternating direction, shock loads or heavy static loads have to be accommodated. Bearings which have cylindrical extensions at both sides of the inner ring are intended for applications where normally spacer sleeves are arranged at either side of the bearing, or are specially designed for the bearing arrangements of hydraulic cylinders.

Thrust spherical plain bearings resemble angular contact spherical plain bearings in that they have sliding contact surfaces in the shaft and housing washers which are arranged at an angle to the bearing axis. However, they are primarily intended for axial loads although they can accommodate combined loads to a certain extent. The radial load component should, however, not exceed 50% of the simultaneously acting axial load.