Four-Point Contact Bearings

Four-point contact ball bearings are radial single row angular contact ball bearings with raceways that are designed to support axial loads in both directions. For a given axial load, a limited radial load can also be supported. The bearings are separable, i.e. the outer ring with ball and cage assembly can be mounted separately from the two inner ring halves.Both inner ring halves of SKF Explorer four-point contact ball bearings have a recessed shoulder. This improves oil flow when the bearing is used in combination with an SKF cylindrical roller bearing. In addition, these recesses can be used to facilitate dismounting.A four-point contact ball bearing makes it easy to simplify machine designs that have a combination of radial, thrust and moment loads because it can handle all three simultaneously. They are primarily used for slow to moderate-speed applications, or where oscillatory movement is predominant.Thanks to a unique ball path geometry that produces twice as many contact points, a four-point contact bearing can resist radial, thrust and moment loads individually or in any combination. It has one row of balls with an inner race and an outer race. The ball grooves are generated from two centers, with each radius slightly larger than the ball radius. Contact angles are typically 35° off the radial centerline, but can be varied to suit the application.