DOUBLE ROW REGULAR CONTACT BALL BEARING FOR AXLE DRIVES 2009-36-0055

A new bearing concept for axle drives offers considerable benefits: lower fuel consumption and reduced running noise even after long service life.

Up until now rear axle drives exclusively incorporated axially preloaded tapered roller bearings. However, these bearings require axial preload which leads to a high degree of sliding friction in the contact between rollers and inner ring lip due to their internal design. At high speeds or heavy loads, this can incur additional temperature increases with oil-sump lubricated axle drives, resulting in accelerated oil deterioration and loss of preload. Lost preload reduces the stiffness of the design. As a consequence, the gearing in the axle drive operates at a less favorable gear mesh, which leads to increased running noise — adverse effects on the drive's service life cannot be ruled out. In order to improve the service life, it was developed the double row angular contact ball bearing for rear axle drives.

For the first time ever worldwide, double row angular contact ball bearings — so-called Tandem Ball Bearings — are now being incorporated in rear axle drives for passenger cars. Proven in extensive tests, this bearing concept not only increases the service life but also makes a significant contribution to lower fuel consumption. Another pleasant side effect for the car driver is that the problem of increasing running noise with higher mileage is considerably reduced.