Single direction thrust bearings consist of a shaft washer, a housing washer and a ball and cage thrust assembly. The bearings are separable so that mounting is simple as the washers and ball and cage assembly can be mounted separately.

These bearings as their name suggest can only accommodate thrust in one direction and thus locate a shaft in one direction. They must not be subjected to any radial load.

They come in a range of metric and imperial sizes, ranging from: 3mm up to 670mm or 1/4" up to 18” shaft size (although the very large sizes would be made to order).