Look it up on SKF website. There are plenty of others but that's a good place to start. ■

Spherical roller bearings are usually specified on larger shaft diameters or when better shaft seal systems are required, ie labyrinth or greasable taconite face labyrinth.

The drive is always connected to the fixed side for alignment reasons. High torque holdbacks and shaft sensors which do not require accurate positioning are mounted to the floating side. ■

The floating bearing is required to allow thermal growth of the shaft when it pushes the bearing inside the pillowblock against the fixed bearing assembly.

As previously stated, the reducer and motor end are usually the fixed bearing end.

If you have a single brake disk, it should be on the fixed bearing side.

Manufacturers supply, as standard equipment, floating bearing housings. To make them fixed, internal shims are applied against the bearing outer race. The gap is usually sufficient for most swings in thermal conditions, but not all.

The thermal growth is a product of both temperature operating extremes and the distance between bearing centers.

The rule of where to apply the fixed bearing unit is common engineering sense. Look to see the cause and effect of the thermal growth. ■

Sorry, I omitted an important point. When the bearings are installed, the time of year or operating environment must be considered when positioning the floating bearing gap between the pillowblock housing and the outer bearing race. Any good installer will know how to make this setup that eliminates the bearings pushing a thermal thrust load against each other. ■