A bearing assembly for use with water pumps

摘要

A rotary bearing assembly (10) for a motor vehicle water pump employs a spindle (11) with a central region (14) surrounded by an outer bearing ring (15). The ring (15) and spindle central region (14) have axially spaced complementary raceways (16, 17) on their confronting surfaces in angular contact with sets of balls (18). The spindle central region (14) adjoins one end region (12) with the same diameter as the central region and an opposite end region (13) of smaller diameter. The end region (12) is driven by a belt-and-pulley of the vehicle engine while the smaller end region (13) drives an impeller of the water pump. The set of balls (18) adjacent the driven end region (12) has a full complement of balls (18) in mutual contact while the smaller diameter end region (13) has the balls spaced apart with a cage (22).