RHPDouble-Row Spherical Roller Bearing 90x160x40 mm Straight Bore C3 Clearance Self-Aligning Pressed Steel Cage

Product Description

What this part is

A double-row spherical roller bearing in the ISO 222-series, 90 mm bore x 160 mm outside diameter x 40 mm width, with a straight cylindrical bore and C3 radial internal clearance. Two rows of barrel rollers share one spherical raceway ground into the outer ring. That geometry is the whole point of the bearing type: the inner ring and roller set can swivel inside the outer ring, so the bearing absorbs shaft deflection and housing-to-housing misalignment instead of fighting it. Put a cylindrical roller bearing in the same duty and the misalignment shows up as edge loading on the roller ends, then as spalling, then as an unplanned outage.

Decoding the designation

222 — ISO double-row spherical roller bearing, dimension series 22.

18 — bore code, 18 x 5 = 90 mm bore.

HL — RHP’s legacy extra-capacity design with a pressed-steel roller-guided cage. It is RHP’s functional counterpart to SKF’s E designation, not a clearance or tolerance code.

C3 — radial internal clearance greater than normal (CN / C0).

No K — the bore is straight, not tapered.

No W33 — no annular groove or lubrication holes in the outer ring on this variant.

Why C3 clearance fails both ways if mismatched

C3 is not “better” clearance, it is different clearance, and this is the spec people get wrong. Extra internal clearance exists to be consumed. It gets eaten by the interference fit when the inner ring is pressed onto the shaft, and it gets eaten again by thermal growth when the inner ring runs hotter than the outer — which it almost always does. So C3 suits a hot application, a heavy interference fit, or a bearing carrying significant through-shaft heat. In a cold, lightly loaded, loose-fit application the clearance never closes up: the rollers skid instead of rolling cleanly, the bearing runs noisier, load is carried by fewer rollers, and effective capacity and life both drop. A normal-clearance bearing used where C3 was specified is preloaded into early failure.

What these specs mean in practice

Straight bore — mounts directly onto a 90 mm shaft seat. No adapter sleeve, no lock nut drive-up, no clearance-reduction measurement at mounting. Simpler than the K variant, but it needs a proper shaft shoulder or locating collar for axial location.

HL extra-capacity design — more and/or larger rollers than the older baseline C design in the same envelope, which is what buys the capacity increase.

Pressed-steel cage — light, low-cost, well suited to steady radial duty. Machined brass (MB) cages are generally preferred where shock reversal, heavy vibration or high temperature is involved.

Mounting data

Boundary dimensions 90 x 160 x 40 mm, fixed by ISO 15 and common to any maker’s 22218. Corner radius r min 2.0 mm per ISO 15; shaft and housing fillets must clear it. Mass 7.50 lbs. Temperature range -30 °C to 200 °C.

Quantity and configuration

Sold individually.

Interchange guidance

RHP is now part of NSK, so RHP designations are traced through NSK for current supply — worth knowing if you are maintaining twenty- to fifty-year-old UK-built plant, where RHP-marked bearings are still everywhere. Same-envelope 90x160x40 straight-bore double-row spherical rollers include SKF 22218 E and 22218 CC, NSK 22218 EAE4 and 22218 CDE4, FAG 22218-E1, NTN 22218 EAD1, and Timken / Torrington 22218 EJ equivalents; add the C3 suffix to any of them to match this clearance class. Confirm cage type and clearance before treating any as a drop-in.