INASL18-5013-ADouble Row Full Complement Cylindrical Roller Bearing 65x100x46 mm Semi-Locating 1.5 mm Axial Float

Product Description

What this part is

This is a double row, full complement cylindrical roller bearing measuring 65 mm bore by 100 mm outside diameter by 46 mm wide. It belongs to Schaeffler’s SL18 family: two rows of cylindrical rollers running directly on the raceways with no cage, in a semi-locating rib arrangement. It is supplied open, with no seals or shields, and has a lubrication hole through the outer ring so the bearing can be fed grease or oil through the housing. Radial internal clearance is the standard CN group and dimensional tolerance is class PN.

Correcting the source data

Our previous listing text described this bearing as “a single cylindrical roller bearing,” and at least one distributor catalogue lists SL185013-A as single row. That is wrong. Schaeffler’s own published product data for SL185013-A states a full complement roller set, two-row, and lists number of rows as 2. This is a double row bearing. The distinction is not cosmetic: a double row bearing of this width carries roughly the load of two single row bearings side by side and behaves quite differently in terms of moment stiffness and heat generation. If you sized your application on single row capacity figures, recheck the calculation — you almost certainly have more capacity than you thought, but you also have a different speed limit and a different lubrication demand.

Decoding the designation

SL18 identifies a double row, full complement cylindrical roller bearing of the semi-locating type, with one rib on the outer ring and three ribs on the inner ring. The fourth and fifth digits give the ISO dimension series: SL185013 is dimension series 50. The final two digits are the bore code, 13, which corresponds to a 65 mm bore. The trailing -A is an internal design variant. You will also see -XL for the optimised current generation and -C3 for increased radial internal clearance.

It is worth knowing the neighbouring families, because they share envelopes but not function. SL01 is the fully locating design, with both rings ribbed on both sides, which fixes shaft position and takes axial load in both directions. SL04 is a double row full complement locating design built with a two-part inner ring plus snap rings, corresponding to the DIN NNCF and NNF types; it offers higher axial capacity and is available in sealed -2NR forms. SL18, the family this bearing belongs to, sits between the fully free and fully fixed options.

Why the 1.5 mm axial displacement figure matters

The published permissible axial displacement for this bearing is s = 1.5 mm. That single number is the reason SL18 exists. A shaft grows as it warms up. If both ends are axially fixed, that growth has nowhere to go and turns into axial preload that the roller ends were never rated to carry, which shows up as rapid heat rise and short life. The classic answer is to make one end fully free with an NU or NNU bearing, but a fully free bearing gives you no axial guidance at all, so the shaft can wander and the seals and couplings have to tolerate it.

SL18’s one-rib outer, three-rib inner arrangement gives you a middle ground. The roller set can shift up to 1.5 mm relative to the outer ring, absorbing thermal growth without transmitting axial force, while still constraining the shaft within that window. In practice that means you can use SL18 at the non-locating end of a shaft and keep some axial control, instead of choosing between a fully floating bearing and a preloaded set. Budget your thermal growth calculation against that 1.5 mm figure: if the expected differential expansion between shaft and housing exceeds it, you need a genuinely free bearing at that position instead.

Why full complement, and what it costs you

With no cage taking up circumferential space, the bearing fits the maximum possible number of rollers into its envelope. More rollers under load means substantially higher radial capacity and higher radial rigidity than any caged bearing of the same outside dimensions. That is the whole point of specifying full complement: when the shaft diameter and housing bore are fixed by the rest of the design and you need more capacity, this is where the capacity comes from.

The trade-off is speed and light-load behaviour. Adjacent rollers rub against each other rather than being separated by a cage, so friction and heat generation are higher and the speed ceiling is lower than a caged equivalent. Published limiting speed here is 4,000 rpm with a thermal reference speed of 2,500 rpm. Just as important, a full complement bearing should not be run at speed under light load: without enough radial load to keep the rollers rolling, they skid, break down the lubricant film and scuff the raceways. Duty cycles with long high-speed, light-load periods favour a caged NN or NNU design.

Published ratings and mounting data

Bore diameter d: 65 mmOutside diameter D: 100 mmWidth B: 46 mmNumber of rows: 2Roller set: full complement, no cageFunction: semi-locating, 1 rib on outer ring, 3 ribs on inner ringPermissible axial displacement s: 1.5 mmDynamic radial load rating Cr: 223 kNStatic radial load rating C0r: 315 kNFatigue limit load Cur: 53 kNLimiting speed nG: 4,000 rpmReference speed: 2,500 rpmRadial internal clearance: CNDimensional tolerance class: PNClosure: open, no seals or shieldsLubrication: lubrication hole present, dimension C = 23 mmMass: 1.32 kg

What these specs mean in practice

A dynamic rating of 223 kN in a 65 mm bore, 46 mm wide package is a lot of capacity for the size, and that is the reason to accept the speed limitation. The static rating of 315 kN governs whether a momentary overload or a standing load permanently indents the raceways, which matters for machines that jam, take shock, or sit loaded when stopped. The fatigue limit load Cur of 53 kN is the more useful figure for infinite-life work: keep the equivalent dynamic load below it, with clean lubricant and an adequate film, and the bearing runs below its fatigue threshold rather than accumulating damage. CN clearance assumes a normal interference fit and a normal temperature difference between the rings; heavier press fits or a hot inner ring consume running clearance, which is when the -C3 variant is the correct choice.

Interchange guidance

INA is a Schaeffler Group brand alongside FAG, so current technical data is published under Schaeffler. Search forms that reach the same part include SL185013-A, SL185013A, SL18-5013-A, SL18 5013 A and SL185013A-XL. Do not substitute an SL01 or SL04 bearing of the same bore and outside diameter without checking the rib arrangement — those are locating designs and will fix the shaft axially, defeating the reason you chose SL18 in the first place.