FAG23038-E1A-XL-MDouble Row Spherical Roller Bearing, 190 x 290 x 75 mm, Cylindrical Bore, Solid Brass Cage, X-life — 1,080 kN Dynamic

Product Description

What this part is

A Schaeffler FAG double row spherical roller bearing, 190 mm bore, 290 mm outside diameter, 75 mm wide, with a straight cylindrical bore and a solid machined brass cage. Two rows of barrel rollers run in a single spherical outer raceway, so the inner ring and roller set can swivel inside the outer ring — the bearing accommodates misalignment and shaft deflection rather than fighting it.

This is a large, expensive, high-capacity bearing and it is specified for a reason: 1,080 kN dynamic capacity in a 290 mm outside diameter. Vibrating screens, crushers, mills, large conveyor pulleys, fan shafts and process rolls are where this ends up — applications with heavy or shock load, long shafts, and housings that cannot be held to machine-tool alignment.

Decoding the designation

23038 — double row spherical roller bearing, 230 dimension series, bore code 38 (190 mm). The 230 series is the low-section, wide family.E1 — FAG’s uprated internal design: optimised raceway geometry and materials giving a higher load rating than the preceding build at the same envelope.A — internal design variant within the E1 family.XL — X-life, Schaeffler’s premium performance class. Not marketing garnish: X-life bearings are held to tighter surface finish and geometry tolerances, which raises the calculated rating and, more usefully, the achievable life at a given load.M — solid machined brass cage.No K — this is a cylindrical bore. It is not a tapered-bore bearing, so it does not need and must not be mounted on an adapter sleeve. The tapered-bore version is the 23038-E1A-XL-K-M.

Why the brass cage and the cylindrical bore both matter:
The M cage is a genuine specification difference, not a preference. A solid machined brass cage tolerates high temperature, oil-mist and oil-jet lubrication, aggressive synthetic lubricants and shock load in ways a polymer or pressed-steel cage does not. On a crusher or a screen — shock load, high vibration, hot housings — the cage is often what fails first, and brass is why this build is chosen. It also means the bearing can be heat-mounted without concern for cage material limits.

The cylindrical bore is equally consequential in the opposite direction. A cylindrical-bore spherical roller bearing is mounted by interference fit directly onto a machined shaft seat. That fit consumes internal radial clearance, so the shaft seat tolerance is what determines your residual clearance — there is no drive-up distance to measure and adjust. If your housing arrangement was built around a tapered-bore bearing on an adapter sleeve, this bearing will not mount in it: you need the K version. Check which you have, because the two are the same nominal number and the same boundary dimensions.

Published ratings and mounting data

Bore (d): 190 mm, cylindricalOutside diameter (D): 290 mmWidth (B): 75 mmDynamic radial load rating Cr: 1,080,000 N / 1,080 kNStatic radial load rating C0r: 1,550,000 N / 1,550 kNLimiting speed: 2,490 rpmCage: solid machined brass (M)Internal clearance: normal (no C-suffix on this designation)Performance class: X-lifeStandard: DIN 635-2, 230-E1A seriesNumber of rows: 2Rolling elements: barrel rollers, two rows
The static rating exceeding the dynamic by nearly half is characteristic of large spherical roller bearings with many rollers in contact, and it is the number that governs on a screen or a crusher — where the bearing spends much of its life under shock and standing load and the failure mode is raceway indentation rather than fatigue.

Quantity and configuration

One bearing in stock. Complete bearing: both rings, both roller rows and the brass cage. Note what is absent from this designation: there is no W33 suffix, so this build does not have the outer-ring lubrication groove and feed holes. If your housing relubricates through the outer ring, you need the W33 version and this one will not accept grease that way. It is a straight substitution error worth catching before it reaches the fitter.

Fitting notes

At 190 mm bore, heat mounting is the practical method — induction heater or oil bath to the manufacturer’s temperature limit, never a flame. The brass cage imposes no additional temperature restriction on heat mounting, which polymer-caged bearings can. Verify residual internal clearance after mounting. Do not preload a spherical roller bearing. Self-alignment tolerates misalignment but does not excuse it: misalignment the bearing accommodates it also carries as load.

Interchange guidance

Search forms include 23038-E1A-XL-M, 23038E1AXLM, 23038-E1A-M, 23038 E1A XL M, 23038E1AM, 23038-E1A, 23038M, 23038. Related Schaeffler builds at the same envelope: 23038-E1A-XL-M-C3 and -C4 (looser clearance), 23038-E1A-XL-K-M-C3 (tapered bore), and W33 variants where outer-ring lubrication is required. Same-envelope equivalents from other makers: SKF 23038 CC/W33 and 23038 CCK/W33; NSK, NTN and Koyo 23038; Timken 23038. In every case verify bore type (cylindrical vs K tapered), clearance class and the presence or absence of W33 before treating any of them as a drop-in.