NTN22209CW33Double-Row Spherical Roller Bearing 45 x 85 x 23 mm, Straight Bore, W33 Lubrication Groove, Pressed Steel Cage, Normal Clearance, 1 Pc

Product Description

What this part is

A double-row spherical roller bearing, 45 mm bore x 85 mm outside diameter x 23 mm wide, in the ISO 222 dimension series. Two rows of barrel rollers run on one spherical outer raceway, so the inner ring and roller set can swivel bodily inside the outer ring. That is the self-aligning action: it soaks up shaft deflection and housing misalignment that would destroy a cylindrical roller or deep groove ball bearing in the same envelope, while carrying very heavy radial load and thrust in either direction.

Decoding the designation

222 — double-row spherical roller bearing, dimension series 22.
09 — bore code for a 45 mm bore.
C — on NTN this is an internal design code, not a clearance code. It denotes NTN’s small-bore spherical roller construction: symmetrical barrel rollers, a two-piece pressed steel cage, and a floating centre guide ring between the two roller rows. This is the single most misread character on the part number, because on almost every other bearing family a bare C looks like a clearance class. It is not.
W33 — annular lubrication groove around the outer ring plus three lubrication holes through it.
D1 — the same feature written in NTN’s Japanese suffix convention: oil groove and oil inlet holes. 22209CW33 and 22209CD1 are the same bearing, in two of NTN’s own naming systems, which is why both designations are carried here.

There is no clearance suffix, so this bearing carries Normal (CN) radial internal clearance. There is no K, so the bore is straight.

What these specs mean in practice

The floating centre guide ring is the distinguishing feature of the NTN C design. It sits between the two roller rows and keeps them square to the raceway without being rigidly fixed to either ring, which helps the rollers stay aligned under combined and reversing load. The two-piece pressed steel cage runs to roughly 200 °C, well above anything a polyamide cage will take.

The lubrication groove and holes are worth calling out specifically on this part, because NTN’s C-type spherical roller bearings do not carry the groove and holes as standard — they have to be specified, which is exactly what the W33 (or D1) in this designation is doing. That makes this variant the one to buy if the housing has a grease port, because relubrication straight into the roller rows is the biggest single factor in how long a spherical roller bearing lasts. It also means you need a housing whose lubrication port lines up with the groove; on a plain housing the feature simply goes unused.

Normal clearance is the right default for a moderate shaft interference fit and a housing that does not run hot. If your shaft fit is heavy or the bearing will sit in a hot machine, a C3 version of the same bearing is the correct choice instead, because the inner ring grows on the shaft and under heat and eats the clearance you started with. Getting this wrong preloads the bearing and it will run hot and fail early.

A straight bore means this bearing mounts directly on a plain shaft seat. It is not a sleeve-mount bearing, which is a genuine practical difference from the 22209K variants of the same envelope.

Quantity and configuration

Sold as 1 Pc. One complete bearing: inner ring with both roller rows, cage and centre guide ring, plus the outer ring. Spherical roller bearings are supplied as a non-separable unit, so there is no cup or cone to source separately. Because the bore is straight, no adapter sleeve, locknut or lockwasher is required or included.

Fitting notes

Mount on the inner ring, never through the rollers. Heat the bearing to about 80 – 100 °C above the shaft in an induction heater or clean oil bath rather than driving it on cold, because a bearing this size takes a real interference fit. Seat the outer ring squarely in the housing bore and let it take up its own alignment before the assembly is drawn down — clamping the outer ring off-neutral during build throws away the self-aligning capability you paid for. Align the housing lubrication port with the outer-ring groove and purge the groove with grease before the first run.

Interchange guidance

Dimensionally equivalent straight-bore 22209 bearings with the outer-ring groove and holes include NTN 22209EAW33 (NTN’s current ULTAGE high-capacity design for this envelope), SKF 22209 E, FAG 22209-E1-XL, NSK 22209EAE4, NTN-SNR 22209EAW33, Timken 22209EJW33, RHP 22209HLW33 and Nachi 22209EXW33. Read the lubrication codes carefully across brands, because they all mean the same thing under different letters: W33 on SKF, Timken and RHP, E4 on NSK, S on FAG, D1 on NTN Japan, and B33 on legacy SNR. The trap runs the other way too — SKF W on its own means the groove and holes are absent, and on SKF and Schaeffler the modern E and E1 designs include them as standard with no suffix at all. Any 22209K is the tapered-bore version, requiring an H309 adapter sleeve: same envelope, different mounting, a related size rather than a substitute here.