If yours are commercial ham "thrust bearings" they aren't. Rather an
angular contact bearing which can handle some combination of thrust and
radial loads depending on the design.
It takes a mighty large antenna array to exceed the thrust (dead weight
of mast + antennas) load rating of ham rotators. Most have specs. Most
are angular contact ball bearing designs which need a thrust load to
stay centered and handle radial loads.
What is needed at a tower top is a means to manage the side and torque
loads created when wind creates those loads on the mast and antennas. A
tube sleeve is used on UST crank ups. For a flat top tower, my
preference is a UHMW plate (UV resistant) bored to the mast diameter.
Never rusts and lubrication isn't needed. Cheap. Radial only. Some use
stacked cutting boards, even impregnated hard woods.
Three bearings (including angular contact) on a shaft are a bad idea, ie
"two thrust" + rotator. Never done in machinery, pumps, etc since one
of the bearings will be overloaded (except for super precision "duplex
pairs" mounted back to back in machine spindles = $$$). Might not
matter given the slop in ham "thrust bearings."
Rotators and "thrust bearings" are often steel balls in aluminum races
which have a great collection of things to go bad. Cost is right though.
Grant KZ1W
On 12/21/2020 13:51, krgoodwin@comcast.net wrote:
Installing a thrust bearing in a tower - Dead weight (along the gravity
vector) all on the rotator or all on the thrust bearing? Seeing such things
as sleeves for towers, I would surmise that all of the dead weight is on the
rotator and only off-axis loads (perpendicular to the gravity vector) are
handled by the thrust bearing. I use two thrust bearings in my tower which
I don't believe effects the answer to the above question. Ken K5RG
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