Needle roller thrust bearings are fitted with a form-stable cage toreliably guide and retain a large number of needle rollers. The diameterdeviations of the rollers within one assembly are within 2 µm, enablingthese bearings to accommodate heavy axial loads and shock loads. Thesebearings provide a high degree of stiffness within a minimum axialspace. In applications where the faces of adjacent machine componentscan serve as raceways, needle roller thrust bearings will take up nomore space than a conventional thrust washer. They can accommodate axialloads acting in one direction only.