Cylindrical roller thrust bearings are suitable for arrangements that have to support heavy axial loads. Furthermore, they are relatively insensitive to shock loads, are very stiff and require little axial space. As standard they are available as single direction bearings and can only accommodate axial loads acting in one direction.

Cylindrical roller thrust bearings are simple in form and design and are produced in single row and double row designs. The bearings in the 811 and 812 series are mainly used where thrust ball bearings have insufficient load carrying capacity.