The bearing is an angular contact ball bearing with two asymmetric rows of
balls, with a one-piece outer race and an inner race having two matched
inner half-races side by side and able to be axially preloaded against
each other when the bearing is mounted on the shaft of a gear the set of
teeth of which cantilevers out from the bearing which has its row of
larger-diameter balls on the same side as the set of teeth. Preloading may
be provided by a nut screwed onto the shaft and tightened up against one
of the inner half-races until the latter bears against the other inner
half-race. A lock nut may hold the nut in position. The gear with its set
of teeth and its shaft, the bearing with its large-diameter balls on the
same side as the set of teeth, and the preloading device constitute a
modular assembly, premounted and preloaded prior to fixing to a housing
using a flange belonging to the outer race.
