Cylindrical roller bearings have rollers that provide a modified line contact with the cylindrical inner and outer ring raceways, while the rollers are guided by ground ribs on either the inner or outer ring. The cylindrical shape allows the inner ring to have axial movement relative to the outer ring. This is especially important when accommodating thermal expansion, where both rings must be press-fitted.

The single-row type consists of the cone assembly and the cup. It is usually fitted as one of an opposing pair. During equipment assembly, single-row bearings can be set to the required clearance (endplay) or preload condition to optimize performance.

Double row tapered roller bearings can carry heavy loads and are stiff. They are suitable for the accommodation of combined (radial and axial) loads and can locate a shaft axially in both directions with a given axial clearance or a given preload. Their main use is in gearboxes, hoisting equipment, rolling mills and machines used in the mining industry, e.g. tunnelling machines.

Four-row tapered roller bearings are used successfully worldwide for rolling mill bearing arrangements where rolling speeds are slow to moderate. Because of their design they are able to take up those axial loads which occur in such applications in addition to radial loads and generally no separate thrust bearings are required in such arrangements. This means that the roll necks can be relatively short and the chocks at both sides of the roll can have the same design.