Crossed tapered roller bearings are composed of two mutually perpendicular bearing raceways and rollers. The rollers are arranged alternately on the raceway and the bearing assembly height is slightly higher than that of a single row tapered roller bearing. In addition, the tilting angle of the bearing raceway and the tapered roller geometry protect the bearing from stress concentration problems when in use. Finally the effective span of a crossed tapered roller bearing is many times greater than the width of the bearing.

Crossed tapered roller bearings can withstand high tilting moments and are suitable for use in machine tool turntables (vertical lathes and grinding machines). These bearings are also suitable for other mounting configurations where space is limited or where a very low centre of gravity of rotation is required.