Every MALAYA number
can be read.

Nothing here means the rings are bearing steel — the standard, and what the overwhelming majority of our range is. A prefix appears only when the rings themselves are made of something else, because that is a different part rather than a different option.

A full-ceramic bearing fits the same housing as its steel counterpart but carries a much lower load. It is not a drop-in substitute, and we will say so when you enquire.

Letters in front of the number name the bearing type. No letters means a ball bearing, which is why most of the catalogue starts with a digit.

This is the part that decides whether the bearing physically fits. It is not a catalogue sequence: the digits encode the dimension series and the bore, so two bearings with the same base number have the same bore, and the leading digits tell you how heavy the section is.

The bore is readable directly from the last two digits — see the table below.

A change to the working geometry inside an unchanged envelope: how many rollers, how long they are, and at what angle the balls carry load. The bearing still fits the same housing; it behaves differently in it.

How the bearing keeps its grease in and contamination out. This is the slot that most often separates two parts that look identical in a catalogue listing.

Whether the bore is a plain cylinder or a taper. A tapered bore mounts on a matching tapered seat or an adapter sleeve, and clearance is set during fitting.

The component that keeps the rolling elements evenly spaced. It sets the speed limit and the temperature limit more often than the rings do.

TN and P are one material — glass-fibre reinforced polyamide 6,6 — written two ways, because that is how the trade writes them: P on cylindrical rollers and on single-row angular contact bearings, TN on deep groove, self-aligning and double-row angular contact. Nothing about the cage differs between them. On roller bearings the cage is written before the bore form — 22220CCK — because a cylindrical or tapered bearing separates into two bodies and the cage is the fact that matters most. On ball bearings the bore form leads instead.

How much the outer ring can move relative to the inner before it is mounted. Fitting and heat both consume clearance, so a bearing on a tight interference fit or a hot shaft needs more of it to start with.

Tapered roller bearings carry no clearance code at all. Their clearance is set on assembly as end play or preload, so it is a fitting decision rather than a property of the part.

Dimensional and running accuracy, to ISO 492. Normal class covers general engineering and is not printed. Tighter classes cost more and are worth it only where the shaft accuracy justifies them.

SP and UP are written as themselves rather than as a P number, because they are tolerance packages rather than single ISO classes — SP holds one class on dimensions and a tighter one on running accuracy, so calling it "P5" would promise less than it delivers on the axis that matters for a spindle.

Everything after the clearance and precision block: what the rolling elements are made of, and what has been added to the bearing.