Needle roller thrust bearings can support heavy axial loads, are insensitive to shock loads and provide stiff bearing arrangements which require a minimum of axial space. They are single direction bearings and can only accommodate axial loads acting in one direction. Particularly compact bearing arrangements can be made, taking up no more space than a conventional thrust washer, if the faces of adjacent machine components can serve as raceways for a needle roller and cage thrust assembly. For applications where adjacent components cannot serve as raceways, the assemblies can also be combined with washers of various designs