An assembly for testing the rolling contact fatigue of a test element for evaluating the differences in the fatigue life between like materials manufactured by different manufacturers or the fatigue life of different bearing materials, heat treatments, surface coatings, lubricants, operating variables, etc. The assembly is configured to rotate load balls around a track in contact with a stationary test element. By allowing the test element to remain stationary during the test, sensors can be installed directly onto or into the element. It is possible to configure the present assembly so that sensors may be placed within millimeters of the rolling contact test track effectively eliminating outside noise and error signals and increasing the accuracy of the sensor measurements. The stationary mounting of the test element also facilitates control of the temperature of the element. In addition, studies of crack initiation and propagation rates on a scale not possible before and the study of the delamination of surface coating would be made possible with the present invention.