Disc saw felling head for a feller buncher

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10448583-B2
Application number	US-201514874844-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 5, 2015
Priority date	Oct 5, 2015
Publication date	Oct 22, 2019
Grant date	Oct 22, 2019

Abstract

A disc saw felling head and a method of assembly for the disc saw felling head including a saw mandrel and bearing arrangement. The saw mandrel and bearing arrangement includes a housing, a mandrel, and first and second preset roller bearing packs. One of the roller bearing packs is a tapered roller double-row preset bearing pack and the other of the roller bearing packs is a cylindrical roller single row preset bearing pack. The housing includes a bore and a first and second shelf, wherein each of the shelves defines a depth of the bearings with respect to the housing to accurately locate the mandrel within the housing. The use of preset bearing packs and a housing having predetermined locations for placement of the present bearing packs provides an assembly which requires fewer adjustments.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of assembling a felling head of a feller buncher comprising:
first, placing a first spacer on an outside surface of a mandrel to form a mandrel subassembly;
second, fitting a tapered roller preset bearing pack within a bore of a unitary housing, wherein the unitary housing includes a first shelf disposed a first distance from a first end of the housing and a second shelf disposed a second distance from a second end of the housing, wherein the fitting the tapered roller preset bearing pack within the housing includes fitting the tapered roller preset bearing pack against the second shelf and against a second bearing sidewall that is adjacent to the second shelf within the bore of the housing;
third, inserting the mandrel subassembly in the bore of the housing;
fourth, placing a second spacer on the outside surface of the mandrel such that a first end of the second spacer is in contact with the tapered roller preset bearing pack; and
fifth, fitting a cylindrical roller preset bearing pack within the housing against the first shelf and against a first bearing sidewall that is adjacent to the first shelf within the bore of the housing, the cylindrical roller preset bearing pack also in contact with the second end of the second spacer.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising prior to inserting the mandrel providing a flange and fixing the flange at a first end of the mandrel.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
assembling a saw motor with the unitary housing, the saw motor including a saw blade that is mounted to flange and configured to be rotationally driven by the saw motor.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second spacer provides a prescribed roller clearance between the tapered roller preset bearing pack and the cylindrical roller preset bearing pack.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
after the mandrel subassembly is inserted in the bore of the housing, attaching an end plate to the housing to maintain the cylindrical roller preset bearing pack adjacent to the second shelf.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the outside surface of the mandrel includes an angled sidewall that is configured to locate the second spacer thereon.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tapered roller preset bearing pack includes a first row of tapered roller bearings and a second row of tapered roller bearings, the first row and second row of tapered roller bearings being arranged in an opposed configuration, such that the first row is configured to resist upward forces along the longitudinal axis of the mandrel while the second row is configured to resist downward forces along the longitudinal axis of the mandrel, wherein opposed ends of the tapered roller bearings of each of the first row of tapered roller bearing and the second row of tapered roller bearing are radially closer to the mandrel than the adjacent ends of tapered roller bearings are to the mandrel.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cylindrical roller preset bearing pack is displaced from the tapered roller preset bearing pack and configured to resist radial loads applied to the mandrel, the cylindrical roller preset bearing pack having a plurality of roller bearings wherein each of the plurality of roller bearings has an axis of rotation that is substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the housing.

Assignees

• Deere & Co

Inventors

• Disabatino Benjamin

Classifications

• A01G23/091 Primary

  Sawing apparatus specially adapted for felling trees (A01G23/081, A01G23/083, A01G23/093 take precedence) · CPC title

• A01G23/081 Primary

  Feller-bunchers, i.e. with bunching by felling head (A01G23/083 takes precedence) · CPC title