Drive mechanism with replaceable seal and associated method
AssigneeDeere & Company
InventorsCecil H. Wise, Jr., Dwayne B. Watt, Randall L. Long, Danny G. Voth
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A drive mechanism comprises a flywheel, a flywheel damper removably connected to the flywheel, a pump drive, and an intermediate shaft. The pump drive comprises a housing, an input shaft mounted to the housing for rotation relative thereto about an axis of rotation, and a seal surrounding the input shaft to establish a sealed connection therewith. The intermediate shaft is co-axial with the input shaft relative to the axis of rotation and removably connected to the flywheel damper and the input shaft. The seal is replaceable. An associated method for replacing the seal is disclosed.
Claims14
A method of replacing a seal of a pump drive of a drive mechanism, the drive mechanism comprising a flywheel, a flywheel damper removably connected to the flywheel, and an intermediate shaft, the pump drive comprising a housing, an input shaft mounted to the housing for rotation relative thereto about an axis of rotation, and a seal surrounding the input shaft to establish a sealed connection therewith, the intermediate shaft co-axial with the input shaft relative to the axis of rotation and removably connected to the flywheel damper and the input shaft, the method comprising:
- reconfiguring the intermediate shaft relative to the flywheel damper while the intermediate shaft remains connected to the input shaft thereby creating an axial space between the intermediate shaft and the flywheel damper relative to the axis of rotation,
- removing the flywheel damper from the flywheel through the axial space thereby providing an enlarged axial space between the intermediate shaft and the flywheel relative to the axis of rotation,
- removing the intermediate shaft from the input shaft through the enlarged axial space thereby eliminating the intermediate shaft as an obstacle to replacement of the seal, and
- replacing the seal with a fresh seal.
A drive mechanism, comprising
- a flywheel,
- a flywheel damper removably connected to the flywheel,
- a pump drive comprising a housing, an input shaft mounted to the housing for rotation relative thereto about an axis of rotation, and a seal surrounding the input shaft to establish a sealed connection therewith, and
- an intermediate shaft co-axial with the input shaft relative to the axis of rotation and removably connected to the flywheel damper and the input shaft such that the intermediate shaft can be disconnected from the flywheel damper and moved along the input shaft axially in a first direction away from the flywheel damper relative to the axis of rotation for removal of the flywheel damper from the flywheel and can be moved along the input shaft axially in a second direction opposite to the first direction toward the flywheel relative to the axis of rotation for removal of the intermediate shaft from the input shaft to replace the seal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.