Bearing assembly for driveshafts of draglines

A dragline, comprising:

• a base;
• a frame disposed above the base;
• a power system including a driveshaft to facilitate a swinging movement of the frame with respect to the base;
• and
• a bearing assembly for the driveshaft, the bearing assembly including:
• a housing fixedly engageable with the frame and defining a cavity to provide rotatable passage to the driveshaft therethrough;
• a spherical bearing engageable with each of the housing and the driveshaft for journaling the driveshaft in the cavity and facilitating a rotation of the driveshaft about a longitudinal axis and an angulation of the driveshaft with respect to a reference axis;
• and
• a thrust bearing configured to be supported against each of the driveshaft and the housing, and defining an annular clearance with respect to the housing, to accommodate the angulation of the driveshaft and an axial load passing along the longitudinal axis away from the spherical bearing onto either of the housing or the frame.

A bearing assembly for a driveshaft facilitating a swinging movement of a frame of a dragline with respect to a base of the dragline, the bearing assembly comprising:

• a housing fixedly engageable with the frame and defining a cavity to provide rotatable passage to the driveshaft therethrough;
• a spherical bearing engageable with each of the housing and the driveshaft for journaling the driveshaft in the cavity and facilitating a rotation of the driveshaft about a longitudinal axis and an angulation of the driveshaft with respect to a reference axis;
• a thrust bearing configured to be supported against each of the driveshaft and the housing to accommodate the angulation of the driveshaft and an axial load passing along the longitudinal axis away from the spherical bearing onto either of the housing or the frame;
• and
• one or more wear plates configured to be positioned in between the housing and the thrust bearing.