Round baler belt idler roller mounting apparatus

In a round baler having a frame with opposing side walls;

• conveying means including a series of inwardly facing moving surfaces defining a baling chamber for forming cylindrical bales of crop material, means for feeding crop material into said chamber, rotatable transverse rollers mounted between said opposing side walls of said frame for operatively supporting said conveying means, and journal means having a bearing assembly for mounting at least one of said rollers, said bearing assembly including a generally cylindrical stationary first race and a concentrically disposed generally cylindrical rotatable second race between which races a bearing cavity is formed for seating a series of bearings housed between said first and second races, and said second race rotatable relative to said first race, the improvement comprising
• a generally ring shaped shield enclosing said cavity,
• said generally ring shaped shield includes a first edge in contact with said second race,
• said generally ring shaped shield further includes a coaxially disposed flange portion terminating at said edge, and
• resilient means urges said shield in a generally axial direction to maintain continuous contact between said first edge and said second race.