Hydrostatic axial piston pump with three bearing arrangement

In an axial piston pump for a closed circuit hydrostatic transmission having a housing, a shaft assembly in the housing drivingly connected to an axial piston rotating kit and to a charge pump, the shaft assembly including a main shaft having opposite ends and a charge pump shaft having opposite ends, one of the charge pump shaft ends being coaxially coupled to an end of the main shaft, the main shaft being drivingly connected to the axial piston rotating kit and the charge pump shaft being drivingly connected to the charge pump, the improvement comprising:

• a bearing arrangement having only three bearings operatively
• mounted on the housing for completely rotatably
• supporting the shaft assembly;
• said bearing arrangement including of a first bearing mounted in the housing and located at an end of the main shaft remote from the charge pump shaft for supporting the shaft assembly for rotation in the housing, a second bearing operatively mounted on the housing and located at the end of the charge pump shaft remote from the main shaft for supporting the charge pump shaft for rotation, and a third bearing operatively mounted on the housing and aligned with the coaxially coupled ends of the charge pump shaft and main shaft such that the charge pump shaft and main shaft are simultaneously supported for rotation.