Check this out. Sounds like a great idea!!!! Haven't saw one in person yet. https://www.deere.com/en/motor-graders/
That is a great idea I think, it's about time someone came up with a better idea for that, it remaining to be seen if it is but I like it.
Almost seems too good to be true huh..... I've been moving a lot of dirt the past month cleaning out ditches and elevating roadbeds. Have to grease the circle at least once a day. This system might be the ticket!!!
I would like to know how this is going to work for the long haul. Great idea if it works out.
Looks good. But now they come out with it after I retired. Oh Well
Yeah, I'm curious about the long term as well. Although, if it makes contact all the way around the circle it would take a very long time to wear any slack into the table. Especially if kept greased. I'm not sure when I'll retired from running the township grader. I'm 69. Our grader is one year old. We usually trade 4-5 years. I might be on my last grader.
No doubt they will have a rough time to find someone with your knowledge!
I don't know about the knowledge part. Problem here is it's not a full time job. Generates $10-12K income per year. Can't make a living at it. So you usually end up with an operator that blades roads when he has time, not when they need done. I retired 9 years ago so can now blade roads at the "right time". That's critical on rural gravel roads. I never think I can not be replaced. When a man does that he is a fool.
Just in case anyone missed it, you have to go to the link given and then go to the link there into smart circle. They use what looks like a Rotec bearing in place of the shoes for the blade circle. The plus part of it is that there are no continual adjustments to make for wear in the shoes. I'm guess the option comes with a substantial price difference that should pay out over time. If the bearing is a typical ball bearing there could be in issue over time with fretting inside the races as most of the time the blade only is moved a few degrees one way or the other. All force is applied on half or less of the area of the circle. The other issue I have is with the grease points for the circle. The gentleman is standing by a plug that has to be removed and then he talks about four points to grease on the bearing. The implication to me is that the fittings in the bearing have to be lined up with the hole in order to fit the gun to the nipple. If so one would think there should be some kind of mark somewhere to enable locating the hole over the fitting. The other thought is how many times will those fittings be forgotten because the threaded plug has to be removed in order to do the greasing. The last issue that occurs to me is that the shoes were used because of the wear on the ring gear and pinion. I assume the bearing and gear are one component. Does that mean the whole component has to be replaced because the gear gets worn out? I like the concept and that Deere is doing some innovative thinking. Hopefully I'll be around long enough in the future to do an inspection on a 5,000 or more hour machine to see if it pans out.
I think the concept is great. We are running graders with well over 50000 hours and I just wonder how this idea would pan out in the long term. Kudos to John Deere for thinking out of the box. I like that. I guess there is no way to adjust for wear and that, I suspect, would be the issue
Thanks for sharing that John C. The circle will probably outlast the grader.
Yeah, I think it will too. As for ease of greasing. I have concerns about that too. Trying to imagine how that's done. Not very detailed in the video. I'm not worried about zerks being exposed so they aren't forgotten. This is a 500hr maintenance item. The tandem drive zerks aren't easily seen either. If the maintenance person isn't familiar with the machine he'll have to do some searching to find them. Pinion gear wear concerns me a bit. But then I'm thinking of a pinion gear that's exposed to the elements. This one is not. I didn't for an instant think this is a ball bearing setup. Never crossed my mind. I suspect it's complete contact all the way around the circle with rub material.
Someone is going to have to get inside one of these circles. I also assumed it was a Rotek style bearing. Never an issue greasing these on excavators.
Searched JD's online parts diagrams and they list this circle. I'll let you guys study the diagram a bit, then we can discuss it. Some of it is a bit over my head. https://partscatalog.deere.com/jdrc/sidebyside/equipment/1197526/referrer/navigation/pgId/454780003
Can someone get a price on that bearing? I still think it is a Rotec bearing. It shows a separate cover to hide the ring gear. I wonder what and how they lubricate the teeth on the ring gear?
"I think" the outer ring of the bearing bolts to item #4, the circle. Item # 10, the cover bolts to the draft frame which creates a top cover for the bearing. When the pinion gear turns it forces the bearing to turn which forces the circle to turn. Here's a link to the draft frame diagram. Looking at Item # 11 and 12 it appears there are four plugs with orings to remove to grease the system, plus on zerk at the pinion itself. https://partscatalog.deere.com/jdrc/sidebyside/equipment/1197526/referrer/navigation/pgId/454789749