Pivot joint pin retention

A pin retention mechanism for a pivot joint which connects together two structural members of a machine for pivotal movement relative to each other. The pivot pin has a dynamic connection with one of the structural members and there is an annular spacer on the pivot pin adjacent the dynamic connection. The other structural member has a tapered opening through it with the taper either on the structural member itself or on a bushing within an opening in the other structural member. A collet in the tapered opening has an external surface mating with the tapered internal surface. A cylindrical sleeve is located between the collet and the pivot pin and in contact with the spacer.

CROSS-REFERENCE 
This application is related to application Ser. No. 695,011 Garman et al 
filed Jan. 25, 1985 in that a portion of the disclosure is common to both. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention: 
This invention relates to a pin retention mechanism for a pivot joint which 
connects together two structural members of a machine for pivotal movement 
relative to each other about a pivot axis. 
2. Description of the Prior Art: 
The following U.S. patents show pin retention mechanisms for pivot joints 
which connect together two structural members of a machine for pivotal 
movement relative to each other, which mechanisms employ tapered wedge 
members: 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,841,771, Shankwitz, dated Oct. 15, 1974; 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,022,536, Piepho et al, dated May 10, 1977; and 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,398,862, Schroeder, dated Aug. 16, 1983 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
This invention is a pin retention mechanism for a pivot joint which 
connects together two structural members of a machine for pivotal movement 
relative to each other. The pivot pin has a dynamic connection with one of 
the structural members and there is an annular spacer on the pin adjacent 
the dynamic connection. The other structural member has a tapered opening 
through it with the smallest diameter of the taper at the inner surface of 
the opening and adjacent the spacer. There is a collet in the opening 
having a tapered external surface mating with the tapered internal surface 
on the structural member. There is a cylindrical sleeve between the collet 
and the pivot pin and in contact with the spacer. Both the collet and the 
sleeve have longitudinal slots in them to facilitate their deformation 
when the joint is assembled.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
FIG. 1 of the drawing shows a bearing retainer mechanism 10 pivotally 
connecting two relatively movable members 12 and 14 to form a pivot joint 
15. Member 12 is bifurcated and includes two spaced apart flanges 12a and 
12b which may be part of a bracket on a loader bucket. The other member 14 
is a housing which is located in part between flanges 12a and 12b, and may 
be connected to a bellcrank which pivots the bucket. Each of the flanges 
12a and 12b and housing 14 has a circular opening therethrough, indicated 
by the numerals 16a and 16b respectively for the two flanges and the 
numeral 13 for a stepped opening through housing 14, with the centers of 
such openings coinciding along an axis 20 extending transversely to planes 
coinciding with said movable members. 
The stepped opening 13 through housing 14 includes an inwardly extending 
flange 26 at one end, an intermediate diameter section 27, and a third 
larger diameter section 28 which is threaded. When assembled the joint 15 
includes a retainer ring 32 having a shoulder portion 34 which abuts 
flange 26; this retainer ring carries a dynamic seal 29. A bearing 
assembly 36 has an outer race or cup 36a which abuts retainer ring 32 and 
a cone assembly 36d which is inclusive of rollers 36b and cone 36c. A 
spacer 40 abuts race 36a. The outer race or cup 42a of bearing assembly 42 
abuts spacer 40, and a retainer ring 48 abuts race 42a. Bearing assembly 
42 also includes a cone assembly 42d which is inclusive of rollers 42b and 
cone 42c. Retainer ring 48 has an external threaded portion 48a which 
mates with an internal threaded portion 28a in housing 14, and carries a 
dynamic seal 49. Both seals 29 and 49 are pressed in place prior to the 
assembly of this bearing retainer mechanism as described below. 
A cylindrical pivot pin 22, which is the principal structural member of the 
pivot joint 15, is located within openings 16a, 13 and 16b coaxially with 
axis 20, and is the part on which housing 14 is journaled for oscillatory 
pivotal movement. 
In assembling bearing retainer mechanism 10 the first steps are done with 
the housing 14 separate from flanges 12a and 12b. The first step is to 
insert retainer ring 32 into opening 13 until shoulder 34 on the retainer 
ring abuts flange 26. Then, in order, the outer race 36a of bearing 36, 
the cone assembly 36d the spacer 40, the cone assembly 42d of bearing 42, 
and the outer race 42a of bearing 42 are assembled in housing 14. Then 
retainer ring 48 which has external threads 48a to mate with the threads 
28a on section 28 is assembled to retain the bearings and related parts in 
place and to preload the bearings. 
Next spacers 50 and 54 which carry seals 52 and 56 respectively are 
inserted through seals 29 and 49 respectively until said spacers abut 
cones 36c and 42c respectively. Housing 14 with the bearing retainer 
mechanism 10 and and bearings assembled on it along with spacers 50 and 54 
is aligned so that the axis of opening 13 is coaxial with axis 20 and thus 
is coaxial with openings 16a and 16b in bifurcated frame member 12. Pin 22 
is then inserted through members 12a, 14 and 12b respectively and is 
secured to each of 12a and 12b by a pin retention mechanism of the present 
invention. 
The pin retention mechanism of this invention is indicated generally by the 
numeral 60 and there is one at each end of pin 22, one being the mirror 
image of the other as shown in FIG. 1. The right hand mechanism of FIG. 1 
is shown on a larger scale in FIG. 2. In one embodiment mechanism 60 
includes a tapered bushing 62 which is pressed into the opening 16a in 
member 12a or opening 16b in member 12b. Bushing 62 includes a shoulder 
portion 64 and a tapered inner surface 66 which has the largest diameter 
of the taper at the axially outer end and the smallest diameter at the 
axially inner end of bushing 62. Within the bushing 62 is a portion of a 
collet member 68. The collet comprises an outer flat circular head portion 
70 which is secured in a suitable manner such as by welding to an inner 
skirt portion 72. As illustrated the inwardly extending tapered skirt 
portion includes an external tapered surface 74 which mates with surface 
66 in that these two surfaces are in frictional contact when assembly of 
the invention is completed. The axial inner margin 76 of collet 68 is 
adjacent spacer 50 for the right one and 54 for the left one. The tapered 
portion of the collet 68 includes at least one longitudinally extending 
slot 78 from the inner margin 76 of the collet to near head portion 70. 
FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of the skirt portion 72 of the collet 68 
separate from the remainder of the structure, and it has three slots in 
this preferred embodiment. 
Inside of collet 68 is a sleeve 80 which is in contact at its axially 
innermost end with spacer 50 on the right and spacer 54 on the left. 
Sleeve 80 also has at least one longitudinal slot 81 and in the preferred 
construction shown in FIG. 4 of the drawing there are three such slots. 
In preparing for assembly according to the present invention the steps 
previously described are carried out culminating with the insertion of pin 
22 through members 12a, 14 and 12b. Then the sleeves 80 are moved in 
axially from the opposite ends of the pin 22 respectively until they 
contact spacers 50 and 54. After tapered bushings 62 are installed in 
members 12a and 12b respectively, either during the final assembly as 
described in this paragraph or prior to the final assembly, collets 68 are 
put into place axially from each end of the pin respectively. Then a 
machine screw 82 is threaded into the end of pin 22 at each extremity. A 
washer 84 may be utilized between machine screw 82 and collet 68. Both 
machine screws are tightened up and torqued to a suitable amount. The 
wedging action of the tapered collets respectively on the sleeves 80 and 
on pin 22 secures the pins to flanges 12a and 12b to prevent pin rotation 
or axial movement of the pin relative to the pivot joint. 
The present invention eliminates the necessity of using shims in or as a 
part of the pivot joint, and it also eliminates welding to the pin. It 
provides a means of retention for high strength, high alloy pins that are 
nonweldable. It eliminates the use of lock plates. 
The removal of pin 22 is accomplished by first removing the machine screws 
82 from the pin and collets 68 at the respective ends of the pin. Larger 
screws are then tightened in threads 83 in the collets which screws bear 
against the ends of pin 22 and back the collets out of the tapered bushing 
bores 66, after which the pin 22 can be withdrawn. 
In this invention the spacer 50 contacts bearing race 36c, and spacer 54 
contacts bearing race 42c. Sleeves 80 contact spacers 50 and 54, however, 
the forces exerted on the bearing assemblies through sleeves 80 are 
relatively small and do not exert undue forces on the bearing assemblies 
which might be damaging to them. 
While I have described and illustrated herein a preferred embodiment of my 
invention and also the best mode contemplated for carrying it out as shown 
in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, it will be understood by those skilled in the art 
that modifications may be made. For example, it will be appreciated that a 
other types of bearings may be utilized to provide the dynamic connection 
between the pivot pin and the inner structural member 14. Also it will be 
understood that the bushings 62 can be omitted if desired and the tapered 
surfaces 66 formed on the structural members 12a and 12b. I intend to 
cover by the appended claims all such modifications which fall within the 
true spirit and scope of my invention.