Balance bogies in a forest machine improve operational efficiency and comfort in demanding terrain.

Balanced bogies have been a standard feature in most John Deere harvesters and forwarders for years. By optimizing the weight distribution on all the bogie wheels, the balancing unit ensures the best stability, grip and traction. This allows the machine to maneuver more easily and more safely in rough or steep terrain.

A balanced bogie also minimizes the swaying of the loaded machine by maintaining support and ground contact with all the bogie wheels in all conditions. This enables higher driving speed with a load and higher productivity.

Less impact on terrain
Because the balancing units in the bogie axle distribute the total weight optimally to all bogie wheels, it also allows all the wheels to transfer their fair share of the traction force to the ground. With an unbalanced bogie, it may happen that only one bogie wheel stays on the ground and has to do all the work alone. Distributing the weight and traction force evenly over a larger area minimizes ground damage due to less ground pressure and tearing force from each wheel.

The design of the John Deere balanced bogie is streamlined by placing the portals inside the wheel rims. This makes the bogie ends smaller and widens the ground clearance between the bogie beams. Wider ground clearance reduces the need to steer the machine to avoid contact with rocks and stumps. The main benefits of this feature are lower fuel consumption, faster driving speed and less risk of getting stuck on obstacles.

Bogies help in Finnish terrain
Over the years, forest machine operators in Finland have become accustomed to the comfort and efficiency offered by balanced bogies. Jorma Myller has been a forest machine operator for nearly 20 years. The bogies in Myller's John Deere 1110D forwarder have been a great help in his work.

"Especially when I back down a hill and there is a rock or a mound in the way, the bogies ensure balance and traction." notes Myller.

Heikki Yijälä has been operating forest machines equipped with balanced bogies since 1997. His company uses 1270D and 1070D harvesters and 1410 and 1110D forwarders. Compared with conventional machines, Heikki Yijälä finds the balanced bogies on the John Deere machines to be a clear advantage.

"I would never go back to a machine that didn’t have these bogies," says Yijälä. "The work gets done more quickly when you have balanced bogies that provide agility when climbing slopes."

[In the Forest, Issue 1, 2006].

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