Facilitating easy access to a shearbar on a forage harvester

Abstract

In a forage harvester having a rotatable cutterhead and adjacently-positioned shearbar, an upper rear feed roll is mounted above and forwardly of the shearbar for pivotal movement relative to an upper front feed roll by a pair of arms which interconnect the rolls. A tensioning assembly is coupled to each of the arms. An actuatable latching mechanism is connecting to the tensioning assembly and movable to a first position for placing the tensioning assembly in a first condition in which the rear feed roll is biased toward a lower operative position adjacent the cutterhead and shearbar. The latching mechanism is also movable to a second position for placing the tensioning assembly in a second condition in which the bias on the rear feed roll is relaxed, whereby the rear feed roll may now be pivotally moved relative to the front feed roll to an upper inoperative position generally above the front feed roll and remote from the cutterhead and shearbar to thereby expose and render the shearbar readily accessible for servicing.