Stress analysis of front axle of JD 955 combine harvester under static loading

JD 955 combines manufactured by Iran Combine Manufacturing Company was modified. Resulting from the applied modifications, total weight and the loads applied on front axle of modified combine were increased. Stress analysis of front axle of JD 955 combine under static loading conditions resulted from the applied modifications was performed by using finite element method. The commercial finite element package ANSYS version 9.0 was used for the solution of the problem. Numerical results showed that the calculated value of factor of safety is very low and the front axle of JD 955 combine isn’t strong enough to be installed on the modified combine.