WO2009026650A1

WO2009026650A1 - A mounting pin assembly for an excavator wear member

Info

Publication number: WO2009026650A1
Application number: PCT/AU2008/001283
Authority: WO
Inventors: Simon Peter Orton; Benjamin Charles Plant
Original assignee: Cqms Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2007-08-31
Filing date: 2008-08-29
Publication date: 2009-03-05

Abstract

A retaining pin assembly having a body member with a latch cavity defined therein such that the latch cavity opens at an outer face of said body member. A latch member is located within the latch cavity and the latch member has a drive slot. A drive member is slidably located within the drive slot of the latch member. The retaining pin assembly also has an adjustment assembly adapted to move the drive member within the drive slot to thereby move the latch member from a retracted position whereby the latch member is located within the latch cavity, and an extended position, whereby at least a portion of the latch member extends outwardly of the opening of the latch cavity.

Description

TITLE "A MOUNTING PIN ASSEMBLY FOR AN EXCAVATOR WEAR MEMBER"

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a mounting pin assembly for an excavator wear member. In particular, although not exclusively, the invention relates to a mounting pin assembly for releasably retaining digging teeth or points on adaptors associated with earth excavation equipment.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

Of recent times, earth excavating apparatus such as dragline excavators and bucket excavators have a unitary cast bucket lip which is protected against wear by consumable wear assemblies including adaptor/tooth point assemblies and lip shrouds located therebetween. Each of these wear assemblies is designed to be replaced when worn to maintain operational efficiency of the excavating apparatus. For over a century there have been many developments in the design of consumable wear members and mechanisms for releasably retaining these wear members.

In the design and manufacture of replaceable wear members such as digging teeth, there are many competing requirements. On the one had as most digging teeth are cast from wear resistant steel, manufacturing tolerances are necessarily quite large. While machining could improve manufacturing tolerances, economic constraints generally prohibit expensive and time consuming machining of disposable wear elements. On the other hand the stresses applied to digging teeth and their adaptor mounts are very considerable which can lead to breakage of teeth, breakage of adaptors or even breakage of the tooth retaining mechanisms. Although breakage may not occur, digging teeth can be lost as a result of excessive wear between a tooth and its adaptor mount which in turn can lead to loosening of the tooth retaining mechanism.

It is a requirement for all replaceable wear members that they are able to be securely locked onto a respective mount to avoid loss as not only does this increase operational costs in premature replacement of wear members and excessive downtime, the lose wear members can cause serious damage to downstream processing equipment such as crushers and the like. Moreover, when replacing worn wear members such as digging teeth, it is important that the retention mechanism which locks a tooth onto its mount is quickly and easily removed in a manner which is safe and convenient to operators and which minimizes excavator downtime.

Some early mechanisms for releasably retaining a digging tooth on a mount are described in United States Patents 2,167,425 and 3,371 ,437. In both of these disclosures a nut and bolt mechanism retained the tooth on its mount under tension. A disadvantage however was while the nut and bolt assembly was easily accessible, the threaded end of the bolt shank and the nut were exposed and thus prone to being surrounded with compacted earth.

Probably the most widely used retaining mechanism for digging teeth are wedge-like mechanisms which rely on frictional engagement in aligned apertures in a digging tooth and its mount.

United States Patent 3,388,488 describes a wedge-shaped locking pin having a shoulder which engages against a resilient block of rubber mounted in a recess in the tooth mount to provide a rearwardly directed force on the tooth to prevent it from working loose on its mount. United States Patent 4,823,487 describes a composite metal and elastomeric "flex pin" which is driven into aligned apertures in a tooth and its mount. Its flex pin includes a projection engageable in a recess in the aperture in the mount to prevent the flex pin from falling out. A similar composite "flex pin" structure is described in United States Patent 4,061 ,432.

Two part retaining mechanisms are disclosed in United States

Patents 5,068,986, 5,386,653, 5,423,138 and 5,806,215 wherein a resiliently deformable element of the two part retaining mechanism is employed as a keeper to retain a rigid locking pin within aligned apertures in a digging tooth and its respective mount.

United States Patents 4,404,760 and 4,965,945 respectively show a yoke shaped resilient tooth locking member and an arcuate resilient metal locking pin to frictionally engage between shoulders on the mount.

The main disadvantage of such resilient retaining pin systems is that insertion and removal into aligned apertures between a tooth and its mount requires considerable force, usually applied in the field with a large hammer to achieve the high frictional forces needed to secure the pin against dislodgement. Experience has shown that the use of hammers or the like is dangerous due to high velocity metal fragments which can break off during impact or the risk of injury from a misdirected or glancing blow of the hammer. Removal of such resilient retaining pin systems is much more difficult than insertion due to compaction of earth in and around the pin assembly and frequently the pin assembly is deformed during insertion which increases the force required for removal. Frequently, such pin assemblies are broken during removal or damaged to an extent that they must be discarded.

Yet another disadvantage associated with these resilient wedge- type locking pins is that special tools are required to insert or remove the pin assemblies and frequently, two operators are required for the insertion and removal processes.

A still further disadvantage of these prior art resilient and/or wedge- type locking pin assemblies is that for reliable operation they require expensive machining operations during manufacture and an extensive inventory of parts, components and special tools for insertion and removal thereby incurring substantial capital investment.

A further type of locking pin is described in United States Patent

5,435,084 which discloses a machined cylindrical pin with a toothed head eccentric to a longitudinal axis. The cylindrical pin is located in aligned apertures in a tooth and its mount and the tooth head is located within a toothed aperture in a locking block located in an enlarged aperture in the top of the digging tooth.

The locking block includes a resilient polymeric pad locatable against the wall of the enlarged aperture whereby rotation of the pin causes a cam-like engagement with the locking block to retain the resilient pad under compression. Engagement between the toothed pin head and the toothed aperture in the locking block resists loosening of the locking pin.

Apart from the retaining pin systems of Untied States Patents

2,167,425 and 3,371 ,437, all of the abovementioned prior art digging tooth retaining systems describe vertically oriented retaining pin assemblies. While United States Patent 4,326,348 shows a horizontally disposed retaining pin system designed to reduce the problems of pins inadvertently falling out of their apertures during operation, such horizontally disposed systems have been largely rejected by the industry due to the difficulties in gaining access from the sides of the digging teeth which are closely spaced. Another horizontally disposed digging tooth retaining pin system is described in United States Patent 5,337,495 wherein a digging tooth is mounted to an adaptor by cap screws threadably secured in threaded inserts removably located in the adaptor. A shortcoming with this type of tooth mounting arrangement is that the mounting of the tooth to the adaptor is not stabilized such that in practice a "yawing" or side to side movement is experienced by the digging tooth. The lack of stability is attributed to a small contact area of the leading bearing face of the adaptor. This side to side movement imparts great stresses on the side bolts holding the digging tooth to the adaptor and in turn causes deformation and damage to the bolt making it difficult to remove. In extreme cases, the heads of the side mounting bolts can be sheared at the transition between the threaded shank and the head as tis transition region is inherently weak. Shearing of the bolt heads can lead to loss of a digging point with possible damaging consequences to downstream processing equipment.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the invention to overcome or at least alleviate one or more of the above problems and/or provide the consumer with a useful or commercial choice.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION In one form, although it need not be the only or indeed the broadest form, the invention resides in a retaining pin assembly comprising: a body member having a latch cavity defined therein, said latch cavity having an opening at an outer face of said body member; a latch member located within said latch cavity, said latch member having a drive slot; a drive member slidably located within said drive slot of said latch member; and an adjustment assembly adapted to move said drive member within said drive slot to thereby move said latch member from a retracted position whereby said latch member is located within said latch cavity, and an extended position, whereby at least a portion of said latch member extends outwardly of said opening of said latch cavity.

Preferably, said drive member has a screw threaded aperture extending therethrough and said adjustment assembly has a bolt including a screw threaded portion extending through said screw threaded aperture, whereby rotation of said bolt causes said drive member to move in said drive slot of said latch member.

Suitably, said drive member has at least one angled ridge located on a side thereof slidably engageable with a corresponding angled groove on a face of said drive slot of said latch member and said movement of said drive member in said drive slot causes said angled ridge to bear against a side of said angled groove to thereby cause movement of said latch member to drive at least a portion of said latch member outwardly of said opening of said latch cavity.

Further features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS To assist in understanding the invention and to enable a person skilled in the art to put the invention into practical effect preferred embodiments of the invention will be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: FIG 1 shows an exploded perspective view of an excavator wear assembly according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG 2 shows an exploded perspective view of a retaining pin assembly forming part of the excavator wear assembly shown in FIG 1 ;

FIG 3A shows a sectional view of the retaining pin assembly shown in FIG 2 in a retracted position;

FIG 3B shows a sectional view of the retaining pin assembly shown in FIG 2 in an extended position; and

FIG 4 shows a sectional side view of the excavator wear assembly shown in FIG l DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG 1 shows an exploded perspective view of an excavator wear assembly 1000 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Excavator wear assembly 1000 comprises an adaptor 1100, a digging tooth 1200 and a retaining pin assembly 1300. Adaptor 1100 is suitably configured for mounting on a digging edge of an excavator by way of an adaptor socket 1110 (not shown in FIG 1) for mounting upon a complementary shaped nose 1400 (not shown in FIG 1) of an excavator digging edge as will be discussed in greater detail below.

Adaptor 1100 has aligned transverse apertures 1101 each extending through a respective opposed side wall 1102. Aligned transverse apertures 1101 are adapted to receive an adaptor retaining pin (not shown) which extends through aligned transverse apertures 1101 and an adaptor retaining pin passage in the complementary shaped nose 1400 (not shown in FIG1) of the excavator digging edge. A lifting eye 1103 forms part of adaptor 1100 to assist in mounting to and demounting from the complementary shaped nose 1400 of the digging edge of the excavator.

Adaptor 1100 further includes a spigot portion 1120 extending from a forward portion thereof and upper and lower mounting recesses 1104 and 1105 respectively (lower mounting recess 1105 not shown in FIG 1). Additionally, adaptor 1100 has a pair of side wall mounting recesses 1105 located in a forward portion of each opposed side wall 1102.

Spigot portion 1120 has substantially parallel rear and forward bearing surfaces 1121 ,1123 respectively on an upper and lower extent thereof each having an intermediate bearing surface 1122 disposed therebetween. Spigot portion 1120 terminates at a front bearing face 1124.

In use, bearing surfaces 1121 ,1122 and 1123 and front bearing face 1124 engage complementary bearing surfaces 1221 , 1222 and 1223 and bearing face

1224 respectively of digging tooth 1200 as will be discussed in greater detail below.

A mounting aperture 1130 extends through spigot portion 1120 adjacent upper mounting recess 1104 and lower mounting recess 1105 at either end thereof. The features of mounting aperture 1130 will be discussed in greater detail below. Excavator wear assembly 1000 further comprises a digging tooth 1200 adapted to be mounted upon spigot portion 1120 of adaptor 1100.

Digging tooth 1200 includes a lifting eye 1203 to assist in mounting to and demounting from spigot portion 1120 of adaptor 1100.

Digging tooth 1200 has a socket cavity 1220 formed from substantially parallel rear and forward bearing surfaces 1221 ,1223 (not shown in FIG 1) respectively on an upper and lower extent thereof each having an intermediate bearing surface 1222 (not shown in FIG 1) disposed therebetween as previously discussed. The socket cavity 1220 of digging tooth 1200 terminates at a front bearing face 1224 (not shown in FIG 1). Digging tooth 1200 further includes side wall mounting projections 1206 extending rearwardly from opposed side walls 1201 of digging tooth 1200 and complementary with side wall mounting recesses 1106 of adaptor 1100.

Furthermore, digging tooth 1200 includes upper and lower mounting projections 1204, 1205 (not shown in FIG 1) respectively extending rearwardly of digging tooth 1200 and complementary with upper and lower mounting recesses 1104, 1105 respectively of adaptor 1100.

Digging tooth 1200 further includes upper and lower mounting apertures 1230,1240 respectively extending through upper and lower mounting projections 1204,1206 respectively. Excavator wear assembly 1000 further includes a retaining pin assembly

1300.

FIG 2 shows an exploded perspective view of an embodiment of retaining pin assembly 1300. Retaining pin assembly 1300 is moveable between a retracted position and an extended position. FIG 3A shows a sectional view of retaining pin assembly 1300 in the retracted position and FIG 3B shows a 1 sectional view of retaining pin assembly 1300 in the extended position.

Retaining pin assembly 1300 comprises a body member 1310, a latch member 1320, a drive member 1330, a seal 1340 and an adjustment assembly 1350. Body member 1310 is generally elongate and has an angled upper face

1314 and a lower face 1315 on an opposed longitudinal end of body member 1310 as will be discussed further below. Furthermore, body member 1310 has an inward taper from angled upper face 1314 to lower face 1315.

Body member 1310 has a first bolt passage 1311 , a second bolt passage 1312 and a latch cavity 1313 disposed between the first bolt passage 1311 and the second bolt passage 1312. Latch cavity 1313 is in communication with first bolt passage 1311 by way of a first sealant passage 1311 A and is in communication with second bolt passage 1312 by way of a second sealant passage 1312A. Furthermore, latch cavity 1313 has a latch opening 1318 at an outer face of body member 1310.

Body member 1310 further includes a sealant groove 1317 extending about inner faces of latch cavity 1313 adjacent latch opening 1318.

Latch member 1320 has a block portion 1321 and a pair of leg members 1322 extending from block portion 1321 defining a drive slot 1323 therebetween. An angled groove 1324 traverses an inner face of each leg member 1322.

Latch member 1320 is receivable within latch cavity 1313 of body member 1310.

Retaining pin assembly 1300 further comprises a drive member 1330 slidably locatable within drive slot 1323 of latch member 1320. Drive member 1330 has an angled ridge 1331 located upon opposite outer faces thereof. Each angled ridge 1331 is slidably locatable within a respective angled groove 1324 of latch member 1320.

Furthermore, drive member 1330 has a threaded aperture 1332 extending therethrough.

Retaining pin assembly 1300 further comprises an adjustment assembly designated generally by 1350. In the embodiment, adjustment assembly 1350 comprises a bolt 1351 having a hexagonally shaped head 1352 adapted to receive a socket of a power tool such as a pneumatic drill or the like and having annular grooves 1352A for reception of ring seals 1353.

Bolt 1351 also has a shaft 1354 extending from hexagonally shaped head 1352. Shaft 1354 has a threaded portion 1354A corresponding to and receivable within threaded aperture 1332 of drive member 1330. Shaft 1354 also has a lower portion 1354B.

Retaining pin assembly 1300 further comprises a seal 1350 receivable within sealant groove 1317 of body member 1310. To assemble retaining pin assembly 1300, drive member 1330 is located within drive slot 1323 of latch member 1320 such that each angled ridge 1331 slidably engages with a respective angled groove 1324 of latch member 1324.

Latch member 1320, having drive member 1330 slidably located within drive slot 1323, is then located within latch cavity 1313 of body member 1310. Bolt 1351 of adjustment assembly is then located through first bolt passage 1311 such that the shaft 1354 proceeds through latch cavity 1313 and terminates within second bolt passage 1312.

In this configuration, threaded portion 1354A of shaft 1354 is located within latch cavity 1313 and extends through threaded aperture 1332 of drive member 1330. At least a portion of lower portion 1354B of shaft 1354 is rotatably anchored within second bolt passage 1312 by way of lock nuts 1356 and 1357. Furthermore, seals 1355, 1359, 1340 ring seals 1353 and cap 1358 prevent ingress of fines and the like to within latch cavity 1313. As the lower portion 1354B of shaft 1354 is rotatably anchored within second bolt passage 1312, an application of a torsional force to hexagonally shaped head 1352 of bolt 1351 causes rotation of bolt 1351 to thereby cause movement of drive member 1330 along threaded portion 1354A of shaft 1354 within latch cavity 1313 as will be discussed below. Latch member 1320 is moveable between a retracted position and an extended position. In the retracted position, shown in FIG 3A, the latch member 1320 is substantially located within latch cavity 1313 of body member 1310.

To move the Latch member 1320 to the extended position, a torsional force is applied to hexagonally shaped head 1352 of bolt 1351. As bolt 1351 is rotatably anchored by way of lock nuts 1356 and 1357, the torsional force causes threaded portion 1354A of shaft 1354 to rotate within latch cavity 1313. As drive member 1330 is non-rotatably located within drive slot 1323 of latch member 1320, the rotation of threaded portion 1354A of shaft 1354 causes drive member 1330 to move along threaded portion 1354A within drive slot 1323 of latch member 1320.

As drive member 1330 moves along threaded portion 1354A, each angled ridge 1331 of drive member 1330 bears against and slidably engages with a side of respective angled grooves 1324 of latch member 1320 to thereby drive latch member 1320 out of latch cavity 1313 such that block portion 1321 extends outwardly of latch cavity 1313. This movement continues until drive member 1330 is positioned on threaded portion 1354A adjacent first sealant opening 1311A and the latch member 1320 is in the fully extended position as shown in FIG 3B.

To move the latch member 1320 back to the retracted position, an opposite torsional force is applied to hexagonally shaped head 1352 of bolt 1351 to thereby move drive member along threaded portion 1354A such that each angled ridge 1331 bears against and slidably engages with a respective angled groove 1324 to thereby force latch member to move into latch cavity 1313.

This movement continues until drive member 1330 is positioned on threaded portion 1354A adjacent second sealant opening 1312A and block portion 1321 of latch member 1320 is substantially wholly located within latch cavity 1313. In this way, latch member 1320 is moved back to the retracted position.

In use, retaining pin assembly 1300 secures digging tooth 1200 to adaptor 1100. FIG 4 shows a sectional side view of the excavator wear assembly 1000 with latch member 1320 in the extended position to thereby secure digging tooth 1200 to adaptor 1100.

Digging tooth 1200 is mounted upon spigot portion 1120 of adaptor 1100 such that side wall mounting projections 1206 of digging tooth 1200 are located within corresponding side wall mounting recesses 1106 of adaptor 1100 and upper mounting projection 1204 and lower mounting projection 1205 of digging tooth 1200 are located within upper mounting recess 1104 and lower mounting recess 1105 respectively of adaptor 1100.

In this configuration, upper mounting aperture 1230 and lower mounting aperture 1240 of digging tooth 1200 substantially align with mounting aperture 1130 of adaptor 1100. Furthermore, bearing surfaces 1121 , 1122 and 1123 and front bearing face 1124 of adaptor 1100 bear against complementary bearing surfaces 1221 , 1222 and 1223 and bearing face 1224 respectively of digging tooth 1200. Retaining pin assembly 1300 is then located within mounting aperture

1240 such that angled upper face 1314 of body member 1310 is located below and lies in a plane substantially parallel to a top face of digging tooth 1200. Latch member 1320 is maintained in the retracted position whilst being located within mounting aperture 1240. Lower face 1315 of body member 1310 abuts and bears against a ledge

1241 extending inwardly within lower mounting aperture 1240 such that a cross sectional area of lower mounting aperture 1240 is less than a cross sectional area of body member 1310 at lower face 1315. In this way, retaining pin assembly 1300 is prevented from exiting mounting aperture 1130 through lower mounting aperture 1240 of digging tooth 1200.

As described above, a torsional force is then applied to hexagonally shaped head 1352 of bolt 1351 to cause drive member 1330 to move along threaded portion 1354A of shank 1354 within latch cavity 1313. As mentioned, this movement forces latch member 1320 to move out of latch cavity 1313 such that block portion 1321 extends outwardly of latch cavity 1313 within a locking recess 1125 of adaptor 1100.

In this way, retaining pin assembly 1300 is secured within mounting aperture 1130 of adaptor 1100 as abutment of an upper face of block portion 1321 bears against a face of locking recess 1125 to thereby prevent extraction of retaining pin assembly 1300 from mounting aperture 1130. Furthermore, digging tooth 1200 cannot be demounted from adaptor 1100 as a rear surface of body member 1310 bears against respective forward facing surfaces of upper and lower mounting apertures 1230, 1240 respectively of digging tooth 1200 and a forward surface of body member 1310 bears against a rearwardly facing surface of mounting aperture 1130 when forces are applied to digging tooth 1200 in the direction of adaptor 1100.

It is desirable to have a tight fit in excavator wear assembly 1000 such that no looseness exists between digging tooth 1200 and adaptor 1100. As such, it is preferable to move latch member 1320 to the fully extend position such that a forward facing surface of block portion 1321 bears against rearwardly facing surface 1126 of locking recess 1125. As block portion 1321 is further extended, the abutment of a forward facing surface of block portion 1321 against rearwardly facing surface 1126 of locking recess 1125 causes a rear surface of body member 1310 to bear against respective forward facing surfaces of upper and lower mounting apertures 1230,1240 respectively of digging tooth 1200 to further mount digging tooth 1200 on spigot portion 1120 of adaptor 1100 such that faces 1124 and 1224 and in firm engagement.

It is known that faces of excavator wear assemblies that are in abutment may suffer from wear due to frictional forces contributed in part due to the presence of fines. Such wear is inclined to cause looseness in, for example, the mounting of the digging tooth 1200 to the adaptor 1100 may be subject to wear due to the abutment of bearing surfaces 1121 , 1122 and 1123 and front bearing face 1124 of adaptor 1100 against complementary bearing surfaces 1221 , 1222 and 1223 and bearing face 1224 respectively of digging tooth 1200. Furthermore, the allowance of manufacturing tolerance in each of the digging tooth 1200 and adaptor 1100 can similarly cause looseness in the excavator wear assembly 1000.

The retaining pin assembly 1300 of the invention allows for take of looseness to further mount digging tooth 1200 upon adaptor 1100 by forcing a face of block portion 1321 into abutment with a rearwardly facing surface 1126 of adaptor 1100 to thereby force digging tooth 1200 rearwardly on spigot portion

1120 of adaptor 1100 as discussed above.

Throughout the specification the aim has been to describe the invention without limiting the invention to any one embodiment or specific collection of features. Persons skilled in the relevant art may realize variations from the specific embodiments that will nonetheless fall within the scope of the invention.

For example, whilst the retaining pin assembly of the invention has been described above with reference to mounting an excavator digging tooth on an adaptor, other applications fall within the scope of the invention such as for mounting an adaptor on a nose of a digging edge of an excavator or indeed for mechanically attaching one member to another member.

It will be appreciated that various other changes and modifications may be made to the embodiment described without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

CLAIMS 1. A retaining pin assembly comprising: a body member having a latch cavity defined therein, said latch cavity having an opening at an outer face of said body member; a latch member located within said latch cavity, said latch member having a drive slot; a drive member slidably located within said drive slot of said latch member; and an adjustment assembly adapted to move said drive member within said drive slot to thereby move said latch member between a retracted position whereby said latch member is located within said latch cavity, and an extended position, whereby at least a portion of said latch member extends outwardly of said opening of said latch cavity.

2. The retaining pin assembly of claim 1 , wherein a face of said drive member is adapted to abut and engage a face of said latch member when said drive member is moved within said drive slot of said latch member to thereby move said latch member between said retracted position and said extended position.

3. The retaining pin assembly of claim 1 , wherein said drive member has at least one angled ridge located on a side thereof slidably engagable with a corresponding angled groove located on a face of said drive slot of said latch member.

4. The retaining pin assembly of claim 3, wherein said movement of said drive member in said drive slot causes said angled ridge to bear against a side of said angled groove to thereby drive at least a portion of said latch member outwardly of said opening of said latch cavity.

5. The retaining pin assembly of claim 1 , wherein said adjustment assembly comprises a bolt having shaft with a screw threaded portion, said bolt being rotatably secured to said body member such that said screw threaded portion is configured to be freely rotatably within said latch cavity of said body member.

6. The retaining pin assembly of claim 5, wherein said drive member has a screw threaded aperture extending therethrough, said screw threaded aperture adapted to receive said screw threaded portion of said bolt whereby rotation of said bolt causes said drive member to traverse said screw threaded portion of said bolt within said drive slot of said latch member.

7. The retaining pin assembly of claim 1 , wherein said latch member comprises a block portion and a pair of legs extending from said block portion, said legs defining said drive slot therebetween.

8. The retaining pin assembly of claim 7, wherein said latch member further comprises an angled groove located on an inner face of at least one of said legs.

9. The retaining pin assembly of claim 1 , wherein said drive member is non- rotatably located within said drive slot of said latch member.

10. The retaining pin assembly of claim 1 , wherein said body member is adapted to be non-rotatably located within a mounting aperture of an excavator wear member.

11. The retaining pin assembly of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of said latch member is adapted to extend outwardly of said latch cavity to within a locking recess of an excavator adaptor.

12. An excavator wear assembly comprising a nose having a mounting aperture extending therethrough and a locking recess in communication with a said mounting aperture; a digging tooth releasably mounted upon said nose, said digging tooth having an upper mounting aperture extending through an upper wall of said digging tooth and a lower mounting aperture extending through a lower wall of said digging tooth, said upper mounting aperture and said lower mounting aperture being at least partially aligned with said mounting aperture of said nose; and a retaining pin assembly adapted to releasably mount said digging tooth on said nose, said retaining pin assembly comprising: a body member located within said mounting aperture of said noser and extending into at least one of said upper mounting aperture and said lower mounting aperture, said boding member having a latch cavity defined therein, said latch cavity having an opening at an outer face of said body member; a latch member located within said latch cavity, said latch member having a drive slot; a drive member slidably located within said drive slot of said latch member; and an adjustment assembly adapted to move said drive member within said drive slot to thereby force said latch member from a retracted position whereby said latch member is located within said latch cavity, and an extended position, whereby at least a portion of said latch member extends outwardly of said opening of said latch cavity into said locking recess of said nose to thereby secure said digging tooth on said nose.

13. The excavator wear assembly of claim 12, wherein said lower aperture of said nose has a ledge extending inwardly thereof adapted to abut a lower face of said body member.

14. The excavator wear assembly of claim 12, wherein a face of said latch member is adapted to engage and bear against a surface of said locking recess to thereby force a surface of said body member to engage and bear against a surface of at least one of said upper mounting aperture and said lower mounting aperture of said digging tooth to thereby further mount said digging tooth on said nose.