Bulldozers Parts Idaho - A popular type of industrial equipment is a bulldozer. Many models are known as crawler tractors, operating on a continuous track instead of using wheels; however, wheeled models are available. The large metal plate attached to the front of the bulldozer is called the dozer blade. The dozer blade is used to push large volumes of material, such gravel or dirt, during construction and alteration projects. The back of the bulldozer is usually fitted with large, metal teeth, called the ripper, useful in breaking up hard, compressed material.
Specifics
A typical bulldozer utilizes tracks that provide excellent maneuvering options and stellar traction on unstable, uneven or rough ground with a unique transmission that enables the dozer to operate with more tractive force. Sinking into unstable environments is prevented as the track width evenly distributes the weight of the machine. There are swamp track options available which are tracks with wider width options. These capabilities make bulldozers very popular for use in road construction, clearing land, mining and many other jobs needing powerful but stable equipment to move material.
Bulldozers operating on a wheeled system usually have four wheels, moved along by a 4-wheel-drive system and a hydraulic, articulated steering system. The dozer blade is mounted in front of the articulation joint and is operated on a hydraulic system, rather than mechanical.
What distinguishes the bulldozer from other large, construction equipment are its principal tools: the dozer blade and the ripper.
The Dozer Blade
The bulldozer blade consists of a sizeable metal plate that is situated at the front of the machine. The dozer blade is utilized for pushing heavy materials and items including sand, aggregate and gravel. Snow, gravel, sand, dirt and garbage are some of the most popular items that bulldozers push around. Three typical kinds of dozer blade options are available including the semi-U blade, the universal blade and the straight blade.
The universal or U blade features large wings on the sides of the tall, curved blade to transport more material. The S blade aka the straight blade features zero side wings or lateral curve and is used for fine earth grading applications. The semi-U or SU blade features a shorter, slightly less curved blade with size wings that are smaller than those on the U blade. It is generally used for pushing boulders or large rock piles.
A dozer blade is fitted either horizontally to the tractor or at an angle. The angle of the dozer blade can be adjusted with tilt cylinders. The dozer blade is sometimes sharpened to allow for cutting of objects, such as stumps or roots. The blade on an angledozer is pushed forward on one side to allow material to be pushed out of the dozer’s path. Angledozers are commonly used for snow removal.
A bull blade is a common bulldozer attachment. The reinforced centre portion of the bulldozer is called a bull blade. This allows a bulldozer to push a scraper, which is another large, heavy piece of equipment used to move earth.
Dozer blades are common attachments on a variety of military vehicles. Numerous military vehicles can attach a dozer blade for strategic operations including battle tanks, artillery tractors and combat engineering vehicles. The dozer blade helps the battle tank maneuver items and mines to create combat positions or dig shelters. It also helps create a protective barrier against artillery and explosives.
The Dozer Ripper
The shank or dozer ripper is the substantial tool situated on the bulldozers’ back with long teeth. There are single shank options on dozer rippers or groups with two or more shanks available depending on the application required. The single shank design is also known as a giant ripper and is preferred for large, very dense projects. The multi-shank options are called multi-shank rippers.
The shank’s tip, called the boot, is a metal, detachable piece. This design allows the boot to be replaced instead of the entire shank whenever it becomes broken or dull.
The dozer ripper breaks up concrete, rock, solid objects and dirt into smaller pieces to facilitate easier bulldozer transport. This allows for quicker project completion.
In agricultural applications, the dozer ripper is used to break up the ground and rocks for planting and plowing. Locations across Italy and New Zealand rely on dozer rippers to access nutrient-rich ancient lava flows that wouldn’t be farmable otherwise due to their dense nature. The ripper loosens the top lava rock layer to initiate farming applications.
Bulldozer Adaptations
Over time, the bulldozer has been adapted to allow for uses that were not possible with its original design.
The first bulldozer design was too large for working in confined spaces such as mining applications. These size limitations lead to smaller unit designs to enable more maneuverability in tighter locations. Smaller, light bulldozer models are commonly called calfdozers.
In snow areas, such as ski hills, a lighter version of the bulldozer is used for snow removal and preparing areas for winter sports.
Another adaptation resulted in the popular loader tractor. The loader tractor consists of replacing the dozer blade with a sizeable bucket and using hydraulic arms for raising and lowering. This adapted bulldozer model is referred to as a track loader, trackscavator or Drott to load gravel, earth and rocks into dump trucks.
A lesser-known bulldozer attachment is called the stump buster. This attaches to the rear of the bulldozer. It is a single spike, protruding horizontally, used to split tree stumps for removal. These are used primarily by bulldozers working on land clearing projects. In those circumstances, the bulldozer also has a brush-rake blade.
Despite the many adaptations available, bulldozers in their original form remain popular in deforestation, earthmoving, ground levelling, and road carving. Heavy bulldozers are primarily used to level terrain in preparation for construction. However, the construction itself is mainly done by small bulldozers and loader tractors.
Origins
In 1923, the first bulldozer was designed when farmer James Cummings joined forces with a draftsman named J. Earl McLeod. The initial design created was the dozer blade made to plow fields by attaching to an existing tractor. They soon built the first bulldozer and their original prototype can be viewed in Morrowville, Kansas’ city park. Later that year, Cummings and McLeod filed for a US patent on their bulldozer attachment which was granted in January 1925. It was normal for tractors to run on a track system at this time. The creation of the armored tank in World War I was largely due in part to this early version of the super maneuverable tractor.
A variety of custom and homemade attachments started to appear in 1929 on tracked and wheeled tractors. However, the popularity of the bulldozer attachment did not occur until the mid-1930s. Hydraulic cylinders were introduced before 1940 and the term bulldozer referred to the whole machine who’s popularity greatly expanded by the 1950s.
Becoming popular for all types of construction applications, bulldozers grew into a variety of different stronger and larger models. Eventually, many companies such as John Deere and Caterpillar began to manufactured large tracked and wheeled bulldozers. The manual transmission was replaced over time with automatic transmissions and electric motors and hydraulic cylinders eventually replaced cable winch systems. More effective and accurate control systems were introduced thanks to these upgrades. Upgrades with GPS technology have been added to enhance bulldozing tasks with improved grade control.
What began as a tractor attachment to be used for farming jobs has transformed into one of the most versatile machines in civil engineering, mining, construction, military operations and building maintenance.
