Bulldozers Parts North Carolina - 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 dozer blade is a large metal plate fixed to the front of the bulldozer. The dozer blade is used to push large volumes of material, such gravel or dirt, during construction and alteration projects. The back end of the bulldozer often has giant metal teeth used to break up hardpacked materials.
Specifics
The tracks of a typical bulldozer give it superior traction and maneuvering capabilities on rough, uneven or unstable ground and the specialized transmission system allows the bulldozer to operate with increased tractive force. The track width evenly distributes the weight in unstable applications to prevent the industrial machine from sinking. 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. Mounted directly in front of the articulation joint, the bulldozer blade uses a hydraulic system for operating instead of a mechanical setup.
The bulldozer is easily recognized from other types of industrial equipment thanks to its main components, the ripper and the dozer blade.
The Dozer Blade
The bulldozer blade consists of a sizeable metal plate that is situated at the front of the machine. The purpose of the dozer blade is to push heavy items and awkward materials. This could be anything from dirt, rubbish, sand, gravel or even snow. There are typically three types of dozer blades available. They are:
1. the universal blade;
2. the straight blade; and
3. the semi-U blade.
The U blade, aka the universal blade, is curved and tall with sizeable wings on the sides to enable more material to be easily transported. 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.
Usually, the dozer blade attaches to the tractor on an angle or in a horizontal fashion. Dozer blade angles are capable of being adjusted via tilt cylinders. Dozer blades can be sharpened to enable cutting items including tree stumps and roots. An angledozer features a blade that is pushed ahead on one side to enable items to be cleared out of the path of the bulldozer. It is common to see an angledozer in action on highways and roads during winter snow removal.
A variety of bulldozers are equipped with a bull blade. A bull blade is a reinforced centre section of the bulldozer. This feature allows the machine to push another heavy piece of equipment known as a scraper for earthmoving applications.
Dozer blades are also used on military vehicles. Several military vehicles are designed to allow a dozer blade to be affixed to the front of the vehicle, such as combat engineering vehicles, artillery tractors and battle tanks. When mounted to a battle tank, the dozer blade allows the tank to push obstacles and mines and to dig shelters or create combat positions. The dozer blade can help create protective barriers against explosives and artillery.
The Dozer Ripper
The tool found at the back of the bulldozer with long teeth is the dozer ripper also called the shank. 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 tip of the shank is a detachable, metal piece known as the boot. This enables the boot to be easily replaced when it becomes broken or worn down instead of having to completely change the shank.
The dozer ripper is used to break up rock, concrete, earth or other solid objects and material into smaller pieces which are then easier for the bulldozer to move using the dozer blade. One machine that completes multiple tasks creates faster project completion on the job site.
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
Adaptations to the bulldozer over the years have enabled it to become useful for numerous applications.
For example, the original bulldozer was too large for work in small areas, such as mines. These limitations led to more compact bulldozer designs and models. Very small, light bulldozers are sometimes referred to as 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.
The loader tractor is another popular adaptation. This was created by replacing the dozer blade with a large bucket, raised and lowered with the use of hydraulic arms. The new bulldozer is commonly called a Drott, track loader or trackscavator and used for loading dump trucks with earth, gravel and rocks.
A lesser-known bulldozer attachment is called the stump buster. The stump buster attachment is secured to the rear portion of the dozer. It consists of a single spike that protrudes horizontally to split tree stumps up for easier removal. These attachments are often used for land clearing applications. In those circumstances, the bulldozer also has a brush-rake blade.
Even with numerous bulldozer adaptations on the market, the original form of the machine is still popular in road carving, ground leveling, earthmoving and deforestation projects. Large bulldozers are mainly used to flatten terrain for construction preparation. However, the construction itself is mainly done by small bulldozers and loader tractors.
Origins
The initial bulldozer design was created when a draftsman, J. Earl McLeod teamed up with a farmer named James Cummings in 1923. Their design was actually what is now known as the dozer blade and was meant to be attached to an existing farm tractor, used to plow fields. They built the original bulldozer and it can be viewed in Kansas’ city park, Morrowville. McLeod and Cummings filed a US patent on the bulldozer attachment later that year and it was granted in 1925. It was normal for tractors to run on a track system at this time. In fact, it was this earlier version of the tractor, with its superior maneuverability, that contributed to the creation of the armoured tank during World War I.
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. Once hydraulic cylinders were added, sometime before 1940, bulldozers began to grow in popularity and by the 1950s, the term bulldozer referred to the entire machine.
With their growth in popularity for large and small construction jobs, bulldozers became larger and stronger. Numerous companies including Caterpillar and John Deer began making wheeled and tracked bulldozer lines. The manual transmission was replaced over time with automatic transmissions and electric motors and hydraulic cylinders eventually replaced cable winch systems. These upgrades allowed for more accurate and effective control systems. Nowadays, GPS technology has been added to improve grade control and enhance bulldozing tasks.
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.
