Bulldozers Parts in Iowa - 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 attaches to the front of the bulldozer to push materials easily and efficiently. 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 track system on a common bulldozer offers phenomenal maneuvering abilities and excellent traction on uneven ground and unstable or rough surfaces. The special transmission components let the machine function with increased traction. On unstable ground, the width of the tracks distribute the vehicle’s weight, preventing the heavy machine from sinking. Tracks are also available in increased widths, known as swamp tracks. Bulldozers are often utilized in land clearing applications, road construction, mining operations and other jobs that require stable and powerful equipment to transport large volumes of material.
The dozers that rely on a wheeled system typically consist of four wheels that use a 4WD system combined with an articulated hydraulic steering mechanism. The bulldozer blade relies on a hydraulic system for operation instead of a mechanical system and is located in front of the articulation joint.
The main tools that distinguish the dozer from other construction machine are the dozer blade and the ripper.
The Dozer Blade
The dozer blade is a large, metal plate mounted at the front of the bulldozer. The purpose of the dozer blade is to push heavy items and awkward materials. Snow, gravel, sand, dirt and garbage are some of the most popular items that bulldozers push around. 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 universal blade, or U blade is tall, curved and has large wings on the side used to carry extra material. The S blade aka the straight blade features zero side wings or lateral curve and is used for fine earth grading applications. The SU or semi-U blade combines a shorter blade with slight side wings and less curve compared to the U blade. This blade is commonly used to move large rock and boulder piles.
Dozer blades commonly attach horizontally or at an angle to the tractor. The angle of the dozer blade can be adjusted with tilt cylinders. Sharpened dozer blades may be utilized for cutting items including tree roots and stumps. 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 variety of bulldozers are equipped with a bull blade. The bull blade refers to a reinforced middle section of the bulldozer. The bull blade enables the dozer to push a scraper to move large portions of earth.
Dozer blades are common attachments on a variety of 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. It can help establish a protective barrier against obstacles, artillery and explosive items, making it a valuable machine for military applications.
The Dozer Ripper
A dozer ripper is the long, tooth-like tool, known as the shank, on the back of a bulldozer. Dozer rippers come in a large, single shank design or with groups of two or more shanks. The giant ripper is the name given to the single shank design that is often needed for dense applications. The multi-shank designs are referred to simply as multi-shank rippers.
The boot refers to the tip of the shank and consists of a detachable metal piece. This allows for replacement of the boot when it becomes dull or broken, rather than replacement of the entire shank.
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.
The dozer ripper is used in farming to break up earth and rock for better plowing and planting. In some areas of Italy and New Zealand, for example, this is especially useful as the nutrient-rich, old lava flows would otherwise not be farmable given their denseness. 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. This limitation lead to the creation of a smaller bulldozer design which allowed for maneuvering in tight spaces. Calfdozers refer to small, lighter bulldozer models.
In snow areas, such as ski hills, a lighter version of the bulldozer is used for snow removal and preparing areas for winter sports.
More common bulldozer adaptations resulted in the loader tractor. This was created by replacing the dozer blade with a large bucket, raised and lowered with the use of hydraulic arms. 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 consists of a single spike that protrudes horizontally to split tree stumps up for easier removal. These are used primarily by bulldozers working on land clearing projects. A brush-rake blade is also commonly used with the bulldozer in these situations.
Despite the many adaptations available, bulldozers in their original form remain popular in deforestation, earthmoving, ground levelling, and road carving. Large bulldozers are commonly used in construction for leveling terrain. However, the construction itself is mainly done by small bulldozers and loader tractors.
Origins
James Cummings, a farmer, teamed up with J. Earl McLeod, a draftsman, to create the first bulldozer design 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. At the time, it was common for tractors to run on a track system. It was this initial tractor version, complete with extreme maneuverability that helped contribute to the World War I armored tank.
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.
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. These days, GPS technology geared toward bulldozing tasks has added to 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.
