Kentucky Bulldozers Parts - Dozers are similar to a tractor that is outfitted with a dozer blade. They are most often crawler tractors - that is, they operate on a continuous track, rather than wheels - although they can be wheeled tractors. 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 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. 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. 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.
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 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. This could be anything from dirt, rubbish, sand, gravel or even snow. Typically, there are 3 different kinds of dozer blades including the straight blade, the semi-U blade and the universal 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. 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. 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. Angledozer blades are pushed forward on one side (hence the name) to clear materials away from the path of the machine. The angledozer is commonly used for snow removal on roads and highways.
Many bulldozers come equipped with a bull blade. The reinforced centre portion of the bulldozer is called a bull blade. 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. Mounting a dozer blade on a battle tank enables it to push mines and obstacles out of the way or create combat positions by digging shelters. The dozer blade can help create protective barriers against explosives and artillery.
The Dozer Ripper
The shank or dozer ripper is the substantial tool situated on the bulldozers’ back with long teeth. Dozer rippers are available in multiple or single shank options. The giant ripper is the name given to the single shank design that is often needed for dense applications. 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 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. In certain locations in New Zealand and Italy, the dozer ripper helps to access ancient lava flows that are rich in nutrients and normally would not be able to be farmed due to the density of the ground. The top layer of lava rock is loosened up with the ripper to create farmable land.
Bulldozer Adaptations
The bulldozer has transformed over the years to become useful for a variety of applications that were not originally possible with the initial design.
For example, the original bulldozer was too large for work in small areas, such as mines. 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.
A smaller and lighter version of the bulldozer is used in snow applications such as ski hills and prepping winter sports locations.
More common bulldozer adaptations resulted in the loader tractor. This machine was born by changing the dozer blade with a large bucket and using hydraulic arms to raise and lower it. This adapted bulldoze is now often referred to as a Drott, trackscavator or track loader and frequently used in loading rocks, gravel and earth into dump trucks.
A less common bulldozer attachment is a stumpbuster. A stump buster is attached at the back 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.
The original bulldozer design is used ground leveling, road carving, deforestation and earthmoving applications. 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
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. During this time, tractors commonly ran on a track system. 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.
Custom made attachments became available on tracked and wheeled tractors alike by 1929. 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.
Bulldozers evolved to become stronger and bigger as their demand grew for small and large construction jobs. Numerous companies including Caterpillar and John Deer began making wheeled and tracked bulldozer lines. With time, manual transmission was replaced with automatic transmission and cable winch systems were replaced with hydraulic cylinders and electric motors. These technological upgrades created more effective and accurate control systems. These days, GPS technology geared toward bulldozing tasks has added to improved grade control.
Bulldozers began as a tractor attachment for farming applications and have grown to become one of the most useful pieces of equipment for construction, civil engineering, building and maintenance applications, mining operations and military use.
