Bulldozers Parts Oklahoma - A popular type of industrial equipment is a bulldozer. Crawler tractors run on continuous track as opposed to relying on wheels, although, wheeled versions are also on the market. 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. Big, metal teeth known as “the ripper” are located on the back of the bulldozer, used for breaking up tough, compressed items.
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. There are swamp track options available which are tracks with wider width options. 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 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 dozer blade is a large, metal plate mounted at the front of the bulldozer. Its purpose is to push heavy objects and material. 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 blade, or U blade is tall, curved and has large wings on the side used to carry extra material. The straight or S blade is much shorter than the U blade and has no wings on the side or lateral curve, making it ideal for earth grading jobs. 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. Tilt cylinders can adjust the dozer blade angle. Sharpened dozer blades may be utilized for cutting items including tree roots and stumps. 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. The angledozer is commonly used for snow removal on roads and highways.
A bull blade is a common bulldozer attachment. A bull blade is a reinforced centre section of the bulldozer. This allows a bulldozer to push a scraper, which is another large, heavy piece of equipment used to move earth.
Dozer blades are also used on military vehicles. Numerous military vehicles can attach a dozer blade for strategic operations including battle tanks, artillery tractors and combat engineering vehicles. 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
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. Multi-shank rippers refer to multi-shank designs.
The tip of the shank is a detachable, metal piece known as the boot. This allows for replacement of the boot when it becomes dull or broken, rather than replacement of the entire 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. 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 top layer of lava rock is loosened up with the ripper to create farmable land.
Bulldozer Adaptations
Over time, the bulldozer has been adapted to allow for uses that were not possible with its original design.
For example, the original bulldozer was too large for work in small areas, such as mines. 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.
The loader tractor is another popular adaptation. The loader tractor consists of replacing the dozer blade with a sizeable bucket and using hydraulic arms for raising and lowering. 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. A stump buster is attached at the back of the bulldozer. The horizontally protruding single spike is used to split up tree stumps into smaller more manageable pieces for removal. Stump busters are commonly used by bulldozers to clear land. In those circumstances, the bulldozer also has a brush-rake blade.
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. Construction aspects are mainly completed by loader tractors and small bulldozer models.
Origins
The initial bulldozer design was created when a draftsman, J. Earl McLeod teamed up with a farmer named James Cummings in 1923. The initial design created was the dozer blade made to plow fields by attaching to an existing tractor. The first bulldozer was built soon after and the prototype is can be seen in Morrowville, Kansas’ city park. 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. 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. Prior to 1940, hydraulic cylinders were added and by the ‘50s, bulldozer popularity began to grow with the term bulldozer referring to the whole machine.
With their growth in popularity for large and small construction jobs, bulldozers became larger and stronger. 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. 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.
