Types of bulldozers and their uses

The bulldozers as other vehicles employed in the construction have specific features on its manufacture design, that make them slightly different between them, and they support the employment of the equipment in specific environments. Before choosing a bulldozer we recommend you to know their different configurations to identify the potential applications that you can perform with each one of them.

According to their undercarriage, there’re two types of bulldozers:

Crawler bulldozer: The configuration of their track links help to obtain better traction supporting the motion of greater amounts of material, making them ideal for uneven sloping surfaces, loose or muddy terrain.

Wheel Bulldozer: Is the most uncommon configuration, the employment of wheels helps to have a fast movement through regular surfaces, paved soils, or long-distance displacements with a minimal impact left by the vehicle’s footprint compared to track vehicles.

Bulldozer Blades

These vehicles also are classified by their blades.

Straight Blades (S-blade) An S-Blade is considered as the shortest blade on the existent configurations due to the absence of side wings, is usually employed to penetrate fine granular surfaces of medium to hard density, leveling of floors, stumps, etc.

Universal Blade The U-Blade is configured by default in a bulldozer by default, it has large side wings that facilitate the pushing of large loads in long distances while preventing the material from spilling at its ends. Is used in materials or light surfaces or earthworks, massive material hauling, etc. Concerning their sizes, they have the greatest length and height compared to other blades. Not designed for penetration works.

Semi U- Blade This blade is a combination of the U-Blade and the Straight Blade it has lateral wings which help to penetration and conservation of the load in tasks with a great volume of materials.

Angular Blade: This type of blades has a long length and a short height compared to the other blades. They get their name from their ability to be located in intermediate positions up to 30 degrees concerning the longitudinal axis of the bulldozer or by being located laterally, they favor penetration on only one side of the machine. Applicable in initial works of roads, the opening of ditches and gutters that involve soft soils. On the other hand, this sheet should not be used in dense or hard materials such as rocks or demanding applications.

There are multiple types of blades such as those specially designed for excavation (sigma), the cushioned type of “C” that facilitate the pushing of other equipment to increase traction on the ground. It will depend on your needs to acquire one of these designs.

Concerning the type of degrees of movements that a dozer blade can execute, it is usually categorized as follows:

-Bulldozer: Equipment whose dozer blades are in a perpendicular position to the advancement of the machine, favoring only the frontal thrust, maintaining only two up and down movements.

ORIENTATION OF THE DOZER BLADES

-Angle Blade: They allow the inclination of the dozer blade up to 30 degrees or as provided by the manufacturer. Used in minimally dense materials and not recommended for rocky terrain.

-Power-Angle-Tilt Blade (PAT Blade): By having two hydraulic cylinders that provide elevation or movement on both sides, they favor pressure and the execution of diagonal cuts. They are used in the excavation of trenches, slopes, etc. Angle blade can have this quality, which will be the inclination of the lateral blade based on the median plane of the bulldozer.

-Tip Blade: They allow the action of the blade around its horizontal axis thanks to the arrangement of the hydraulic cylinders, that is, they can tilt the blade forward or backward, modifying the angle of attack to the ground.

General types of crawler undercarriages:

In addition to the configurations mentioned for the leaves and the movement that can be obtained according to orientation, the bulldozers have configurations in their tracked undercarriage that favor specific applications according to the adopted design. The most common are vehicles with the standard undercarriage, however, there are machines with a larger surface of the track link at the rear, larger dimensions at the front (extra-long), extra wide to favor buoyancy, low pressure on the ground, etc. Make sure you get the proper advice from an expert before buying a bulldozer to meet your needs.