O.A~TheEngineering~ ResourceFor~ Advancing Mobility 400COMMONWEALTH DRIVEWARRENDALE. PA15096 ra~ s 860775 DesignConcept ofKomatsu D475ABulldozer HiroshiItogawa andHldemiMaeo Komatsultd. Earthmoving IndustryConference Peoria.Illinois April8·10.1986Downloaded from SAE International by University of British Columbia, Tuesday, September 25, 2018Theappearance ofthecodeatthebottomofthefirstpageofthispaperindicates SAE'sconsentthatcopiesofthepapermaybemadeforpers::ma! orintern;;1U5e,or forthepersonal orinternaluseofspecificclients.Thisconsent isgivenonthecan· ditlon,however, thatthecopierpaythestatedperarticlecopyfeethrough the Copyright Clearance Center,Inc.,Operations Center,P.O.Box765,Schenectady, N,Y.12301,forcopying beyondthatpermitted bySections 107or108oftheU.S. Copyright Law.Thisconsent doesnotextendtootherkindsofcopying suchas copying forgeneral distribution, foradvertising orpromotional purposes, for crealing newcollective works,orforresale. Paperspublished priorto1978mayalsobecopiedataperpaperfeeof$2.50 undertheabovestatedconditions. SAEroutinely stocksprintedpapersforaperiodofthreeyearsfollowing dateof publication. DirectyourorderstoSAEOrdArDepartment. Toobtainquantity reprintrates.permission toreprintatechnical paperorper­ mission tousecopyrighted SAEpublications inotherworks.contact theSAE Publications Division. AllS.~f i'~I"'" ~r<'iJhlt",acJ ~"J",J~.t(d litIh,'SAF/;I"lliJl.""h,lm' D~liJ~iJ!~ SAEGLOBALMOmUTY DATABASE Nopartofthispublication maybereproduced inanyform,in anelectronic retrieval systemorotherwise, without theprior writtenpermission ofthepublisher. ISSNOl48· 7191 Copyright ©1986SocietyofAutomotive Engineers, Inc. Thispaperissubjecttorevision. Statements ilndopinions ad­ vancedinpapersordiscussion arctheauthor's ilndarehis responsibility. notSAE's;however. thepaperhasbcenedited bySALforuniform stylingilndformilt.Discussion willbe printedwiththepaperifitispublished inSAtTransactions. rorpermission topublishthispaperinfuUorinpart.contad theSAl::Publications Division.Personswishing tosubmitpaperstobeconsidered forpre­ sentation orpublication throughSAtshouldsendthemanu­ sl'fiptora300wordilbstradofilproposed manuscript to: Secretary. Engineering A,:tivlty Board.SAL PrintedinU.S.A.Downloaded from SAE International by University of British Columbia, Tuesday, September 25, 2018860775 DesignConcept ofKomatsu D475ABulldozer HiroshiItogawa andHldemlMaeo Komatsu Ltd. Abstract Theusersofconstruction machinery demand higherquality. Itisespecially difficult to satisfy themwithlarge-size bulldozers designed according toconventional design concepts. thatis,anewdesignconceptis required now. Komatsu isputting theD475A,builtby fullyredesigning theD455Abulldozer, onthe market. Whendeveloping thismodel,its power-train system, undercarriage, frame, etc.,wereredesigned underanewconcept thatemphasized movinglargeamounts ofsoil effectively, andnewstructures weredeve­ lopedasaresult. Inthispaper,thedesignconcept ofthe D475Aandthestructure thatattained that concept willbeoutlined. Background Thespeedfordeveloping natural resources, including coalasasubstitute foroil,has lowered recently because ofoversupply. However, thisisstillasteadily growing field. Thedemandforlarge-size earthmoving machines indeveloping coalisimproving. Workefficiency andeconomy areattheheart ofthenewdemand. Inexcavating aconstruction project, blasting workisbeingsubstituted bythesafe andnon-polluting workofaripper, thus large-size bulldozers areinhighdemandin thisfieldtoimprove thedigging powerand soildisposing speed. Komatsu brought theD45SA,thelargest .• production dozerintheworldatthattime, tothemarketin1976.Thehighefficiency ofthatmachine was greatly appreciated, andthenewmodelhas beenfullyredesigned inresponse totheuser's demands foralargebulldozer withevenhigher workefficiency. Asaresult, theD475Awasdeveloped and .putonthemarketinDecember 1985(Fig.1). Thedesignconcept andfeatures ofthisnew modelwillbeoutlined below. Fig.1Overview oftheD475A Features oftheD4