SAE TECHNICAL PAPER SERIES 932462 Design Features of Komatsu's New D65-12 Bulldozer, A New Turning Point in Bulldozer Technology Y. Sugimoto, T. Okano, and T. Ibuki Komatsu Ltd. 1 The Engineering Society For Advancing Mobility Land Sea Air and Space@ R NAT IO NA L 1993 International Off-Highway & Powerplant Congress & Exposition Milwaukee, Wisconsin September 13-15,1993 400 Commonwealth Drive, Warrendale, PA 15096-0001 U.S.A. Tel: (412)776-4841 Fax:(412)776-5760 Downloaded from SAE International by University of New South Wales, Sunday, August 26, 2018The appearance of the ISSN code at the bottom of this page indicates SAE's consent that copies of the paper may be made for personal or internal use of specific clients. This consent is given on the condition, however, that the copier pay a $5.00 per article copy fee through the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. Operations Center, 27 Congress St., Salem, MA 01970 for copying beyond that permitted by Sections 107 or 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law. This consent does not extend to other kinds of copying such as copying for general distribution, for advertising or promotional purposes, for creating new collective works, or for resale. SAE routinely stocks printed papers for a period of three years following date of publication. Direct your orders to SAE Customer Sales and Satisfaction Depart­ ment. Quantity reprint rates can be obtained from the Customer Sales and Satisfaction Department. To request permission to reprint a technical paper or permission to use copyrighted SAE publications in other works, contact the SAE Publications Group. GLOBAL MOBILITY DATABASE AH SAE papers, standards, and selected books are abstracted and indexed in the SAE Global Mobility Database. No part of this publication may by reproduced in any form, in an electronic retrieval system or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. ISSN 0148-7191 Copyright 1993 Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc. Positions and opinions advanced in this paper are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of SAE. The author is solely responsible for the content of the paper. A process is available by which discussions will be printed with the paper if it is published in SAE transactions. For permission to publish this paper in full or in part, contact the SAE Publications Group. Persons wishing to submit papers to be considered for presentation or publication through SAE should send the manuscript or a 300 word abstract of a proposed manuscript to: Secretary, Engineering Activity Board, SAE. Printed in USA 90-1203B/PG Downloaded from SAE International by University of New South Wales, Sunday, August 26, 201893Z46Z Design Features of Komatsu's New D65-12 Bulldozer, A New Turning Point in Bulldozer Technology Y. Sugimoto, T. Okano, and T. Ibuki Komatsu Ltd. Abstract Komatsu's bulldozer D65 has undergone a full-scale model change for the first time in 22 years into a new model D65-12. This new model bulldozer has been developed to comply with the company's desired design philosophy "Friendly to People, Kind to People". A "Revolutionary" advancement was achieved in comparison with the conventional ones which were developed and improved by producers' focus on productivity and economical efficiency. This model change not only has allowed production of a new-age bulldozer equipped with "Strength" and "Friendly to People", but also has created a new turning point in Komatsu's bulldozer development. To realize this new bulldozer development, a number of new technologies and patents have been devised and put to practical use. This paper presents Komatsu's design philosophy and major new bulldozer technologies put to practical use. Introduction Komatsu's bulldozer D65 (with an operating weight of 16,000 to 20,000 kg), which constitutes its central medium-sized models, has undergone repeated improvements in the past to upgrade its productiv