A bulldozer is a specialized machine, which is a wheeled or mainly crawler tractor, which has a mounted implement called a blade.

Blades can be curved, straight, but the obligatory condition is that it must be located outside the wheelbase of the bulldozer. The main purpose of these machines - moving, leveling of soils and layer-by-layer digging. Quarries, road repair and construction works, mining, real estate construction, canals - all this is the scope of this class of specialized equipment, which is often used together with the order of a truck crane.

The main criterion for distinguishing bulldozers is the type of blade. There are bulldozers with a non-rotating blade, which when installed forms an angle of ninety degrees with the longitudinal axis of the vehicle; with a rotating blade, which is mounted diagonally with a two-way slope from the longitudinal axis of the machine or perpendicular to it. There are also bulldozers that have a universal blade, consisting of two parts, which are connected by means of joints. It is installed both perpendicularly and inclined to the axle. This type of bulldozers is called track-layers.

It is noteworthy that all types of bulldozer blade mechanisms with electromechanical, hydraulic or rope drive are required for lowering and lifting, as well as for turning the blade itself around the machine axis. Most modernized bulldozers are equipped with various interchangeable equipment from rippers to wideners. Additional equipment supplied with bulldozers allows to expand their application area and, as a result, increase the efficiency of various types of work. Caterpillar and Komatsu are the world leaders in bulldozer production.
The principle of bulldozer operation.

Regardless of the dimensions of the bulldozer, in any case it is a powerful machine, and it is this indicator that is the key characteristic of this specialized equipment. They are able to move large masses of soil or heavy objects over a short distance due to their own weight and frontal blade. These abilities explain the need to use bulldozer equipment in the preparation and cleaning of the territory. The chassis is mainly replaced by tracks, which give the machine special advantages, namely to work on all soils and in all weather conditions.