by Nick Drew | Thu 29 Aug 2019
Komatsu’s Big Boy Still Generates Huge Interest
Komatsu’s giant D575A has long since been discontinued from its range, but there is still a lot of interest in this iconic bulldozer, which was for many years the largest production dozer in the world, so much so that a group has recently been created on Facebook dedicated to them.
These massive dozers were powered by a 1,150hp/860kw engine and weighed in at around 157 tonnes in its Super Dozer variant. The machines vital statistics are stunning, standing 16 feet tall, 41 feet long and fitted with a 24-foot wide dozer blade. The Japanese built dozer was absolutely massive, capable of moving 125 cubic yards (96m3) of material in one pass!
Photo: Courtesy of Tim Twichell
The dozer started life as the D555A when it was exhibited at Conexpo in 1981, but a decade later in 1991, Komatsu launched the D575A-2 SR (Super Ripper) model which was later joined by the D575A-2 Super Dozer model in 1995. In 2001 it was upgraded to the D575A-3 SD which tipped the scales at 168 tonnes which made it a record breaker as a production line bulldozer.
Photo: One of the group founders Michael Bullock stands by a D575A in an Australian Yard
The new Facebook group that is dedicated to this earthmoving giant is simply called Komatsu D575 Bulldozer Page and is run by a man well known to this blog as a previous contributor Michael Bullock and Rowan Blair. The page is also populated by some leading industry commentators, with a great depth of knowledge on this topic from around the globe, which makes for some really interesting reading.
Photo: Another interesting size comparison shot as the operator shovels out the tracks during winter time working. Courtesy of Tim Twichell.
General consensus on the group is that around only 60 examples of these machines were actually built, as they were not really that profitable for Komatsu and towards the end of the production run, they were effectively a custom-built model, before being phased out completely.
There is also a lot of speculation that Caterpillar might be bringing out a larger model to supersede its long-term big dozer offering the D11T, but that is a rumour that’s been rumbling for a long time now, it would be awesome to see though!
Here is some footage of a D575A at work in California.