What were you doing 27 years ago? If you were Bowers Heavy Haulage, you would have been preparing to transport one of the largest bulldozers ever manufactured, the Komatsu D575A on a very special Drake Trailers low loader.
Back in 1991, Drake Trailers worked together with long-time customer Bowers Heavy Haulage on a strategy to transport the dozer. Due to its immense size, the Komatsu dozer must be broken down into component form when moved from one job site to another. Moving all the components would require six to eight trailer loads.
The solution was the Steerable Lowloader: A semi-modular widening low loader with 80 – 300-tonne capacity. It transported this beauty with ease and years later is still out working the sites.
The Komatsu design
This particular Komatsu model is a 12 cylinder, four-stroke, direct injected, intercooled 1,150 (860kW) horsepower tractor crawler and is equipped with standard blades. Produced in Osaka, Japan since 1991, surface mine operators across the United States, Canada, Australia and two other dozers which are currently operating on New Zealand’s South Island.
The first showing of the Komatsu prototype was displayed to the public way back in 1981 at the Conexpo exhibition, a trade show for the construction industry occurring every three years, in Houston, Texas. Since then, four versions of the Komatsu dozer have gone into the market, with the first two being discontinued.
Transporting the beast with a low loader trailer
The Drake Trailers Steerable Low Loader has gone the distance and has been a part of the Drake Group family since the 80’s. The particular model that transported the Komatsu D575A featured rows of six wheels (now normally eight).
Our steerable low loader trailer has a massive 80 – 300-tonne capacity, hydraulic widening and rows of eight tyres for making light work of heavy loads, and in this case, making light work of the Komatsu bulldozer.
Some of the standard features of this robust, durable trailer include a level deck with a high tensile steel frame – we only use Australian, Swedish and Japanese steel – as well as 15” heavy duty Drake axles.
We have plenty of low loaders for sale at The Drake Group that can be built to a standard design or customised to suit your needs. If you require a trailer that’s been designed and manufactured to suit the Australian environment, get in contact with The Drake Group today.
