Mack Gets Up Close and Personal with the Komatsu D575A-2

Our Canadian industry friend Mack Plovie has been on his travels again, this time heading to New Zealand where he found time to visit not one, but two of the world’s largest (production line) bulldozers that are now at rest there.

There is always a lot of interest in these big machines even though they have long been discontinued in the Komatsu dozer line up.

These 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!

I have never been fortunate enough to see one in the metal, but Mack, has been able to see and film these two preserved giants in person, so I’m quite jealous!

According to Mack, two Komatsu D575A-2’s were brought over to New Zealand from Australia by Kaipara for an overburden removal contract at the Stockton Mine.

The dozers were spec'd as ‘Super Dozers’ (SD) but modified to also have rippers, making them the only D575A-2’s in the world with both super dozer blades and rippers.

After the contract at Stockton Mine ended, the fate of these dozers was uncertain, thankfully today they are both preserved on the North Island of New Zealand.

One dozer is located at C&R Developments Museum, in Cambridge, while the other stands guard at the entrance to Kaipara's Brookby Quarry.

Of course we know that the Italian ACCO dozer was officially the largest dozer of all time, but that was a one off machine, and never went into production, and in fact has never moved any earth in anger, so these remain as the largest produced in any significant numbers. 

Grab yourself a coffee and checkout Mack’s excellent video below.