Wear Resistant D355A-5 Bulldozer Track Shoe

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Doozer, a global supplier of heavy-equipment undercarriage solutions, today announced the commercial launch of its next-generation Wear-Resistant D355A-5 Bulldozer Track Shoe. Precision-built for the 39-ton Komatsu D355A-5 crawler dozer, the upgraded shoe integrates vacuum-degassed 25CrMnMo high-manganese steel, self-hardening tread inserts and an optimized three-grouser profile that collectively deliver ≥35 % longer service life than conventional OEM alternatives.

1. Market Pain Point: Premature Shoe Wear in High-Impact Terrain

Contractors running the Komatsu D355A-5 in rock quarries, landfill cells and road-building applications consistently report two costly problems:

Standard 36 mm track shoes reach the 50 % wear mark in only 1,800–2,100 field hours, forcing unplanned downtime for cutting-edge swaps.

Cracks propagate from the bolt boss to the tread surface when high-impact boulders flex the shoe beyond the yield strength of 23MnB-5 base material.

The new wear-resistant D355A-5 track shoe directly targets both failure modes.

2. Material Upgrade:

From 23MnB-5 to 25CrMnMo Vacuum-Degassed Billet

By moving to a 25CrMnMo chemistry (1.1 % Cr, 0.30 % Mo, 1.0 % Mn, 0.25 % C) and a vacuum-degassed melt, the casting porosity drops below 0.5 % (ASTM E446 Level 2). The result:

Brinell hardness rises from 320 HB to 460 HB after through-hardening.

Impact toughness at –20 °C improves to 35 J cm⁻² (ISO 148), eliminating winter brittleness.

Work-hardening rate doubles under abrasive load, creating an in-service armor layer that climbs to 550 HB.

3. Tread Architecture: Multi-Radius Three-Grouser Profile

Using discrete-element modeling (DEM) of sharp blasted rock, engineers reshaped the grouser tip with a 12 mm forward radius and a 7 mm back radius. The geometry lowers peak contact pressure by 18 %, cutting micro-pitting that normally seeds fatigue cracks. A 3-degree negative pitch on the middle grouser ejects packed clay, so the shoe self-cleans in cohesive soils—an advantage landfill crews requested during beta testing.

4. Bolt Boss Reinforcement: Integrative “I-Beam” Rib

Finite-element analysis revealed a 42 % stress concentration where the OEM shoe necks down around the 3/4" mounting bolts. The new part adds an internal I-beam rib 28 mm high, moving the neutral axis outward and dropping peak stress to 265 MPa, safely below the 25CrMnMo fatigue limit of 310 MPa. Early-adopter data show zero boss cracks after 3,000 h in granite shot-rock.

5. Heat-Treatment Protocol: Dual-Frequency Quench + 200 °C Draw

Instead of single-shot induction hardening, the factory now employs dual-frequency scanning (10 kHz + 40 kHz) that produces a 6 mm deep martensitic case while keeping the core at 40 HRC for toughness. A final 200 °C temper relieves residual stress, so flatness is held within 0.4 mm over the 558 mm length—critical for even carrier-roller loading.