Perfect Companions – Loaders, Bulldozers and Dump Trucks

Three heavy equipment vehicles that can often be seen working together are loaders, bulldozers and dump trucks. They do make for a perfect team with the bulldozer’s sheer grunt giving it the ability to move a lot of dirt around fairly quickly. Loaders then transfer those piles of dirt to dump trucks to be carted away. You will often see bulldozers, loaders and dump trucks working together in areas such as pre-construction of buildings and roads.

Bulldozers do one thing – they move dirt and they do it well. With plenty of grunt in the engine, and a good strong blade at the front, they can carve out a new road or building site fairly quickly. It is interesting to watch the bulldozer take an area of land that is lightly vegetated and transform it into a flat clean area of land ready for whatever project is intended. The only sign of the bulldozer’s presence being the piles of dirt and rubble scattered around the edges of the site.

Bring in the loader and those piles of dirt and rubble are soon gone, all transferred to waiting dump trucks for removal. Loaders don’t rely on brute forward strength. Their power revolves around their ability to quickly maneuver around a site and to lift large loads, particularly overhead and into dump trucks. Where bulldozers rely on tracks for mobility, loaders are generally wheeled and often articulated, giving them even more mobility.

Dump trucks complete the picture. With open top bodies, they can be quickly and easily filled with dirt and rubble. Being trucks, they can take that load to any destination, including driving on the open roads. Dump trucks get their name from the action of dumping, or tipping the body upwards to ‘dump’ out their load.

These three vehicles work independently yet each relies on the other to complete its job. For those looking at a career in heavy equipment, standard training at ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools introduces students to all three vehicles (and many others). If you are looking for hands on training that prepares you for the workforce, check out your heavy equipment training options – perhaps a career as a dump truck driver, bulldozer operator or loader operator is right for you.