Development and Performance Evaluation of Hand Tractor Based Mini-Bulldozer

Abstract

Most of farmland in Jawa Island is located in hilly area where the farming activity should be done at high slope land. The main problem of farming activity in slope land is high soil erosion. Applying terrace-farming system can reduce this problem. However, constructing terrace system is a big deal for the farmers in rural area due to high cast if they hire commercial construction machinery as well as a hard work and time consuming if they construct it manually. A huge swamp area in Indonesia is potentially converts to wet land rice field but lack of worker to cultivate the land especially in the outer island of java. Application of field machineries is the only way to solve the worker problem. In relation with low soil bearing capacity of swampland, application of field machinery should be low ground pressure type. Therefore, a small size and economically affordable construction machine like a mini bulldozer needs to be developed for constructing terrace system in rural area as well as cultivate swampland. The aim of this research was to develop a rubber track mini bulldozer by utilizing commonly used hand tractor as its prime mover.