Komatsu D20 Band Brake Adjustment

Almost all the bulldozers with the direct drive transmissions could benefit from some fine tuning of the band brake that stops the drive shaft from spinning when you depress the clutch. The factory manual recommends a shaft spin time of 2-3 seconds but I think that is too much time and prefer to have the shaft stop spinning in one second in order to make a quick grind-less shift.

To adjust this brake:

#1. Remove the steel floor plate exposing the drive shaft area.

#2. Check how long it takes for the drive shaft to stop spinning once you depress the clutch firmly.

#3. If spin time is excessive then you should tighten the brake band.

#4. Follow the diagrams below that explain how to do this.

Do not tighten too much as you will cause a brake drag on the disk and quickly overheat and damage the lining and disk. Watch that the disk spins freely when you shut off the engine and visually check the temperature of the disk after running free for some time to see if it is getting hot. Don’t touch it or you will burn your finger. Always do this check and back off the adjust if it is dragging and causing overheating.