The digger blog was very kindly invited to take part recently in a dig in at Caterpillar UK's demonstration plot which is adjacent to the factory in Desford in Leicestershire.
It gave me a chance to get "hands on" with a number of machines that I don't often get a chance to use on the type of the sites I tend to work on.
First up were a couple of wheeled loaders in the shape of a Cat 924H and the larger 930H.
Now I am primarily an excavator man and have been for over 25 years, so wheeled loaders are not something I am familiar with, so I was lucky to have top Caterpillar demonstrator, Simon Hill, to show me a few quick pointers.
Simon set us a task to move 4 dumptruck loads of material from the back of the heap to in front of the grandstand in preparation for an "eco-training" day which was due to take place the following week. I was to load the Cat 725 truck using both wheeled loaders in order to evaluate the machines and the different linkage styles that are fitted to them.
The 924H features the more traditional Z-bar linkage and is powered by Cat C6.6 ACERT engine with a rated net power of 97kw/132hp.
This machine had plenty of power as I pushed into the heap and had excellent breakout force, I found the direction controls that are integrated into the loader arm/bucket control lever a very useful idea once I got used to using it!
Load retention was very good whilst reversing and heading towards the truck and the quality of the braking system caught me out a couple of times as I went to tip into the waiting 725. This was to be a sharp learning curve in how to handle these machines.
Here is the view from the cab of the 924H
Next up was the 924H's bigger brother, the 930H, which at a rated 149hp, had much more grunt when attacking the spoil heap.
This machine is fitted with Caterpillars own patented VersaLink loader linkage, which offers superior visability, simultaneous tilt and lift, increased breakout force, and something I noticed during my time at the controls higher dump clearance.
A closer look at the VersaLink loader arm.
And as you can see in this photo the operators view of the bucket corners is much better with this system.
This 930H model also had the optional "QuickSteer" mode fitted which is designed for faster truck loading with less effort for the operator, this system only requires 50 degrees of steering wheel turn to complete full articulation!
I personally chose not to use this option but I am sure in the hands of a very experienced loader operator it would be an invaluable tool in the arsenal.
I was then invited to to take a load to the tip area in the Caterpillar 725, this was not entirely alien to me as I have spent a few odd shifts at the controls of ADT's but not on a Caterpillar model.
The Caterpillar 725 is the smallest ADT in the Cat range and has a rated 26 ton (23.6 tonnes) payload, it is powered by a Caterpillar C11 ACERT engine with a net power rating of 301hp.
I completed a few circuits of the demo area fully loaded before discharging the load and returning to the parking area
In the next part of "Diggers Dig-in" I will move on to more familiar territory with some time on the excavators.
A massive thank you must go out to Fleur and Simon for all their effort and hard work during our visit.
