After two days of welcoming expert operators from across the country, Caterpillar opened its training facility in Cary, North Carolina, to members of the media to get a look at some of their latest pieces of equipment. The spotlight was on CAT’s line of mini excavators, which received cab updates and new attachments. Plus, a new class was introduced entirely.
The new 6-ton mini excavator, the 306 CR Mini Hydraulic Excavator, is Caterpillar’s first entry in the 6-ton class offering. It’s a middle-of-the-road option in terms of workload, and still boasts the same features CAT customers are used to with enhanced standard features. The new machines come standard with stick steer and new LCD monitors on board. NextGen technology and cruise control are also available on the machine. For added comfort, the ventilation was moved from the door to the window panel, reflecting on how often operators are using the machine with the door open.
Greg Worley, senior product engineer, said the move to enter the 6-ton market was pushed by customer feedback. Users needed something comparable that fell between the 5- and 10-ton classes. “We also made it more serviceable,” he said. The same cab on the 308 series is found on the 306, making it a more familiar machine. And, the door was redesigned to be more cost effective if it needs replaces.
“If something is hard to do, it’s not going to get done,” Worley said. “So, we made it easy.” The door costs roughly $300 to replace versus the $1,000 it used to cost.
Along with the new 6-ton mini loaders, CAT also introduced a line of skid-steers and compact track loaders.
The new D3 series of equipment were designed as an advancement to the D and D2 Series CTLs. New to CAT, the D3 Series models also support a line of new smart attachments. Attachment mode can be activated in touch pad located in the cab. This tells the machine whether the joysticks should control the attachment to perform tasks or control the machine to move around.
The loaders also feature a wider cab door opening and repositioned joysticks, giving the operator more space.
A specially branded Land Management model was rolled out as well. This model was designed for applications where longer run time is necessary, and it can also tackle larger-scale jobs. The 299D3 XE Land Management has a 58.1-gallon fuel capacity, which is 80% larger than the tank on standard 299D3 XE model. It has an estimated run time of up to 12 hours.