Cat 313 Walkaround Check

Its no secret, I do love a 13/14 tonne hydraulic excavator, it’s a machine class I spent most of my driving career operating. So far Caterpillars Next Gen 313 has evaded me in my efforts to get some time in the seat, but I’m sure the day will come Cat style “Stick Time”.

I first saw the new Caterpillar 313 back in 2020 during the Conexpo show in Las Vegas, just as the world went into Covid meltdown, so making plans to get some time in the seat virtually flew out the window. It really is a very beautiful and stylish looking machine, and with all the built-in Cat technology a great deal for customers and end users. 

A site visit to a 313 customer locally to me was arranged but unfortunately it never happened, we just couldn’t get our timings right due to workloads, but I still live in hope of a “First Drive” opportunity at some point.

I spent a fair bit of time operating a Cat 312B for local contractor M. J. Troup & Son, on a site in Okehampton back in the day, and that was a lovely bit of kit, so it will be good to see how the latest model compares.

When I was up at Finning in Cannock last year working on the Finnrock event with Quarry Girl Gemma Barber, there was a 313 in close proximity however, time was against us on that occasion.

Finning UK and Ireland’s Alex Clarke was with us that day, and in the video below he takes us through the recommended daily machine checks, and talks about the features of the machine, and how to make sure its operating at peak performance.