Digger gets a yellow injection on Cats new green ADT

Thu 27 Feb 2014

Digger gets a yellow injection on Cats new green ADT

As an operator I don’t spend much time on articulated haulers these days, I just generally do enough on them to rack up my 300 hours required to retain the category when I renew my CPCS card every five years. Running backwards and forwards in ADT’s doesn’t really float my boat personally, but there is no denying these machines are essential tools for moving large amounts of earth quickly and efficiently and as such the operators of these trucks perform a vital job on large sites and quarries. It has been a while since I got behind the wheel on one, and as such it was good to get behind the wheel of Caterpillars latest offering the 730C, which was launched recently alongside its smaller brother the 725C and the 730C EJ, ejector body version.

We were given a guided tour around the new machines in Malaga by product specialist Julien Balardelle, who was keen to point out the new features. These included amongst others, the new additional hand rail and new additional front view mirrors.

To the front of the machine we see an all-new front bonnet design, which features wider spaced headlights with integrated indicator flashers, width position marker lights and high intensity discharge roof lights.

Also at ground level on the cab door side is an access panel to gain entry to the main isolator key, and red emergency stop switch.

To the rear of the machine there is now a new body lock retaining pin, which is integrated in the all new frame design. This pin keeps the skip locked in the up position during servicing periods.

Climbing into the cab and the first thing I noticed was just how spacious it felt. There is plenty of room for two people, with a passenger/trainers seat located on the left hand side, slightly back from the main driver’s seat. I took to the seat and made myself comfortable by adjusting the air suspension seat, relocating the fully adjustable steering wheel to suit and familiarising myself with all the controls that nicely laid out to hand.

I was given a quick guided tour of the controls, and away I went around a specially designed course. I selected drive, released the red handbrake button on this fully automatic truck and headed for the first downhill slope. The main selling point for this truck is the fact that it has been made to be the easiest truck to operate, there really is very little for the operator to think about as everything is taken care of. Gone is the diff-lock pedal that used to be on the floor in older models, which is one less thing for the operator to think about. This machine features Caterpillar’s APECS system (Advanced Productivity Electronic Control Strategy), which basically takes care of the driving for you.

Going down the slope I can control the automatic gearing up manually by pressing the yellow button, generally I don’t think operators would do this, and would be more likely to let the machine do its own thing, but it’s a handy option to have if constantly travelling down steep slopes. Breaking free out into the lower plateau the machine geared up quickly and smoothly before I entered a series of bumps designed to show off the rear axle’s oscillation, even travelling over this rough piece of land, the ride remained comfortable thanks to the machine impressive suspension system.

After a short period of acceleration I came to the steep uphill climb on the course, my instructor had told me to select 1^st gear for this climb and to view the monitor which would tell just where the automatic traction control was being displaced.

At the bottom of the ramp I put the pedal to the metal and the 367hp (274kw) Cat C.13 ACERT engine powered me up the hill effortlessly. I was enjoying the experience so much I went for a few more spins around the course.

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