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Digging deep into construction machinery news

Mon 24 Aug 2015

Top quality ageing Cat’s discovered “down under”

The company that Gary works for is renting some land from a quarry owner in Queensland, primarily to store some of their kit on in between projects. Whilst visiting the premises he discovered a wide range of older Cat equipment most of which was still in fantastic condition and including some real classic machines from Caterpillar’s previous inventory of products. It must also be noted that most of these machines are still in regular use in the quarry, a real testament to the brands renowned longevity of service.  One of the first machines spotted was a 988 wheeled loader. The model has recently celebrated its 50th year of production in various guises, with the first production model having rolled of the assembly line in 1963. The machine was initially powered by a 300hp Cat D343 engine, but that power rating was later upgraded to 325hp in 1968. The 6 cubic yard loader is now featured in the current Caterpillar line up as the 988K. Gary also came across this Cat D9H, often referred to as one of the finest track type tractors ever built by the American construction machinery giant. Manufactured in the USA, the Cat D9H was first introduced in 1974 as the replacement model for the iconic D9G which at the time was the largest production dozer in the world. Power came from a Cat D353 turbocharged six cylinder engine which could amass a power output rating of 410hp. This fine example is still used on a regular basis in the quarry. Also in regular use is this Cat 815 sheep’s foot compactor roller. These models were first introduced into the Caterpillar line up as far back as 1970. The models featured a Cat D333 turbocharged engine of some 170hp. These machines were initially built in the USA but later some production was shifted to Cat’s facility in Belgium. Finally in this batch of photos we see another classic Cat machine in the form of a 992C wheeled loader which is a circa 1977 model. The original 992 model was first launched in 1968, this signified a big leap in size with the machine carrying a 10 cubic yard bucket. When the C series model was rolled out in 1977 bucket capacity had increased to 12.5 cubic yards and engine power output was up to 690hp. Today’s current offering in this size class is the 992K model. We thank Gary for sharing these photos with us here on the Digger Man Blog.  

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