by Nick Drew | Thu 05 Apr 2018
Impressive Big Cat’s
There can not be many more impressive sights than that of a big Caterpillar dozer in action, a pure mixture of power, muscle, and grace as these earthmoving giants go about their business.
Caterpillar have been masters of the track type tractor for many decades and it has to be said, nobody does it better than the American manufacturing giant. Cat’s current large dozer range kicks of with the D8T which tips the scales at 86900.0lbs and takes its power from 264kw (354hp) Cat C15 ACERT engine. Launched in 2013, I was lucky to get up close and personal with this model in Malaga.
Caterpillars iconic D9 has been in the track type tractor line up since 1954 when it was first introduced as an 213kw (286hp) machine. Weight and power has increased over the years and todays current offering the D9T, features a Cat C18 ACERT engine, offering a power output of 325kw (436hp) with an operating weight of 106618.0lbs. This model pictured below is another resident in the line-up of demo machines at Caterpillars Malaga Training and Learning Centre.
Caterpillar shocked the world in 1977 when they launched the D10 which featured the elevated drive sprocket design which was and has until recently been an exclusive feature only found on Caterpillar track type tractors.
Today's current model is the D10T2 which is powered by Cat’s 447kw (600hp) C27 ACERT engine. Operating weight for the D10T2 is 154700.0lbs.
The “Big Daddy” in Cat’s track type tractor line up is the 229800.0lb, D11T which is also available in a CD (Carry Dozer) variant. This model joined the Caterpillar line-up early in 1986 and has continued to be Cat’s largest dozer to this day and remains virtually unrivalled. Featuring a blade capacity of 57yd3 the giant dozer is powered by Cat’s C32 ACERT engine which puts out 634kw (850hp). This example is the star attraction in the “Big Push” grand finale in Malaga.
Check out this promotional video from Caterpillar on the company’s large dozer range.