Deals on Wheels sent Brook Harland along to check out the latest Caterpillar Next Gen Compact Track Loaders
With the weather gods providing the clear blue skies and the summer hotness, I took up the Terra Cat invitation to go and see what these Next Gen Track Loaders were about and put them through their paces on a construction site in Auckland’s Northwest Shopping complex.
As I walked and gawked around the Cat 255 (4345kg) and Cat 265 (4759kg) Next Gens on show, Chris Allen, Terra Cat’s product manager, was very helpful filling me in on what the new models had to offer.
Walk around
Starting off, looking at the track gear, the newer setup has had some tweaks. The final drive has been set a wee bit higher to lift them up out of the muck, which is good for not binding up in aggregate, sticky clay or any other manky ground us Kiwis chuck at these machines.
Hydraulic hoses back into the machine seem in a good clear space also, these can be guarded if need be. Compared to some I’ve seen, the track design seems well thought out with heaps of room between rollers and undercarriages, which in my mind is less wear and tear. The steel rollers look bulletproof compared to earlier models, which were plastic and rubber.
Peering under the rear bonnet, they seem to have made good use of space. Below each rear corner, dual fuel tanks are mounted each side and joined with a balance pipe. By placing these away from under the engine, they’ve brought the height and everything else around it down, lowering the centre of gravity with it.
There is an option of rear counterweights to balance out attachments, and these tuck up under the rear corners, keeping in line with the lower centre of gravity. With them not being mounted on the side of the machine, they don’t bulk out the width in the rear end.
Improvements at the front
Around to the front of the machine there’s many improvements everywhere you look. Refuelling looks like it can be done with ease and topping up hydraulic oil can almost be done blindfolded. The cabin air filter is in an easy spot to pull out and clean.
With a new well-thought-out design on the boom and bucket, the boom drop safety lock looks foolproof when servicing needs to be carried out on the machine with the boom in the air.
Another good idea is the bucket quick hitch, leaving many years of battling the old school hitch in the past, with the newer hitch making life a lot easier.
Favourite feature
My favourite feature is something I think every machine with hydraulic auxiliaries should have, be it a track loader or digger. Having spent many a time cursing naughty words and risking my knuckle welfare, I’d only dreamed of a day when I could plug a set of hydraulic quick couplers into a machine without the machine holding pressure in the line. This day seems to have arrived and it as simple as a button-type knob placed beside the quick couplers. One push and all your pressure issues disappear. Plug and play away.
Freshly designed cab
Being a plus size model for the job, hopping into the freshly designed cabin was a breeze. With earlier models feeling like you had to weave yourself up, over and back down into the seat, the new model has a more level entry on the bucket and cab steps, so it doesn’t seem like you’re climbing a school jungle gym to sit your bottom into the seat.
Once parked in the cockpit, the redesigned operator station gives you a lot more legroom to stretch out your legs. With full adjustment on moving your joysticks, safety fold down bar and armrests, finding that sweet spot for operator comfort is an easy task. The option for a heated or ventilated seat worked well on the day. Hopping out of a machine without a sweaty back this time of the year is refreshing.
Off on a mission
Sitting in the hot seat with Chris talking me through all the bits and bobs the cabin has to offer, we go through the basics. Pretty chuffed with what I saw to start, the rear cameras offer awesome visibility on the cab display screen.
Alongside the camera in the bonnet at the rear, there are two additional cameras facing out each side over the rear of the tracks. You’ll never get a crook neck looking over your shoulder again as you only need to look forward into the screen.
With the Cat 265 warmed up, I was off on a mission. With a big hard pile of clay to play with. Easing into getting the feel of the machine, it didn’t take long for me to find its touch. I’d describe it as smooth and powerful.
Power and drive to the ground was really good. Cutting a track up the side of the clay pile to really test it out was a breeze. With a full bucket of clay, the Cat 265 could climb well, to the point I probably looked like I was taking off to the moon, sending it up the side of the stockpile.
Digging and trimming into hard summer clay was no sweat with the full cutting-edge on the 4-in-1 bucket. The Cat 265 once back on flat ground has really good vertical reach, perfect for loading high sided trucks and trailers.
Having spent many hours operating one of Cat’s first released tracked loaders many moons ago, and many more on the later released models since then, I feel it’s fair for me to say the manufacturer has listened and met the mark on designing the Next Gen tracked models.
Checking out the new Cat 255 and Cat 265 models at Terra Cat’s demo day, I was very impressed with the big improvements. In my view, operating previous model Cat track loaders has never been a hardship, but as all machine operators have their pet hates on certain aspects of one thing or another, a lot of these boxes have been ticked off the wish list in the Next Gen.
For more information, visit terracat.co.nz
Images by Brook Harland