Cat® Next Gen Small Wheel Loaders: the Swiss army knife of construction

Cat Small Wheel Loaders have been a popular workhorse for civil and mining construction companies for decades. As WesTrac Product Specialist Simon Bycroft explains, the Cat Next Gen Small Wheel Loaders about to enter the market take versatility to the next level and have new tech designed for operator comfort.

I like to consider the Cat Small Wheel Loaders as the Swiss army knife for the construction industry. They’re versatile, they’re strong, and they can be tailored to suit almost any job.

Weighing between 10 to 15 tonnes, these machines have been used throughout history for civil and residential construction, as well as mining operations, due to their renowned ability to carry out a variety of tasks.

The majority of the Small Wheel Loaders we bring in at WesTrac have a hydraulic quick coupler on the front, meaning you can drop the bucket off in a few seconds, pick up a crane jib, forks or stemming bucket, and use the machine for another job altogether.

This versatility is why Small Wheel Loaders have been one of the most popular Caterpillar ® machines, particularly the K series, which have been the Small Wheel Loader of choice in Western Australia for more than 10 years.

Cat FUSION COUPLER SYSTEM

Such popularity is why Caterpillar has kept some of the K series’ big hitting benefits for the new Next Gen Small Wheel Loaders about to hit the market.

This includes the Cat Fusion™ Coupler System, which allows customers to use any existing attachments with their new machine and the intelligent Hystat drivetrain which allows the machine to act either like a hydrostatically driven loader or a torque convertor loader.

new technology for productivity and safety

While Next Gen Small Wheel Loaders have some of the features of the K series that customers have come to love, they will also have a range of new tech designed for the modern worksite.

The Next Gen Small Wheel Loaders can have the option of a traditional steering wheel or the new force feedback joystick steering, which provides increasing resistance into the operators’ hand when travelling at speed.

This means that even with a joystick, you can still drive these machines down the road on a concessional licence legally up to 40kmph.

Payload measurement system Cat CPM will now be included as a factory standard install, providing accurate weighing of bucket payloads to help operators load to target and prevent truck overloading. All the hard work of wiring looms and hydraulic sensors will be installed, and customers can simply choose whether they turn the system on locally – better yet they can demo it for 250 hours for free.

Caterpillar has also empowered Next Gen Small Wheel Loaders to be smart enough to do what’s best for its operations, with features like an auto adaptive engine that changes RPM according to the operator’s inputs.

Just like modern car engines automatically cutting out when stopped at a traffic light, the Next Gen Small Wheel Loaders can change to a low idle when not operating, to save fuel.

Apart from fuel, the biggest cost to running a Small Wheel Loader is slipping the tyres when you enter the pile, which can happen quite often if operators are inexperienced or the surface is particularly slippery.

Now, we’ve got automatic detection which can pick up when the tyres are about to slip, providing better machine performance when you enter the pile, so you can fill the bucket up without any wastage.

Improved Operator Comfort

Caterpillar has also focused on operator comfort in the Next Gen Small Wheel Loaders. Operators can spend anywhere from eight to 12 hours a day in these machines – the cabins are their workplace.

These new machines have automatic climate control, additional legroom, a comfier seat, and multi-view cameras, showing you a 360-degree view of the machine at all times on high resolution screens.

Inside the new cab, you can see exactly what is around your machine without having to turn around – a benefit so good that it will come standard in Next Gen Small Wheel Loaders in Western Australia.

Extra Features

Most customers we speak to want these loaders to have a certain amount of extra features so they can do any job across the State, so we bring loaders in with quite a few additional Cat options like crane valves and auxiliary hydraulics

These machines can be tailored even further, with specialised industry configurations. So if you do have a unique application, we can order the required parts and bolt them on at the factory, or as kits in WA.

The list of benefits goes on, but at WesTrac, we know these Next Gen Small Wheel Loaders will be so popular that we’re ordering as many of them as we can between now and the foreseeable future.

GET TRAINED TO REAP THE BENEFITS

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But like any new machine, the Next Gen Small Wheel Loaders have features and benefits that require a bit of know-how to operate. When I went to Caterpillar’s Small Wheel Loader North Carolina headquarters in 2023 to visit the designers of these new machines, they said operators were either too busy, too inexperienced, or not trained well enough to know what is built into the Small Wheel Loaders, or how to get optimum use from them.

It’s why we leverage the experience of WesTrac’s Operator Demonstrator Troy Jenner, who provides extensive demonstrations and in-depth training to new users.

At WesTrac, we can also provide the opportunity for customers to get a feel for the Next Gen Small Wheel Loader before they make a purchase, by visiting our dedicated test dig pit facility at the WesTrac Perth branch.

At the end of the day, if you were spending half this much to buy a car, you would sit in it and drive it, so why not do the same for these new machines.

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Author: Simon Bycroft

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Simon Bycroft is currently a Product Manager (BCP and Attachments) at WesTrac WA. Simon has been with the WesTrac team since 2018, starting off as a Regional Construction Business Manager before moving into a Sales and Technology Business Manager role. He has over 20 years experience in the construction machinery industry.
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