Thurkles get on the right track for success with WesTrac

This story was produced by Caterpillar and originally published as an interview case study in Earthmoving Equipment Magazine. It has been republished (with permission from EEM).

The Mid-West region of WA, with the city of Geraldton as its hub, is characterised by a prevalence of sandy earths, often necessitating the use of gravel for easier travel along the terrain.

Gravel allows for better drainage, improved soil stability, better aesthetic appeal, and provides a strong base to support structures in construction projects.

It’s small wonder then that local family-owned business Thurkles is in constant demand for its services.

Director Jeremy Thurkle said the company specialised in gravel sourcing and stockpiling and serviced all of the Geraldton and surrounding Mid-West area of the state.

“Our clients include local shires, landowners and farmers. There’s a lot of sandplain country out here, so good gravel is needed to help access farm paddocks, roads, and the like,” he said.

Once the gravel is sourced and the pits emptied, Thurkles is also engaged in the rehabilitation work to return the environment back to as close to the original state as possible to enable the revegetation of native flora and return of native fauna.

To help achieve this task, Thurkles places its faith in two Cat® tracked dozers: a D7E electric drive machine and a D8T.

As a small business served only by Jeremy, two full-time operators and a full-time mechanic/auto electrician, it is absolutely crucial that the equipment used continues to perform without any problems.

“We place high value in having good quality equipment … and just as importantly, we recognise the value of having good quality undercarriages,” Jeremy said.

The hot dry summers and cool mild winters mixed with the remoteness of the Mid-West region can be a challenge.

“We need reliability in these components. The weather can be pretty extreme here at times and machines need to be equipped with features to deal with this,” Jeremy said.

“We chose the combination of WesTrac and Caterpillar to build our business purely because of the size of the dealership and the support with service and parts that we get from our local branch (WesTrac Geraldton). In general, no other brands seem to have that support."

"The same applies to the undercarriage. We have to invest in quality because when the machine goes down, so does the cash flow."

“We have tried other undercarriage products in the past, and in one example we didn’t even take the track assemblies off the truck when they arrived with us, as we could see new pins and bushes leaking oil."

“If we had installed these, it would have been constant trouble involving splitting tracks and resealing links in the field, which is definitely not ideal.”

Jeremy has opted for Cat Heavy Duty tracks for his Cat D8T Dozer and a Cat General Duty undercarriage to fit to his Cat D7E Dozer because he found they suited the business’ work and cash flow.

“All our work is in pretty similar country,” he said. “We’re not into blue rocks, we didn’t need the super heavy stuff."

“I bought our D7E used about seven years ago and it had approximately 3,400 hours on it and we’ve gone through only the third set of genuine Cat tracks on the machine, so we do have a good run out of them."

“It’s undoubtedly the best value for money."

“We have regular Custom Track Services (CTS) inspections done on the machines by WesTrac. This way both of us can gauge where the track groups are in their lifetime, make plans for when to update tracks, rollers, idlers, sprockets and other components. As a rule, it doesn’t all have to be done at once.”

Jeremy said that as well as undercarriage wear product, Thurkles also buys its oils and filter kits from WesTrac.

“We use parts.cat.com for our parts; it’s pretty easy to get on and organise all your own parts, and then click and collect at the rear of the store."

“The parts team and service teams are great to deal with. We use the parts section more than service as we have three mechanics on our books.”

As WesTrac Machine Sales and Customer Support Manager for the Midwest, Murchison and Gascoyne areas of WA for almost 35 years, Greg Pike is delighted at the solid relationship forged between the two businesses.

“I’ve been connected with Jeremy in a number of ways. I had been a field service mechanic working on Jeremy’s father’s equipment,” he said.

“Jeremy did his mechanical apprenticeship with WesTrac and his father was a long-time customer."

“When Jeremy wanted the Cat machines for his business, he approached me and we helped him source the equipment he wanted."

“Jeremy wanted a D7E, and in fact, Thurkles ended up buying the first D7E in our territory."

“We help all customers choose the correct machinery or parts for their application. In Jeremy’s case, we put the best package together for him, which in his application included the Cat General Duty tracks on the D7E and the Cat Heavy Duty on the D8T."

“Cat equipment is great value for money: they’re not the cheapest sometimes, but certainly offer the best value.”

WesTrac Undercarriage Specialist for WA, Chris Sullivan, said Caterpillar offered multiple undercarriage options for track machines to ensure that the right choices are available to complement the machine productivity, job site conditions and applications, enabling users to maintain the best owning and operating costs.

“Cat General Duty undercarriages are Sealed and Lubricated Tracks (S.A.L.T) designed specifically for use in low-to-moderate impact applications where the increased benefits of other Cat undercarriage options are not fully needed,” he said.

“As an undercarriage, it is universal in that it can be “wet turn” serviced or be run to destruction, it is a perfect choice for low to moderate impact and abrasion sites.”

The Cat Heavy Duty Undercarriage is also a S.A.L.T configuration, designed for high machine utilisation and featuring Positive Pin Retention (PPR) for high impact environments.

“The Cat Heavy Duty product is a good choice for machines that work a day or two on a site before being moved to the next project,” Chris said.

“Highly versatile machines need an undercarriage as dependable and flexible as they are, so that they can tackle multiple applications and underfoot conditions from their various job sites.”

To tackle more rigorous terrain, the game- changing design of the Cat Heavy Duty Extended Life (HDXL) track link could also help control costs by delivering up to 40 per cent more life from the undercarriage.

“The HDXL crowned link design, patented by Caterpillar, consists of a curved wear surface that creates a buffer against traditional scallop wear, so users get thousands of hours of production before scalloping occurs,” Chris said.

“Tall links offered by competing brands, on the other hand, start out with a flat surface level, and scalloping starts right away, intensifying over time."

“However the revolutionary crowned design of Cat HDXL with Duralink reduces surface contact between track rollers and idlers slowing down scalloping wear, not only protecting valuable equipment in heavy- duty conditions, but also strengthening the operation’s bottom line.”

The multi-tier Undercarriage offerings from Caterpillar, combined with WesTrac customer service solutions, enables businesses like Thurkles Earthmoving to be on the right track for success.