Big CAT Caterpillar 834K wheel dozer cleans up dump site at Mount Iron / Erzberg

Caterpillar 834K Raddozer beim Säubern der Kippstelle auf der Abraumkippe am steirischen Erzberg, während Komatsu HD785 Muldenkipper Abraum fördern
Caterpillar 834K wheel dozer cleans up the dump site at Mount Iron (Erzberg) in Austria, while Komatsu HD785 trucks keep coming with overburden

[@lametraserillos1]

cat c18 engine

[@Tedinoz]

Interesting choice of equipment for that role. Not that I know anything about these things, but I would have thought that a dozer would have been the machine of choice for that job.

[@Baggerfritz]

If that would be the only job for this 834K, you sure would be right, but in this case it has to travel through the whole mine to do various jobs - it isn't only used at the overburden dump. So a wheel dozer is the better choice, it simply travels faster, than a track type tractor - that's the reason, they use it. ;)

[@RyTrapp0]

A tracked dozer would do this job slower and tear up the driving surface while doing so - this is literally what wheel dozers are made for, this sort of work I don't know if it's just because there's a dozer blade mounted to a piece of equipment, but EVERYONE seems to need to mention how a "tracked dozer is better"; but wheel dozers have existed ever since the 'caterpillar' tracked dozer was invented and still exist today for a reason - they do completely different jobs. Wheel dozers exist to fill in the gap between motor graders and tracked dozers, which is a pretty damn wide gap. And a tracked dozer CAN'T just do everything up to what a motor grader does either; at best, it's completely overkill and would be a machine being wasted on a low ROI job when it should be out in the pit doing the heavy work that they're designed for, and at worst they CAN'T do finish work because they'll just completely destroy the surface. Enter the wheel dozer, for when you need to move heavier amounts of material than what a motor grader is capable of, while doing so significantly quicker and with significantly less damage than a tracked dozer. Not to mention, as Baggerfritz mentioned, transit speeds are just on a different level - have fun driving that noisy, ROUGH, slow ass tracked dozer 2 miles across the site

[@RyTrapp0]

BTW, check out John Deere's new 764HSD High Speed Dozer, it's a pretty cool piece of equipment intended to do the same type of work as a wheel dozer(smaller wheel dozers, it's sized more so for commercial construction, much too small for mining though I would LOVE to see them build a big mining version). The big differences are that, first, it's a purpose built clean sheet design, it isn't based on a wheel loader platform like conventional wheel dozers are. This allowed them to push the cab all the way to the front of the machine, sitting essentially almost on top of the blade, significantly improved visibility. It's also a 4 track[rubber] design much like big articulated 4wd tractors, like the Case Quadtrac or Deere's 9RX series, but with a rear engine(like standard wheel dozers/loaders) and cab forward design. They're really interesting machines, being able to offer more dirt moving capability than a grader, much quicker speeds and no terrain damage(again, rubber tracks like ag tractors) than tracked dozers, BUT they get MUCH better traction than wheel dozers too! From what I've seen, it even looks like they're outperforming articulating tractors at pull scraper work too. Very clever design from JD's Yellow team, a lot of potential with these machines. REALLY hope that JD expands the lineup of these, and I'm sure the sales & interest in the 764 are going to determine whether or not that happens. Of course, they may never build one for the mining industry because I'm sure these companies really like having the parts interchangeability of wheel dozers and wheel loaders sharing a platform

[@whiskeytrigger31]

He looks confused

[@laundrieshanging9077]

You got that right