Here's a Brand new D11R that was delivered to a gold mine in Western Australia's southwest. The mine is going through a 5 billion dollar expansion project. I was there with a contractor building the footings for the new secondary crusher and vault. So unfortunately I won't get to run these. The mine is owner operated, and they are buying an entirely brand new fleet of gear. (All Cat except for the Buchyrus shovel)
man i'd like to try that out:cool2
Hmm wonder why it just has a Semi U blade? Id want a U on a machine that big!
Good pics, what else are they getting? Nothing like having your own gold mine
I'm loving those safety steps and grab handles!
I second the owning your own gold mine!!!!!!!! With that said tho,i'm sure it's not that simple.Would be a lot of red tape i'm sure .Plus the secutiry thing would be there to have to deal with! So do they still have to worry about claim jumpiers like in the old days?????:beatsme Great pictures ,thanks!
By the looks of all the armor on the blade they plan on using it to strip overburden,more then stock pileing.Plus must be super hard by the looks of armor on the blades edges. I do like the looks of the blade guards.So many don't have that and the blade wears so fast.Hard to beleive how fast.:usa
Yeah Construct'O, you got it! The ore body is around 80 metres deep! The overburden consists of clay, pea gravel and blue rock(granite). Its all pretty heavy stuff, hence the armour and semi U... They're buying three of these! Hey DPete, Theyre getting half a gram of gold per tonne!!! Also theyre expecting to get 200,000 tonnes of copper per year. theyre touting it as the biggest gold operation. The pit is expected to be 3kms wide and 800m deep! P.S. all the photo's captured on site were done like James Bond would, as camera's and phones are prohibited!!!
Semi-U Vs U-blade Hi Ben46A. There are some situations where a semi-U blade is both more productive and easier on the tractor, not to mention less frustrating to the operator. Working large, heavy, hard rock is one of them and I have to agree with those folks who said that the blade armour looks like the machine will be working hard rock. Those forward-angled wings on a U-blade are not nearly as easy to doze large rock with as a semi-U blade. A U-blade would likely love the pea gravel and possibly the heavy clay but I can tell you from personal experience that Western Australia has some rather hard granites. Been there, sunk a few blades into some of them and worn out a cutting edge or three, plus the odd stray ripper boot or six. Boomrider, welcome to the forum and thanks for the photos.
Great photos! The name is Rider. . .BoomRider. - Christopher
Shaken, not stirred!!! :drinkup
That deck looks big enough to kick back and throw a couple o' shrimps on the barby.
Spot The Clues. Hi, Boomrider. I see that the photos you posted above were taken with 'time lapse' - that is, some time lapsed between some of your photos and others. Thanks again.
nice dozer!
Wow that thing is awsome. Love the catwalk , good for washing windows and not falling off. Here is a couple of dozers from the mine I work at. These are the big boys, we also run some d-10 n's and T's.
I would love to run a D11 before I die. Probally a little different than the little D4 that I grew up on.
Running a D11 - before you die? Hi, D6Peg. Welcome to the forum. Re running a D11 BEFORE YOU DIE: May I suggest that you make your own chances. Go look for a place that has a D11 or three, explain your background and experience and ask them nicely if they would be willing to give you a run. The worst that can happen is that they might refuse, however politely - or rudely. And you just might get lucky. 'Sides, if you wait, you may wake up dead one morning and you'll have missed your chance.
Deas, Thanks for the welcome and as time permits I might just have to go on vacation where some D11's are (bet the wife would like it)LOL.
Deas, Thanks for the welcome and as time permits I might just have to go on vacation where some D11's are (bet the wife would like it)LOL.
This exact thing happened to me last summer. A good ole boy I know stopped in the shop and explained that he had an old high school friend up from Arkansas. The guy had spotted our D10N in our pit above the highway so they pulled in and took a bunch of pictures of it. He asked me if there was anyway I'd let him run it a little. The guy had spent 30 years operating a grader for the county but had never been on anything bigger than a D5. So the next day I set him up to run it a while. I do believe he had fun!
The biggest machine that I have ever run was a D8K that we owned for a short period (too hard to move), and I thougt it would move a bunch of dirt, but I can only imagine what a D10 or a D11 could move.
Getting a run on the big iron. Hi, D6Peg. No doubt you have read Lashlander's post above, so you can see it does happen. The other point about trying this way to get a run on a bigger machine is simply to take a mother's advice to her daughter on her wedding day: "If at first you don't succeed, cry, cry, cry again." and substitute 't' for each of those last 3 'c's'.
Deas, Sounds to me like if I ever get caught up little, that I might have to take a vacation to Kodiak Ak.
Yeah Im dyin to run some of that big iron...
Tourism In Kodiak, Alaska. Hi, Lashlander. See what you could be doing for tourism in Kodiak, Alaska? Didn't anybody ever tell you that foot-n-mouth disease is quarantineable? LOL. Happy holidays, Mate.
Dang Laslander your a cool man to give the guy a whirl on the big CAT!!
you would love it, the biggest dif is the production aspect.running a bigger dozer 10 and 11s you get paid to produce, dirt moved pays the bills. instead of making dirt look pretty and smooth to grade i dig big holes and build big hills, always trying to slot doze in a more efficient way. like you i started out on smaller dozers,my first doze was a ih {international}1066 with a leon dozer pushing silage when i was a kid. one thing i learned is the bigger they are the easier they are to operate.if you have run alot of little dozers running a bigger one will be no prob.
There ya go, I about had as much fun letting him do it as he did. Were currently doing a dock expansion in town then I got to put it in the shop. Came back from Akutan with a leaking final drive and an engine oil leak. Can't tell from where until I drop the pan. Then she'll be good to go. Looks like she's headed back to Akutan in the spring though.
Well !!!!!!!!! I'm not dieing yet? But you never know,but sure would like to run the D 11. LL you might be missing the boat ! New business.Tourism thing ?Step right up and buy your ticket to run this D10.Read them there right first,get deposit(big) . You would want extra large area and straight up and down walls,big hole in the ground.Just in case! Just so you know,will be heading up North next summer.Keep me in mine!:drinkup :usa
Dang Lashlander dont take learn to make friends as long as you got a big ole dozer.
Hi, I am replying as a new Member who has joined within the last 24hrs. Anyway, enjoyed looking at the new D11R and having read so many posts from extremely educated chaps regarding CAT Dozers, I would like to ask if any of you think CAT may ever leave the "Elevated Drive Sprocket" layout in their large machines and return to the traditional layout as they have done with their new D6? Positives and Negatives anyone please? Best regards, Dave:
Elevated Sprocket Design Change. Hi, Dave. Firstly, welcome to the forum. To your question, in case you hadn't noticed, Cat still have a high sprocket D6 model too. They also have high sprocket D5's and D4's, as well as the oval track models and I'd guess that each has different target markets. I seriously doubt that Cat will go back to oval track designs in their larger dozers - unless there is a major change in track or other technology to give them a good reason for going back. There are a swag of reasons for staying with the high sprocket arrangement, less shock loads to the final drives, less sprocket wear, less dirt build-up in the tracks - especially in LGP and 'swampy' models, better blade visibility on most models, better accessibility to drive line components for repair or servicing, to name some of them. Just my 0.02.
Right on Deas, I will add much smoother on the operator also.
Welcome to the site DaveC. Nice to have another North East bloke on the forums. The low drive D6's are Hydrostatic. High Drive with Suspended undercarrage tend to pull the rear idler up and the connected roller down giving great traction. Also, this is why the rear rollers normally fall off first. Ross
Welcome to Heavy Equipment Forums DaveC! :drinkup
Thanks for the welcomes and replies guys. Loved earthmovers all my life but I am early retired from them due to arthritis problems. Struggle to climb into machines now and too big and heavy to maintain. When I get approval to post messages, I have some input to add with various topics, but at the moment, enjoying reading all the posts. On a learning curve here. What is the maximum size jpeg photo attachment I can place with a message? Happy New Year to the Forums: Dave:
Click on the red bar on the moderators post above you.
As egoman suggested, you can check out some of the more commonly asked questions with the links in my signature. To answer your question directly, 100kb file size at 640x640 dimension is the max picture size that can be posted.
Private message. Hi, DaveC. May I suggest that you check your private messages.
D11r Hi guy's, I got to try out the D11 on an trip to Cat's demo area in Malaga,Spain in september! I then decided that if I wina alot of money im gonna buy one!!!!!!! Just for having one,talking job's for in Sweden they are almost non excisting. But i was sure fun to try it out!! Peter
Beautiful equipment! Thank you for the photo!
Sharp dozer Do the 11's have tiller steering like 8's and 9's?
11's should have paddles like the 10's not the diff steer that the 8 and 9's have.
Hi, everybody! Tell me please. And what advantage is given more true by an arrangement of a driving wheel on the bulldozer?
Incredible!