I got the chance to operate several Deere excavators yesterday (300, 200,120 and 80 series) at the JD testing facility. The instructor operators explained the controls to us and then rode with us for a minute or two and then turned us loose if we showed any sort of aptitude. They explained that the machines had "excavator" pattern as opposed to "back hoe" pattern controls. Right hand was boom and bucket, left hand dipper and house rotate. The back hoes had the boom and dipper reversed. Here is the question...Is the "back hoe" pattern the "Caterpillar" pattern or is that some thing else entirely? I can understand why "Cat" would be an unspoken dirty word at a JD Testing facility. Thanks for answering a question that would be obvious to all of you "real" operators. Rick
No Caterpillar is not considered the "back hoe" pattern. He is talking about back hoe loader tractors with a bucket on the front that use the back hoe pattern. Most all excavators are set up with the boom and bucket on the right hand, dipper and swing on the left. Some machines have a valve you can switch to convert the controls to which ever pattern you like the most. You see that valve on a lot of mini excavators.
Around here, the "backhoe" pattern has always been refered to as Deere controls, excavator pattern "ISO" controls. Not that it makes much difference anymore, with pilot controls, a switch changes the pattern. Previously, you had to switch 2 lines in the control valves. Ed
We have always called it SAE or Deere and ISO or CAT. When renting mini-ex's you'll sometimes see USA/International for the pattern changing valve. ISO is the most used pattern worldwide and actually is more intuitive...IMHO.
I would agree, the ISO (Cat) is more intuitive. Last year at the same event, the excavators were set up with the house and boom on the left, bucket and dipper on the right. There were some skills tests set up (pick the ball off the road cone, drop it in the trash can...pick up the hula-hoop with a grapple hook on a chain, place the hoop on a re-bar "T" etc) with about :45 minutes of total seat time the instructor operators said I was doing pretty good. While operating may be old hat to most of the members of this forum, to this driver (I will not use the honorific of "operator") this is about the most fun you have without getting arrested. My face muscles were still sore this morning from the grin I had all afternoon while running these machines. Rick
Please don't BEAT this topic to Death again ! ...... Seems everytime the topic of patterns comes up there's always a few that want to give stupid opionated comments ...... no matter what pattern an operator uses as long as it done in a safe manner . The proper terms are : ISO- commonly called JD pattern or Backhoe .... and .... SAE- commonly called CAT or excavator pattern. Funny thing happened a few yrs ago ....... I was looking at Komatsu Excavators .... before I jumped into try it out I asked the salesman what the default pattern was Cat or JD .... he replied "Neither it's Komatsu Pattern "...... It was SAE .... Duhhhhh !! .......LOL ...... cheers guys ....keep having fun !
Craft is dead on!
Well excuse me for for asking a simple question that someone who is not in the industry but is interested in the industry did not know the answer to.
simple answer ,Yes backhoe & cat are the same, boom on left.
Personally I run backhoe or Deere controls, always get confused if it's ISO or SAE.:beatsme Most of the folks around my area operate excavator or Cat controls so I am somewhat a b*****d child as far as that goes, but I really don't care. It's what I am proficient and comfortable with and I am not going to change. That's why they make pattern changers.
SAE/excavator pattern is industry standard down here. In other words if you get trained on an ex you get taught SAE, although the 'other' pattern is still in use by older machines and operators.
Sorry if you misunderstood .... my comment comes from, and directed to the past threads regarding Patterns in general .... there is always someone that wants to claim that one or the other is better ....... Uhmmm ..... Backhoe/ISO is where you have : Swing and BOOM on LEFT ... Bucket and STICK on right ............ CAT/SAE is where you have : Swing and STICK on Left ...Bucket and BOOM on right ................. They just simply switched sides of the BOOM and STICK functions. LOL !! ... CM .... I must be your long lost basturd brother then, we are not Alone ! .... must be an old school thing ..... LOL
Thanks to all for the answers. Rick
Lot of debate on this but the main reason as you will find on other threads here, is Deere used to make machines with their cabs on the right thus boom function was on the left closest to the boom opposite from everybody else for the most part.Doesn't really matter to me I can run both patterns but most people do prefer one over the other. "Cat" is sae and "Deere" is iso hope that helps you out!
I promised myself that i would change the switch between the 2 patterns every time i operated. Thousands of hours later i don't even remember where the switch is! Oh well,maybe next week I'll recommit. Hate having to actually think while operating!
:update ops Well i did it again,thinking one thing and saying another.sorry.
The OP could have asked about ancient 4 stick controls CRAFT---:Banghead:Banghead:Banghead As I'm typing this,I'm looking at what's left of a callous on a certain finger that made my dipperstick move away from the rear of the tractor on my cornbinder 3820A TLB.Sooo---which finger on what hand am I talking about and which lever from left to right while seated looking at the hoe operated the DS ???? First one that gets this right will have all new controls in his rig,courtesy of HEF.
I can remember when you ran the machine with the way the pattern was set . whether it was 2 levers 3levers or four levers. cat, link belt or deere... there was no crying about the pattern, you knew how to use them all