CAT Operators - Dunn's Earthmoving

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CAT Trucks Australia / Navistar Auspac Press Release  /  August 22, 2016

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Dunn's Earthmoving

CAT Trucks Australia / Navistar Auspac Press Release  /  September 9, 2016

NEIL DUNN – DUNNS EARTHMOVING – Director

After two years working in Australia’s roughest desert conditions, Cat Trucks are redefining the meaning of versatility.

The CT630LS model Cat Trucks never see a sealed road and are often in a different applications day after day, from construction support, to heavy machinery float work, to livestock haulage.

The four Cat Trucks work in the fleet of Dunn’s Earthmoving, based deep in the Strzelecki Desert in South Australia, not far from Moomba.

Neil Dunn reckons the Cat Trucks have been successful in his operation and have won driver acceptance.

“The boys really like them, good to drive and the big bunks mean that when they have to camp in the trucks it’s pretty good,” he said.

Operations Manager Trent Ulmer says, “They have certainly stood the test of time on some of the roughest roads in Australia. The trucks are proving their durability and structural integrity.”

The CT630LS trucks are 90 tonne rated with a luxury sleeper cab. Cross locks are fitted on the diffs to handle the work in sand.

The trucks are powered by the iconic Caterpillar C15 engine that gives more than enough power with a 550hp rating to do the hard yakka and the 1850 ft lb of torque pulls heavy loads through rough conditions with ease.

An 18 speed Eaton overdrive transmission sending the power to the Meritor diffs and a PRIMAAX rear suspension complete the bush spec in the Dunn operation.

Employing a staff of more than 120 people when the oil industry is running in top gear, Neil Dunn is facing the recent turndown with optimism.

“Since oil prices went fro $110 to $26 a barrel, the mining industry shut the rigs down out here, shut up shop. But with oil prices back up to the $40s and $50s a barrel, they have cranked up again. We were pretty quiet for five or six months. Road maintenance kept us going, but we are back in the swing of things now with the rigs cranked up again,” Neil Dunn said.

Operations Manager Trent Ulmer works from an office deep in a town-sized camp of transportable buildings at Padulla oil field. Surrounded by computers, whiteboards and maps he explained how the fly in fly out system works.

“The crews on the job sites work three weeks on, three weeks off. Admin, tradies and management work two on two off, it’s a system that works well,” he said.

Trent Ulmer works back to back with his opposite number, operations manager Craig MacDonald, two weeks on and two weeks off.

Neil Dunn and his son, general manager William, work similarly so that there is a Dunn on site twenty-four seven.

About the Cat Trucks, “They are handling the work fantastically and holding out really well. They have been a great addition to our fleet,” Trent Ulmer said.

The service backup from the Cavpower base in Moomba, only 80 km away, is a major consideration to the boss, Neil Dunn.

“Any problems we can just run them into Moomba and they have all the fault finding gear, not that we’ve used it much. They’ve proved themselves so far and this country is pretty tough on machinery”.

[Red Horse]

So with the US Cat/Navistar truck "adventure" over, are these " Cats" old inventory or is some sort of Australian production still in place?  If so, it would seem the volume would be such that they are as close as you can get to a "hand built" truck.  They can make money doing this????

[kscarbel2]

20 minutes ago, Red Horse said:

So with the US Cat/Navistar truck "adventure" over, are these " Cats" old inventory or is some sort of Australian production still in place?  If so, it would seem the volume would be such that they are as close as you can get to a "hand built" truck.  They can make money doing this????

Bob, the Australian on-road CAT truck effort was/is unaffected by the discontinuation of the U.S. market vocational trucks.

Alike Detroit Diesel (the 2-strokes and 60 series) the CAT name carries a lot of weight in Australia. They have a fantastic and deep-pocketed distributor in WesTrac too.

http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/41154-all-systems-go-for-cat-trucks-australia/#comment-298395

http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/41412-cat-reinforces-commitment-to-australian-market/#comment-300632

 

[Red Horse]

9 hours ago, kscarbel2 said:

Bob, the Australian on-road CAT truck effort was/is unaffected by the discontinuation of the U.S. market vocational trucks.

Alike Detroit Diesel (the 2-strokes and 60 series) the CAT name carries a lot of weight in Australia. They have a fantastic and deep-pocketed distributor in WesTrac too.

http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/41154-all-systems-go-for-cat-trucks-australia/#comment-298395

http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/41412-cat-reinforces-commitment-to-australian-market/#comment-300632

Kevin- thx for info. Never would have guessed this effort could have stood on its feet given the market size.  And Navistar with its own new HX series will not be a factor in AUS market?

[kscarbel2]

6 hours ago, Red Horse said:

Kevin- thx for info. Never would have guessed this effort could have stood on its feet given the market size.  And Navistar with its own new HX series will not be a factor in AUS market?

The Australian vocational market is shaped quite differently from the US market. Refuse has similarities, but you have the superb Acco, and also Dennis Eagle competing.