SHAW’S WIRE ROPES IRON TEST
The largest sawmill in the Southern Hemisphere has a huge appetite for wood, requiring a squadron of nimble loaders to keep the log line fed. The new flagship of the RFH-operated fleet at the Red Stag log yard, the Cat 980M, is just the machine to match the 24-hour flow of trucks.
THE ARRIVAL OF THIS NEW CAT 980M IN THE LOG YARD at Red Stag’s giant sawmill outside Rotorua came just in the nick of time. The loading team – operated by Rotorua Forest Haulage – out in the yard were struggling to keep up with the increasing number of logs arriving at the upgraded mill and the big new Cat has helped to increase the tempo with its extra-large capacity. They could even do with another one.
Such is life at what is now the largest sawmill operating in the Southern Hemisphere.
With more than 150 log trucks streaming into the yard from local forests every weekday and a little less on weekends to match the appetite of the mill’s new double quad-gang saw line, the three Cat wheel loaders need to work 24 hours a day and seven days a week to keep pace.
The 980M that joined the RFH operation at Red Stag at the start of the year is the first to go into service in New Zealand and is the tenth generation of this model.
While it doesn’t look much different to the previous model Cat 980K still beavering alongside the new 980M in the log yard, it has a new cab layout and there have been a lot of changes under the skin, with many detailed refinements that constitute a completely different machine in the way it operates.
Chief among them is the new powertrain. The latest version of the Cat C13 ACERT engine offers increased power delivery but with 10% better
fuel efficiency than its predecessor, the 980K. And if any of you out there are still operating an older 980H model, then you can look forward to a 25% fuel efficiency gain when you swap into the new M. Not bad, eh?
The regular operator of the new 980M at the Red Stag log yard, Steve Malaquin, believes his machine is supping even less than the Caterpillar factory estimates, adding: “The fuel consumption is really good, heaps better than the K and I reckon the M will even beat the 966 for fuel.” That’ll make RFH boss, Tony ‘Sarge’ Sargeson, really happy.
This 980M has replaced one of the two Cat 966 models that was operating with the Cat 980K until the start of this year. Being able to grab a complete packet of logs that weigh up to 17 tonnes in one go makes the 980M a very useful addition to the fleet at the mill, compared to a maximum lift of 12 tonnes for the 966. And it means there are now two high capacity loaders on hand when things get super busy.
To illustrate just how hard these machines work for their living, Steve mentions that the new 980M has already clocked up 6,500 hours since it arrived in January. Then adding in the same breath “but it’s been very reliable, no problems at all”.
Steve is largely a spectator today because he’s been off work for the past six weeks after undergoing surgery to replace a worn-out hip. But he’s itching to get back behind the controls and is keeping his fingers crossed that a doctor’s assessment the following week will give him the all-clear.
“I’m feeling good now and ready to rock,” he says. “I’ve been bored. Sitting around at home has been driving me mad. Can’t wait to get
back.”
One of the night-shift drivers is filling in on the 980M for the moment and Steve is here today to help liaise between our NZ Logger Iron Test team and his colleagues at the yard as well as the log truck drivers, using his two-way radio to make sure that the myriad of machines and trucks know exactly where we are. There’s normally no one on the ground during unloading and stacking operations, so it’s good to have that extra pair of eyes and radio communication.
It might be something of a shock for Steve when he does get back on the 980M again because he’ll go straight into 12-hour shifts, starting at 5 in the morning and finishing at 5 in the afternoon. That’s the norm for these guys, with the second shift taking over at 5pm and running until 5am to keep the yard humming.
Steve isn’t complaining. He reckons he has a great life and says the new 980M has made things even better for him since it joined the fleet.
“I was on the 980K before this one arrived and I really enjoyed that, but this new M is just that bit better again,” he says. But he wasn’t so sure when it first arrived.
“Compared to the K, the M has a different engine – supposed to be better. I thought it was a little bit less in power when it arrived but now I think it is just as good as the K. It’s got better as it’s clocked up the hours. It took me a while to get used to it, but I wouldn’t swap it now.”
These big Cat wheel loaders used to have traditional steering wheels in the cab, and it’s still an option, but joysticks are the way to go and the system in the M is slightly different again to the old K.
“The K has the three levers and a joystick, but this one has two joysticks,” says Steve, noting that the levers on the right-hand side have now given way to a single stick.
“When it turned up, I thought ‘Holy Hell what’s going on here’ but it’s just natural, you get in behind the controls and away you go.”
Those words are reassuring to our Iron Tester, Stan Barlow, who professes to be an old-school operator who grew up with a steering wheel on loaders. The last wheel loader he drove was the Hitachi 220-5 working with the Stokes Logging crew that we tested in Woodhill Forest late last year. That machine had both the steering wheel and joysticks. Stan started with the wheel and ended the test on the sticks and admitted they were much better.
“You’ll enjoy this,” says Steve, “those joysticks are real nice to use.” During a quiet moment between truck arrivals, the Cat 980M gets parked up to allow us to climb over it and check out some of the new improvements, starting with the powertrain.
After the rear safety guard is unlocked and swung out of the way, the big bonnet is electrically opened to show us the new C13 ACERT engine. It’s easy to reach from the catwalk and there’s plenty of room for a technician to get around it. The updated 12.5-litre engine (with Tier 3 emission controls for our market) now delivers a peak net power output of 278kW (373hp) at 1,800rpm and a solid 2,040Nm at just 1,300rpm – that’s 1,505 foot pounds of torque on the old scale. So power and torque are both up by around 5% over the old K model. In practice, it means you don’t have to push on the gas pedal quite as much to get the big Cat bounding around the log yard. That helps a lot with reducing fuel consumption.
The M-Series planetary powershift transmission has a new split-flow oil system and uses multi-viscosity oil, also aimed at fuel economy.
It’s an upgrade of the previous lock-up clutch torque converter that utilises lock-to-lock shifting to help deliver smoother shifts, faster acceleration and speed around the yard without penalising on fuel. All built with heavy-duty components to last longer, says Caterpillar.
As before, it has four forward gears and four reverse gears, but the cogs have been altered, resulting in slightly higher top speeds in second
and third gears, but a lower flat-out speed in fourth. It still hits a peak of 39.5km/h, which is well above the 25km/h safety limit imposed at this yard – the machine can be speed reduced through the monitor to ensure operators keep within the limit around the Red Stag yard.
Changes to the axles also contribute to lower fuel consumption due to lower oil levels and bevel gear shrouds, which reduce churning losses from rotating components. There are also new external calliper disc parking brakes mounted to the input shaft of the front axle. Calliper parking brakes have higher capacity than the drum brakes used on the 980K. Since they are external, they do not have the inefficiencies of enclosed wet parking brakes due to brake discs running in oil, nor is there any oil to change. The results are reduced fuel and maintenance costs.
One significant difference between the old K and the new M is that the fuel tank is slightly smaller – 426 litres versus 447 litres – and it’s been moved further back and under the engine to help balance the machine.
As a result, Steve says his 980M has less counterweight than the old 980K, but he doesn’t really notice any difference until the fuel tank gets down to near empty. Through a variety of changes, Caterpillar has been able to shave 1,154kg from the overall weight of the 980M, compared to its predecessor. The 980M now tips the scales at 30,090kg.
The hydraulic system has also been upgraded with new pumps that operate with higher pressure – up by 10% – which helps to deliver faster cycle times over the previous model. It also includes a full flow filtration system with additional loop filtration that improves system robustness and component life, according to Caterpillar.
A filter in the hydraulic tank return line filters all of the oil returning to the tank. There is also a case drain screen for additional protection and finally, a separate kidney-loop filter with a finer micron rating continuously filters smaller particles out of the system. This multilevel design ensures the hydraulic oil is clean and thoroughly protects the rest of the hydraulic system from contamination. A new thermal bypass valve has been added to improve hydraulic system warm-up, too.
The main hydraulic valve is now a monoblock with an integrated ride control section. The mono-block design reduces weight and has 40% fewer leak points.
Before the bonnet is closed, we make a note of the good ground level access to reach the daily maintenance points. If you want to make things even easier, a fully integrated autolube system is optional, but not fitted to this particular machine.
Apart from those daily checks, the need to open the bonnet for other maintenance duties has been reduced, thanks to hydraulic filter change intervals being extended to 1,000 hours and transmission oil change intervals going out to 2,000 hours.
Moving to the cab, the lower glass panel has been extended to improve visibility to the left side of the machine and the floor-to-roof glass either side of the dashboard enables the operator to see more of the front wheels – the view around the yard in any direction is pretty impressive.
Larger convex mirrors improve rear visibility and there is also a rear-view camera that automatically comes on when the transmission is put into reverse, but its effectiveness is nullified by the presence of the rear safety guard, which restricts the camera angle. Steve says he doesn’t use the rear-view camera anyway because he can see over and around
the bonnet, so that isn’t an issue for him. An option for those who want to further protect the machine is a Rear Object Detection system that is available as an option, which works just like the reversing sensors on modern cars.
Steve likes the new multi-purpose colour touch screen display by the right-hand front pillar that dramatically simplifies information displayed to the operator. There’s also a small instrument pod right in front of the operator displaying basic read-outs on things like engine temperature, fuel level etc.
Steve gives the air-suspended seat full marks for support and comfort, which is also heated – great for cold Rotorua winter morning starts – and he’s equally happy with the open storage box behind the seat for his lunch and other items, while coats are hung on a hook by the left-hand rear pillar.
Getting in and out of the 980M is much easier than before, too, as the angle of the steps up to the cab has been increased to 15 degrees, giving a more stair-like quality to cab entry.
Operators can remotely unlatch the door while on the ground, by activating a gas strut to swing open the door, so you don’t have to lean out of the way at the top of the steps.
The Cat 980M comes with a good lighting package, but RFH has supplemented it with an LED lightbar on top of the cab, just above the front windscreen and Steve says that on these dark and damp winter mornings that extra light is much needed.
As another group of log trucks roll into the yard and their loads are unchained, the 980M is pressed back into action.
Discussing the merits of the big machine while it lifts a full packet from the rear trailer, you can tell Steve would much prefer to be up in the cab than down here on the ground.
He’s been working in the log yard for almost 20 years, before Marty Verry and his father took over the mill.
“This place has gone ahead in leaps and bounds since they arrived and there’s still something new happening every day,” he says.
Today is a bit slower than normal, but the yard fairly hums when trucks arrive at the rate of one every few minutes at peak times.
“You need a loader like this to keep up,” adds Steve. “The 980M is now the top gun machine in the yard.
“It does the unloading of trucks, feeding the de-barker mill and
sorting the rejects out down the back and when it’s needed it can go over and help the other two loaders working on the de-barked side, feeding and sorting from the chain.
“I was in the K when it arrived here three years ago, before swapping into the M. We used to have two 966s working with the K and we couldn’t keep up with the mill with those two smaller machines. This one leaves them in the dust. But even so we’ll still be pushed to keep up when they want to crank up the mill. Keeps you on your toes.”
For all its size, Steve says the Cat 980M feels like a much smaller machine to operate when you get behind the controls.
He tells our Iron Tester, Stan Barlow, that he’ll notice the controls will answer very quickly “almost too quick” at first, which will cause the operator to back off and try to slow it right down. But that will only make it feel jerky when there’s a full load in the beak, he explains.
The best way to overcome that is to be more positive with the controls, says Steve, adding: “It is quite touchy, so you need to keep your revs up a bit and then it smooths out.”
Stan’s heard that sort of advice before and replies that it’s not easy for someone who hasn’t experienced a new machine to be quicker with the joysticks from the get-go.
The RFH 980K has the EH joystick steering system and it incorporates a force feedback motor that automatically adjusts the effort needed to tilt the ergonomic joystick based on ground speed which, Caterpillar says, results in superior control in all applications and climates. While
it does adjust to the operator’s input, it takes a little getting used to.
But it helps that the transmission is fully automatic and you just stick it into gear and concentrate on steering and lining up the logs on the truck and trailer and then ensure you lift without hitting the bolsters.
Cat’s well-proven Z-bar linkage is purposely built with a larger volume tilt cylinder, shorter dog bone and more durable loader arms that help the operator precisely load and unload trucks without causing damage. It’s backed up by load-sensing hydraulics for smoother simultaneous lift and tilt.
Here in this part of the Red Stag log yard the surface has been sealed and the ride is as smooth as a baby’s bum. On lumpier surfaces, the new ride control system now has two accumulators that improve ride quality and comfort, which helps to speed up the operation. The rear axle also oscillates to ±13 degrees, helping to ensure all four wheels stay on the ground to provide greater stability and traction – ideal for working out in the forest, as well as bumpy log yards.
On this surface, the new 980M is super-stable and the operator can keep the pace up without being reckless, says Steve.
And being articulated, it’s extremely manoeuvrable in tight spaces, boasting a turning circle of just over seven metres, allowing the operator to make significant adjustments when positioning the machine. The articulated joint has also been upgraded to deal with extra heavy-duty work.
Every load is just about at the maximum 17 tonnes and Steve
mentions that the back of the machine can become a little light when the forks are fully loaded. As he mentioned earlier, it’s not a problem when the fuel tank is full but more care is required as the needle moves towards empty. Ideally, it could do with another half-tonne of counterweight, or even water in the rear tyres. Or, just keep the fuel tank topped up, he adds.
It’s still very smooth, he says, and there is the option of being able to select economy mode instead of full power, which automatically controls engine torque and speed based on the machine’s power train load, placing them in the most efficient operating range for fuel and performance. That would work okay on a flat, hard log yard but on soft surfaces it would probably require full noise.
It’s now smoko time for the loader operators and with the 980M parked up, Stan hops aboard and is given a run-down of the controls, then he’s off to practice loading onto the de-barking deck before his first truck arrives. The logs on this deck go through a de-barker before progressing into the mill, with all the bark fed into the mill’s boilers to produce power and steam.
Although Stan has driven many wheel loaders in his forestry career, he’s taking his time to get the feel of the controls and is understandably going slower than Steve recommended. The result is that when he’s got a full beak of logs, the loader does a little shimmy and wobbles from side-to-side as he reverses from the stack and moves towards the deck.
But within half-an-hour of loading and unloading duties he gets more confident and the shimmy is gone. You can read Stan’s impressions in his Iron Test column on page 34.
As the afternoon progresses, more trucks roll in and Stan gets some good practice putting that Z-linkage to full use to clear the bolsters and crowd the forks back to help balance the load. And each time he gets a little quicker as his confidence in the 980M grows.
The new Cat 980M has certainly made life easier for the RFH log loading crew and as it racks up the hours around the clock, it’s most definitely earning its keep.
NZL