Introducing the Performance Series bucket range for medium wheel loaders (Cat 950 to Cat 980)
Improving margins and boosting production gains, Caterpillar’s new Performance Series bucket range features advanced designs that take full advantage of machine power and linkages to boost payloads, with more efficient digging contributing to lower diesel burn rates.
Materials handling, general purpose and rock buckets are all available in heavy duty specification. A standard equipped spill guard prevents possible spillage over the linkage.
Additionally, Caterpillar also offers a wide range of special application Performance Series buckets. Examples included coal, slag, skeleton (for separating rocks from sand and for applications where medium breakout forces are required), woodchip, high dump, and serrated edge (for loading rocky material into stationary crushers).
Factors to consider in choosing the right bucket are the operational role (digging or re-handling), the material fragmentation type (bank, shot/broken, crushed/piled, or loose), the material (e.g. bank gravel, granite or sand), and the level of impact and abrasion (low to moderate, moderate to high, or low).
“To ensure optimum performance, always match the bucket to the machine based on material density and wheel loader size,” explains Barloworld Equipment group product specialist, Deon Delport. (Barloworld Equipment is the Cat dealer for southern Africa.)
Materials Handling
Materials handling buckets incorporate a flat floor design and are intended for loose material re-handling, making them well-suited for a variety of stockpile loading applications. These buckets provide maximum material retention and can be equipped with bolt-on adapters and segments, or bolt-on-cutting edges with corner guard for versatility and longer life.
General Purpose
General purpose buckets incorporate a wedge floor design and are built with a shell tine construction to increase strength and rigidity in their typical excavation and bank applications. Their structure efficiently transmits cutting edge loads back to the lift arms, shielding the bucket shell from distortion and keeping it up, out of the dirt.
These buckets are designed to accept the standard Cat bolt-on edge with corner guard or tooth group with bolt-on segments. For high abrasion aggregate applications, heavy duty general purpose buckets are the perfect choice.
Rock buckets
Specifically designed for quarry, aggregates and mining operations in high impact and/or high abrasion applications, these buckets are factory modified with additional protection.
“Each protection item and component was carefully chosen in response to customer requests for a bucket that delivers maximum strength, durability and wear life,” expands Delport, adding that heavy duty rock buckets feature larger GET and additional wear material for the toughest tasks.
