It's Here! - CablePrice

TRACK & WHEELFrom far left: The 850J LGP dozer making light work of ripping upthe earth at the WCC landfill.Left top: covering rubbish at the landfill.Bottom left: The 850J's instrument cluster.Right: A close up look at the rippers ploughing through the earth with ease.“A dozer was crucial for this kind of work” says Tony. “It’s neededfor ripping virgin ground, pushing over off the batters and coveringup, but its primary function is covering up at the end of the day.”He adds. “Now that we do the sludge, we have to have that”.After pricing and testing a number of machines, Tony says theCouncil considered the John Deere the one most suitable for thelandfill duties. “It had plenty of power for what it did, which wasgood for us because we could bulk stockpile a lot of earth and atthe end of the day just sweep it across our rubbish.” Tony adds“we weren’t prepared to have something that would take two-orthreegoes to get rid of a truckload of dirt.”Tony also mentions the operator cabin as being “friendly”,saying “It’s easy to get in and out of and everything is finger tipcontrolled. “With this one [the 850J] you can just open hand thecontrols and just use our thumbs or the side of our hand. Theprecision is excellent”John Deere say the 850J has ‘best-in-class’ visibility from thespacious cabin with window placement spanning all sides ofthe operator for a full 360 degree panoramic view of the jobsite.“There’s good vision all round” says Tony, adding that theyincluded additional mirrors inside the cabin to minimise theoperators’ need to continually twist their bodies when reversing.Tony’s comments on operator comfort, ergonomics andconvenience are mirrored by those of Mike Paul, one of themachine’s regular operators. As he hopped out of the dozer afterfilling over some rubbish he says “it’s really comfy.” “I like thecontrol you have in it and it’s smoother to operate without manualgear changes”, courtesy of John Deere’s hydrostatic transmission.The 850J’s automatic, dual-path, hydrostatic drivetrain hasa load sensing feature that automatically adjusts speeds andpower to match changing load conditions as well as providing awhole arsenal of hydrostatic advantages, including power turns,counterrotation, and infinitely variable travel speeds. Poweredby a John Deere PowerTech Plus 6090HT engine, the 850JLGP model boasts 200hp (152kW) at 1,800rpm for exceptionalpushing power and 915Nm of torque. “It’s got tonnes of pushingpower” adds Mike, saying “even going up hill it can push througha 40-tonne wall of dirt no problem”.Occasionally driving the dozer himself, Tony agrees, “The poweris excellent. If we want the power, just push the button and it’sright there.” He says going into a hydrostatic driven dozer overthe conventional type takes a little getting used to, but the trainingand support provided by CablePrice - with dedicated John Deeretechnical support staff - helped the landfill’s staff to quicklyfamiliarise themselves with the different functions of the machine,which Tony says “has helped us get good use out of it”.The 850J is now due for its first 250-hour service fromCablePrice. Although the machine is still just bedding itself in,Tony says “it’s been excellent. It’s working well and we haven’thad any need to call CablePrice for any big things. Everything isrunning quite well at the moment.”From a regular maintenance point of view the landfill also seemshappy with the dozer. “Everything’s easy to get at, everything’sright there” says Tony. “You don’t want to be climbing up anddown over it, especially in weather like this!” Just as the landfillstaff take their responsibility to the local residents seriously, andseek to protect them from undesirable smells or dangerous byproductsof refuse collection, they also take the health and safetyof their staff very seriously. This philosophy combined with the850J’s excellent ergonomics, safety compliance and serviceabilityall had a bearing of the landfill’s decision to run with John Deere.21