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Plant Editor Nick Johnson reports on
the latest additions to the Doosan
which now includes heavy-duty
telehandlers as well as excavators
and wheel loaders. He also provides
an insight into the company’s future
ideas on excavator design
Doosan adds
new models and
looks to the
future
Aided by its Bobcat brand and its leading
position as a supplier of excavators in
China, Doosan Infracore Construction
Equipment claims to be number four in the
world construction equipment business. It
aims to move up to number three and any
visitor to the company’s large Bauma stand
in April will have seen the many new models
that indicate the company’s forward thinking
strategy.
The latest Bobcat machines were covered in the last issue of CP&E so this article will focus on the new orange
liveried Doosan units. After Bauma I was able to inspect many of the newcomers in operation at the Doosan Training
Centre at Dobris in the Czech Republic.
Of particular interest was the new 23.7 tonne DX235LCR short tail swing crawler excavator. This joins the 14.5
tonne DX140LCR that was introduced at the Intermat exhibition in Paris during 2009. These two units now allow
Doosan to compete strongly in markets where demand is increasing for crawler excavators to work more safely
without a significant tail radius in confined spaces or in road works next to live traffic lanes.
Tight tail swing
The smaller DX140LCR utilises a 71.0kW (91hp) Cummins QSB 4.5 engine rather than one of Doosan’s own engines
because it can be installed in a smaller space. The fitting of the 4-
To aid safe operation close to
obstructions, the DX235LCR has a
rear overhang of only 85mm beyond
the edge of 800mm wide tracks.
CP&E Contractors Plant & Equipment Vol 1 No 6
Doosan now has two near zero tail
swing tracked excavators – the
14.5 tonne DX140LCR (left) and
the new 23.7 tonne DX235LCR.
cylinder QSB 4.5 allows this machine to have a tight tail swing of
1480mm which means that its superstructure only protrudes beyond
edge of its standard 600mm wide tracks by 185mm. By contrast, the
tail of the standard swing 14.0 tonne Doosan DX140LC tracked
excavator (with 600mm shoes) has a side overhang of 905mm.
A short test drive of a near zero swing DX140LC with an excavating
bucket at the Doosan Training Centre revealed a very stable machine
with smooth controls and plenty of digging power. The cab is
comfortable and there is an easy to use multifunction colour LCD
monitor panel. Curved access doors at the rear corners open up to aid
maintenance and the standard safety features include a rear view
camera.
Now, with the arrival of the DX235LCR, Doosan has scaled up its
short tail swing design. The company states that its new model has
been produced to satisfy customer demands for a bigger excavator
that can better work in a confined environment whilst maintaining the
operating performance of a standard swing machine of the same size
class.
The Doosan engineers have succeeded in giving the DX235LCR a
tight overall swing diameter (with boom fully raised and dipper arm
tucked right in) of 3990mm. Composed of a 2310mm front swing
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