Suppose you don’t want all the bells and whistles?
Caterpillar’s newly branded XE line of excavators, as we reported earlier, are loaded to the gills with all the technological wonders the company can fit into one machine.
But for contractors who don’t need smart pumps, hybrid hydraulic systems and smart booms, the company has introduced a GC series of excavators. This two-tier strategy, XE for the high production guys and GC for low-cost-per-hour performance gives customers a wide range of choices.
The first of these low-cost-per-hour excavators, the 313F L GC, sports a single load-sensing pump and simple hydraulic system and a 74-horsepower engine. Exhaust emissions are less strict on engines under 75 horsepower, which means this excavator dodges the need for selective catalytic reduction hardware and diesel exhaust fluid.
If you’re concerned about the diesel particulate filter, don’t be. It’s maintenance free.
The undercarriage on the 313F L GC measures just 8-foot, 6-inches across, that’s narrow enough to roll it up on a tag trailer and haul it off with a dump truck–a common strategy for contractors who don’t use their excavators for full time production. You also get what Cat calls a “generous track-on-the-ground dimension for a stable work platform.”
Translation: you can dig nose up or nose down on slopes and not get tippy.
