Iron Profile: Caterpillar 992C Wheel Loader

After making great strides in developing rubber-tired construction equipment throughout the 50’s and 60’s, Caterpillar created what some consider one of the finest wheel loaders ever designed. The 992C front-end loader was released to the public in 1977. The 992C surpassed the previous 992B version in nearly every way. Larger and more powerful than its predecessor, the 992C contained the new turbocharged V-12 Model 3412 diesel engine, pushing out 690 flywheel horsepower.

One of the most unique features of this loader was the newly designed lift arms with the Z-bar linkage. This configuration boosted the 992C’s capacity to an incredible 12.5 cubic yards and 37,000 pounds. Its speed had increased, as well, and it could load a 50-ton-capacity truck in just three passes.

Modern features of the 992C were the Caterpillar EMS (Electronic Monitoring System) which allowed the operator to track critical equipment systems; a sound-isolated operator’s cab, separate from the ROPS (Rollover Protection System) canopy, allowing optional climate controlled running; and high-reach loader arms for use with trucks up to 120 tons.

 

A significant option for the 992C was the steel-shoed “beadless” tires, which allowed the machine to work in extreme conditions such as the sharp rock surfaces in quarries. These essentially extended the loader’s range into the domain of track-driven machines.

So well designed was the 992C wheel loader that it survived virtually unchanged, other than a new 13.5 cubic yard bucket, for its entire career as Caterpillar’s big loader. Being one of the best-selling front-loaders of all time has assured the 992C’s rightful place in heavy equipment history.

CCM Behind the Scenes: The Model Survey

When a customer holds one of CCM’s models in their hand or admires it on their shelf, it’s easy to appreciate the pains we take to assure only the highest level of quality and detail make it to the final product. However, few realize the amount of work that goes into creating very small scale versions of giant machines. The process of bringing one of our models from its start as an idea to a finished collectible piece can sometimes span up to two or three years.  Here we would like to take you behind the scenes for just one aspect of this involved process.

For many of our models of modern machines we are able to acquire the 3-D computer plans of the actual equipment directly from the manufacturer, such as Caterpillar, and heavily modify it for production as a die-cast or brass scale-model. Yet there are many times when computer models of the machine do not exist – such as for our vintage pieces – and that means we have to build our CAD (computer aided design) model from scratch.

In addition to using any reference materials we can get our hands on, such as brochures, photos and plans, we will often go directly to the real machine to conduct what we call the model survey.

For our Cat 5230 front shovel model we traveled to a site in Hibbing, Minnesota to survey this giant, which is rather hard to find in the United States. This machine was having work done to it in the field and provided us with a great opportunity to don our hardhats and grab our measuring tapes to document every detail.

Reference photos will only take you so far in designing a scale model with the detail we demand. Therefore, each major component has to be measured and photographed to assure we have our dimensions just right.

 

Crawling under, inside and on top of a machine like the 5230, there are many intricate features that might have been overlooked if we were only using photos or flat plans.

It’s easy to forget just how massive some of this equipment is. When we reduce it down to a size like 1/87th scale we attempt to portray every detail possible. One of our great challenges is not deciding how much detail we will put into a model, but what we must leave out because of manufacturing concerns, complexity, or because it would just be too small to see.

After we are done rolling around in the mud, we head back home to sort out the information we gathered and start the next step of translating it into a 3-D computer model!

Iron Profile: Marion 6360 Shovel "The Captain"

At the time of its creation in 1965 for the Southwestern Illinois Coal Corporation, the Marion 6360 was the world's largest mobile land machine; with ballast it weighed 28 million pounds. It required 10 months for field erection at the Captain mine near Percy in Southern Illinois. Working around the clock, seven days a week, it helped deliver approximately 150 railroad carloads of coal a day. It moved overburden 270 tons at a pass, uncovering two coal seams simultaneously at the mine.

This interior view shows the two hoist drums that were driven by eight 1,000 hp electric motors, the largest ever used in an excavator. Four 3 1/2-inch wire ropes hoisted the dipper through a two part hitch. One of eight 625 hp swing motors is in the background.

Four motor generator sets converted 14,000 volt AC power to direct current for twenty main-drive motors capable of 30,000 horsepower output. The shovel could propel itself at 1/4 mph on four pairs of crawlers. Each crawler was 45 feet long and 16 feet high. Each crawler shoe measured ten feet across and tipped the scales at 3 1/2 tons.

The operator could telephone nine other stations on the machine, talk to the ground by loudspeaker, or to other mine areas by radio. A 3-man 8-story elevator transported crewmen from the lower frame to the machinery deck and gantry structure.

There was more than a mile of wire rope in the Marion 6360. The hefty dipper measured 24 feet from teeth to door, was 18 feet wide, 24 feet high, and could hold 180 cubic yards of earth and rock.