Caterpillar produce 1,000th ultra-class truck

Cat 797 becomes first mining truck in 400-ton size class to reach major production milestone

CATERPILLAR recently celebrated the manufacture of the 1,000th Cat 797 Mining Truck. With its 363-tonne (400-ton) payload capacity, the 797F model is Caterpillar’s largest truck and the largest mechanical-drive mining truck in the world.

The 797 is also the only mining truck in its size class to reach the 1,000 production milestone. The first Cat 797 placed in a mining operation was commissioned in 1999 and is still in service, having clocked up more than 130,000h working in Canadian oil sands.

Since the late 1990s, the breadth of applications for the 797 has grown to include copper, coal and iron ore mines – with the largest populations of the truck working in North America, South America and Australia.

‘The 797 has proven its ability to deliver high production in the most challenging conditions –from the extreme cold and soft underfoot conditions of the Canadian oil sands to high-altitude, deep-pit copper applications in South America,’ said Sudhanshu Singh, global product manager for large mining trucks.

‘In a broad range of applications, the Cat 797F sets the production standard for ultra-class mining trucks. That’s a big reason why there are double the number of 797s at work today compared with the total number of all competitors’ trucks in the size class.’

The 797F is powered by Caterpillar’s 20-cylinder, quad-turbocharged C175 engine, which produces 4,000hp (2,983kW) for fast acceleration, speed on grade and greater productivity. For applications that do not require the highest power, such as the flat hauls found in many coal and iron ore applications, a 3,550hp (2,647kW) setting is available.

As with all large Cat trucks, the 1,000th 797 Mining Truck was assembled at Caterpillar’s Decatur production facility, in Illinois.