Hydrostats plus GPS
The rapid adoption of hydrostatic
dozer transmissions in the last de-
cade is testament to their benefits.
But the merger of hydrostats and
GPS machine control has radi-
cally transformed the way dirt can
be moved today and the type and
number of machines you need to
move it. The two technologies, it
seems, are a match made in earth-
moving heaven.
The versatility of using different
modes and feels and the infinite speed
control fit perfectly with the finish
grade accuracy provided by GPS
machine control, says Oliver. "Because
you can fine tune the speed, you have
a lot more control," he says. "And
you can grade at a faster speed when
you don't have to choose between a
higher and lower gear."
"With constant hydraulic flow and
constant speed you can dial it down
a couple tenths to eliminate blade
chop," says Hermsen. "With a torque
converter, if the load changes, it
lunges. Power management handles
all that for the operator."
Not that long ago, contractors
typically had a big dozer for the
bulk earthmoving and a small dozer
or a motor grader to do the finish
work, Oliver says. With hydrostats
and GPS, you only need the one
big dozer to do everything from the
heavy pushing down to the final
passes. "Contractors are a lot more
efficient this way," he says. "We're
seeing a lot more grade control be-
ing installed on big machines that
are multifunctional."
In a time when skilled operators
are in short supply, another benefit
of the marriage of hydrostatics and
GPS is the ability to make less ex-
perienced operators more proficient
in less time and make your experi-
enced operators even more efficient.
"Typically your best operators on
the job are running dozers and mo-
tor graders and they have been in
the dirt moving business for many
years," Oliver says.
With hydrostatics your experienced
operators can customize the settings
and tune the machine precisely to the
needs of the job, ground conditions
and their own style. And with hydro-
statics and GPS, a relatively inexperi-
enced operator can run the machine
and have far fewer things going on
in the cab and on the machine that
he has to monitor or do. The less
experienced operator is more profi-
cient from the start and can increase
his skill level faster and with less trial
and error than before.
To see Deere's top dozer demo
operator in action and an example
of how hydrostatics and GPS can
improve dozing performance check
out our online video at http://www.
equipmentworld.com/hydrostat-
revolution/.
EquipmentWorld.com | November 2014
35
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