Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/674536
May 2016 | EquipmentWorld.com 28 product support for IHI Excavator Sales. "We'll look at engine options to fill that need." John Deere is also in transition. They had only one skid steer model on the cusp, the 76-gross horsepower 326E, which went from 74 gross horsepower (at Tier 3) to its current Tier 4 Interim configuration. Their largest machine, the 100-horsepower 332E, is available as a Tier 4 Interim model through the use of flex credits. Both the 318E (63 gross horsepower) and the 320E (69 gross horsepower) are Tier 4 Final machines. The en- tire Deere stable of skid steers will emerge as Tier 4 Final G-Series mod- els this summer. JCB is Tier 4 Final compliant on all 10 of their skid steers. All five large platform JCB skid steers now use a 74-horsepower JCB engine. The five small platform models use Kohler engines of 48, 56, or 62 horsepower. As part of the transition to Tier 4 Fi- nal, JCB used flex credits to continue offering their 92-horsepower model as a Tier 3 unit, and dropped their second-largest model from 84 to 74 horsepower. Bobcat added two models at 74 horsepower. The new S740 shares the same frame as the 85-horsepower S750 and the 92-horsepower S770. The new S595 shares the smaller frame of the 66-horsepower S590. The horsepower of their existing model lineup was unaltered by Tier 4. (Frame sizes are relative; Bobcat has six.) How much horsepower is enough? Gregg Zupancic, the product mar- keting manager for skid steer and compact track loaders at Deere, says a good rule of thumb is 1 horsepower for every 100 pounds of operat- ing weight. "Typically the industry doesn't publish this number, so the customer will have to do the math." He says that horsepower will con- tinue creeping upward and that 100-horsepower machines, such as Deere's 332E, will become more com- mon in the near future. machine matters | continued Powered by a Cat C3.8 engine rated at 98 horse- power, the 272D2 has a rated operating capacity of 3,400 pounds at 50 percent of tipping load. The 59.9-horsepower Volvo MC70C has a 1,550-pound rated operating capacity (at 50 percent of tipping load), radial lift design and a single loader tower arm for easier, safer cab entry and exit.