First rotating tracked carrier manufactured by Morooka

Mark Dutton, Sales Manager at Cautrac reports on a new 360-degree rotating tracked dumper.

During the soil removal process and at one end or another of the dumper driver’s haulage route the driver has to maneuver the loaded machine through at least 180 degrees to dump the load into the required position.

This is very strenuous on the dumper’s undercarriage, rubber tracks and on the ground. The constant turning pattern in the same area causes ground consolidation. The result is compaction and this can lead to further problems of poor drainage. Reinstating the disturbed ground is a major cost that is easily overlooked by many contractors. To reduce the damage some landowners are now insisting that contractors only use tracked dumpers when travelling across their land.

Morooka Co Ltd of Japan manufactures the largest range of rubber tracked dumpers and carriers in the world and has just launched a new dumper that negates the need to contra-rotate the tracks. The undercarriage runs on rubber crawler tracks that, unlike steel tracks, will flex in both directions. The rubber tracks cover the ground more comparable to a blanket. This provides the track dumper user a very big advantage over wheeled dumpers; spreading the load along the length of the track and keeping the ground pressure to about one third of a human footprint. When loaded to capacity this will increase to approximately half a human footprint pressure. Another benefit of the tracked dumper is the ability to safely climb steep slopes.

The new Morooka MST2200VDR’s upper chassis is mounted on a large slew ring and attached to the undercarriage. The dumper body, cab and engine all rotate through 360 degrees and fully tips a load at any angle. The design components are proven and have been around for many years but not all together incorporated into one Morooka.

Having a payload of 11 tonnes the dumper is a completely new design, retaining only a few features from the previous non-rotating 2200 machine, powered by a Cat C7.1 6-cylinder intercooled turbocharged diesel engine that develops 186 kW @ 2000 rpm.
This directly drives the new two-speed hydrostatic transmission (HST). A useful safety feature and driving enhancement is that when descending steep slopes, the machine will automatically alert the operator if the travel speed becomes too high.

The 2980 mm overall width machine rides on 800 mm wide rubber tracks for maximum go-anywhere ability which is helped by an impressive ground clearance of nearly 600 mm. The operator has not been forgotten either, as the machine's ROPS cab is bristling with features including; automatic climate control; a comfortable multi-adjustable suspension seat and a multi-function lever; anti-glare display screen, Cautrac also install 4 cameras to give the operator a 360 degree “crowns nest view” for maximum on-site safety.

Morooka manufactures other sizes of carriers and many have been extensively used on large construction projects. Tracked Dumpers have been adapted to non-soil shifting uses and at this stage we refer to them as tracked carriers. Other applications include access platforms, cranes and personnel carriers, many machines now operate with Environment Agency and Utility contractors to name just a few uses.

Cautrac are the U.K. and R.O.I. sole distributor for Morooka and renowned as the tracked carrier specialist supplier. They are always looking for new challenges and the list of new applications seems to grow by the week. To cover the north-south divide we have offices in both Colchester and Bolton. We carry a large stock of used dumpers in both locations supporting all products and supplying replacement parts from stock.