Case Studies

A truck and shovel operation, the mine operates Caterpillar model’s 789C and 793D off-road haul trucks, fitted with CAT OEM bodies. The nine 789Cs are hauling coal and the 793Ds hauling overburden. Commissioned in 2008, both truck fleets were operating well within CAT’s operational parameters however the aging bodies on the fleet of fourteen 793D trucks were no longer economic to maintain. The site maintenance team were concerned about the productivity losses stemming from the trucks’ unscheduled maintenance and repair requirements.

The challenge for Austin Engineering^TM was to design and manufacture a truck body that would be compatible with the CAT 793D truck, overcome the localised wear issues and meet the miner’s productivity, performance and reliability requirements.

• Achieving and exceeding KPI bcm target. The average payload for the JEC^TM body is 231t, which is over the original target of 222t. Increase in capacity translates to extra 2 1⁄2 truck loads per hour across the fleet.
• The Austin JEC^TM body is currently not volumetrically limited when it comes to hauling waste material. Body is only using 78.3% of the capacity at 1.76SG, because the original SG was 1.65E, however this is still OEM rated payload.
• No structural cracking and virtually no wear to date.
• Floor replacement expectation is now 3-4 years – extended from the original 2 1⁄2 years.
• Body shape improves dumping efficiency – no hang-up – material “thrown” out.
• Body empty at 60% hoist height – reduced hoist cycle time.
• New bodies have improved overall haul cycle – matched to diggers (EX5500) – neat five pass load with 29m3 bucket.