The four Cat CT630LS trucks work in the fleet of Dunn's Earthmoving, based deep in the Strzelecki Desert in South Australia, not far from Moomba.
The Cats never see a sealed road and are often in different applications day after day, from construction support, to heavy machinery float work, to livestock haulage.
Neil Dunn reckons the Cat Trucks have been successful in his operation and have won driver acceptance. “The boys really like them, good to drive and the big bunks mean that when they have to camp in the trucks it’s pretty good,” he said.
Operations Manager Trent Ulmer commented: "They have certainly stood the test of time on some of the roughest roads in Australia. The trucks are proving their durability and structural integrity."
The CT630LS trucks are 90 tonne rated with luxury sleeper cabs. Cross locks are fitted on the diffs to handle the work in sand.
The trucks are powered by the iconic Caterpillar C15 engine that gives more than enough power with a 550hp rating to do the hard yakka and the 1850ft lb of torque pulls the heavy loads through rough conditions.
An 18-speed Eaton overdrive transmission sending the power to the Meritor diffs and a PRIMAAX rear suspension complete the bush spec in the Dunn operation.
Employing a staff of more than 120 people when the oil industry is running in top gear, Neil Dunn is facing the recent turndown with optimism.
"Since oil prices went from $110 to $26 a barrel, the mining industry shut the rigs down out here, shut up shop. But with oil prices back up to the $40s and $50s a barrel, they have cranked up again. We were pretty quiet for five or six months. Road maintenance kept us going, but we are back in the swing of things now with the rigs cranked up again," Neil Dunn said.
Operations Manager Trent Ulmer works from an office deep in a town-sized camp of transportable buildings at Padulla oil field. Surrounded by computers, whiteboards and maps he explained how the fly in fly out system works.
"The crews on the job sites work three weeks on, three weeks off. Admin, tradies and management work two on two off, it’s a system that works well," he said.
Trent Ulmer works back-to-back with his opposite number, operations manager Craig MacDonald, two weeks on and two weeks off.
Neil Dunn and his son, general manager William, work similarly, so that there is a Dunn on site all the time.
Talking about the Cat Trucks, Trent Ulmer said: “They are handling the work fantastically and holding out really well. They have been a great addition to our fleet.”
The service backup from the Cavpower base in Moomba, only 80km away, is a major consideration to the boss, Neil Dunn.
"Any problems we can just run them into Moomba and they have all the fault finding gear, not that we’ve used it much. They’ve proved themselves so far and this country is pretty tough on machinery".