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SA welcomes service, repair for Cat's big guns

A $25 MILLION component rebuild centre has reached completion in northern Adelaide for Caterpillar's South Australian distributor Cavpower.

Andrew Snelling

Built to take care of rebuilds and fuel-testing for engines, fuel pumps, transmissions torque converters, differentials, wheel ends, final drives and hydraulic pumps and motors, the centre also boasts Australia’s only dynamometer capable of fully load testing gas engines up to 6000hp capacity.

“We can put engines for large vehicles and gas pumps through their paces under full load before they are sent back to the bush, which is vitally important to prevent lost productivity and the huge costs and inconvenience that can result,” Cavpower mining manager Mark Luke said.

“Previously, we had to send the larger engines interstate for testing and operators of the large gas engines were not able to fully load test prior to returning to operation.”

Luke said the services offered by the centre, which went from design to completion in just 12 months, would help Caterpillar customers lower their operating costs and achieve maximum return on investment at the lowest cost per tonne.

“We can rebuild engines for mining trucks three times to a new and warrantable standard within the life of the machine,” he said.

“We offer the lowest cost to rebuild, a quick turnaround, standardised Cat procedures and the latest equipment updates.”

The CRC is also kitted out to service and repair non-Cat equipment and original equipment manufacturer components.

Other features of the CRC include a 3000hp dynamometer and a 450hp hydraulic test bench for transmission, torque converter, hydraulic pumps and motors, fuel pump testing, fault diagnostics and failure analysis.

The combination of both the 3000hp and 6000hp dynamometers allows the CRC to fully load test the complete range of engines manufactured by Caterpillar, with Cavpower opening up its services and support to the other four Australian Caterpillar dealers.

The facility is fitted out with both high and low pressure gas supply for testing of high and low pressure gas engines, while fixed and overhead cranes up to a 25 tonne capacity provide the lifting muscle.

The Rottler F99 vertical mill at the facility is capable of machining and line boring Cat’s 3520 and C175 20 engines.

For Cavpower managing director Alistair Cavill, the CRC is a clear statement for the company’s confidence in the future of the mining and resources industries.

“The downturn in these industries is certainly having an impact on all of us, but this is an expected part of operating in a cyclical industry,” he said.

“Cavpower is here for the long term and is very confident of its future in SA and equally confident that the state’s resources will be fully developed in due course.”

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