Caterpillar Numbering System

[Steve Frazier]

I was more involved in the construction industry back in the early 80s and I thought I had Caterpillar's numbering system figured out. The dozers were easy, they were D something depending on size, then a letter followed to give an idea of the age of the machine.

900 series machines seemed to be loaders, as in 950, 966, 988, etc. Any 900 series ending in 7 was a track loader, as in 977.

The 200 series were excavators, 215, 225, 235 etc.

I never came in contact with haul trucks, were they 700 series back then too?

Graders were the 12 and 14. This was about the extent of what I came in contact with.

Today these numbers have changed somewhat. Excavators appear to be 300 machines. Now 200 series machines are on a skid steer platform, with machines ending in 7 having tracks. Graders are 120 and 140 now.

Is there any method to this madness? When someone spit out a Cat model number back in the 80s, I had a pretty good chance of knowing what they were talking about, today I'm just guessing. These were just my observations, so I may be way off base in my assumptions. Is there a real designation system to numbering Cat machines?

 

[digger242j]

Any 900 series ending in 7 was a track loader, as in 977.

Oh, you mean like the 941 and 955 I ran?

(I even thought for a minute that any 9XX might be a track loader, but then I realized the 941 violates that rule. :beatsme )

 

[Squizzy246B]

Oh, you mean like the 941 and 955 I ran?

(I even thought for a minute that any 9XX might be a track loader, but then I realized the 941 violates that rule. :beatsme )

I'm pretty sure that it was odds and evens. Even numbered where wheeled and odds where tracked.

I believe many of Cat's lines where orginally numbered in relation to the operating weights...ie, a 938 was a 38,000 lb machine. Dozers where originally similar. However, the operating weight became somewhat less relavent to the capacity of the machine as horsepower increased.

 

[Ross]

Well i was just a Kid During the 80's

I think the Grader System is good with 14-16 regarding the blade width but not sure about the new 140-160 set up.

What about 800 serise Compactors and Tyre dozers .. They both share the 800 numbers. Whats the difference in number between the two?

Ross

 

[LDK]

Well i was just a Kid During the 80's

I think the Grader System is good with 14-16 regarding the blade width but not sure about the new 140-160 set up.

What about 800 serise Compactors and Tyre dozers .. They both share the 800 numbers. Whats the difference in number between the two?

Ross

Compactors end with a 5, wheel dozers with a 4

 

[traxs]

Rock trucks were D's before 2000(in that area) so.. D300, D350, D400...

 

[Mack]

As for Graders they used to always end in G like 120G 12G 140G ext. Now they end in H the numbers have stayed the same though. We had a 1986 120G and 1984 140G so the 120's and 140's have been around for awhile.

 

[plowking740]

your forgetting the F series and the much loved E series that many an operator got
there start on.

 

[Squizzy246B]

Being a Doofus I posted this:

Dozers where originally similar.

I read in a Cat history book that Dozers where originally rated and named by Horsepower...so like a D8 was orginally an 80 Hp machine but it changed very quickly. Deas will have to rescue me on this topic

 

[JimBruce42]

A few things I understand, at least with the current lineup:

300's: excavators (second sets of numbers are the weight class, ie 385 85-ton machine)

400's backhoe loaders

600's: scrapers, 6X1 single engine, 6X3 paddle wheels, 6X7 twin engine

700 are off road trucks, 725-740 the second and third number is the payload... from the 769 (now 770)- 797... not sure how the numbers relate

8X4 machines are wheeled dozers
8X5 machines are soil compactors
8X6 machines are trash compactors... all based on the same platform (ie the 824h, 825h, 826h are all the same base machine as a 980h wheel loader)

900's are loaders, if then end in an odd number, track loader. even, wheeled loader

I know I'm missing a lot, but these are just the ones I've really kind of figured out, Dozers, I think the D is originally standing for Diesel, but I'm not sure...:beatsme :drinkup :notworthy

 

[LDK]

A few things I understand, at least with the current lineup:

300's: excavators (second sets of numbers are the weight class, ie 385 85-ton machine)

400's backhoe loaders

600's: scrapers, 6X1 single engine, 6X3 paddle wheels, 6X7 twin engine

700 are off road trucks, 725-740 the second and third number is the payload... from the 769 (now 770)- 797... not sure how the numbers relate

8X4 machines are wheeled dozers
8X5 machines are soil compactors
8X6 machines are trash compactors... all based on the same platform (ie the 824h, 825h, 826h are all the same base machine as a 980h wheel loader)

900's are loaders, if then end in an odd number, track loader. even, wheeled loader

I know I'm missing a lot, but these are just the ones I've really kind of figured out, Dozers, I think the D is originally standing for Diesel, but I'm not sure...:beatsme :drinkup :notworthy

I think that is correct because they used to do an R prefix on crawlers also and they ran on petrol/parafin, in the States that would be gasoline/kerosene.
I think I am right, I will have to ask my father because I know he ran the R2, R4 and if I am not mistaken and R8?

 

[hvy 1ton]

well as far as odd/even for tracked/wheeled i the 991 is a wheel loader. I think they might be changing it to the 992 now. There is some system but it has as many exceptions as the English language.

 

[surfer-joe]

Back in 95, I had lunch near Peoria with an old friend who was one of Caterpillars senior National Accounts Representitives. I think he started with Cat right after Noah parked his Ark. He picked me up out to the loader test facility and had to wait on me a bit as I was in a class regarding computer testing of loaders and haul trucks. We were setting up the equipment and looking for bugs and defects, plus doing a little programing. Marshall was retired at the time, maybe not quite a year and he knew about everybody out there, so walked around and swapped sea stories and looked at all the new equipment.

Later on, over lunch, he told me that when he signed up with Cat, they had nine models of machinery. There at the test facility he said, "there were at least that many new models that were not even in production when he retired.

So consider that over the years, Cat has had quite a time keeping their models straight so that when someone said 988 or D9, you knew what it was. Now, with the mini-ex's and skid steers, combines and challengers, it's hard to know who is on first base without a score card.

They just about scuttled the ship when they first produced the D9L, then renamed it the D10N, same with the D8L, which turned into the D9N. The old 84W D10's disappeared, tho the D11 may have been intended to replace them, there is really no comparison between the two. I'm not sure how they got off the track with the motor graders, except that those with a three digit number were originally meant to be sold to municipalities and state highway departments.

Once contractors found out they could get a #12 size blade with more horsepower (the 140G), the dern things sailed out the door and are now probably Cats best selling grader. The 14 is a much bigger and more powerful blade, but you don't see a lot of them around. Even the smaller 12 is hard to find these days. The 143 and 163 are beginning to be very popular, that all wheel drive is a nice feature.

I always wondered when Cat would run out of room for some types, they may be getting close now.

 

[LowBoy]

Back in 95, I had lunch near Peoria with an old friend who was one of Caterpillars senior National Accounts Representitives. I think he started with Cat right after Noah parked his Ark. He picked me up out to the loader test facility and had to wait on me a bit as I was in a class regarding computer testing of loaders and haul trucks. We were setting up the equipment and looking for bugs and defects, plus doing a little programing. Marshall was retired at the time, maybe not quite a year and he knew about everybody out there, so walked around and swapped sea stories and looked at all the new equipment.

Later on, over lunch, he told me that when he signed up with Cat, they had nine models of machinery. There at the test facility he said, "there were at least that many new models that were not even in production when he retired.

So consider that over the years, Cat has had quite a time keeping their models straight so that when someone said 988 or D9, you knew what it was. Now, with the mini-ex's and skid steers, combines and challengers, it's hard to know who is on first base without a score card.

They just about scuttled the ship when they first produced the D9L, then renamed it the D10N, same with the D8L, which turned into the D9N. The old 84W D10's disappeared, tho the D11 may have been intended to replace them, there is really no comparison between the two. I'm not sure how they got off the track with the motor graders, except that those with a three digit number were originally meant to be sold to municipalities and state highway departments.

Once contractors found out they could get a #12 size blade with more horsepower (the 140G), the dern things sailed out the door and are now probably Cats best selling grader. The 14 is a much bigger and more powerful blade, but you don't see a lot of them around. Even the smaller 12 is hard to find these days. The 143 and 163 are beginning to be very popular, that all wheel drive is a nice feature.

I always wondered when Cat would run out of room for some types, they may be getting close now.

We've got a 16 roaming around here from the 60's grading the town roads, independently owned & operated.

You are right on running out of room. There's not many letters and numbers left.

The excavators I am familiar with, the 300 series of today, uses the next number after the 3 to determine the weight class; i.e: 320= 20 metric tons.

Ours in our rental fleet start at 301.6, or 1.6 metric ton. (A real BRUTE, by the way.:falldownlaugh)

Dozers have upgrade letters such as d's and c's, and LGP for Low Ground Pressure, etc. Still, way more complicated than it has to be.

 

[thejdman04]

alpahbet soup