Certain machine enhancements like powered mirrors and auxiliary lights may seem like throwaway items that won’t make a big difference in your operations. But those smaller expenditures can drastically affect operator comfort and safety. And when operators are hard to find, every creature comfort can contribute to them wanting to stay or leave. 

Here are some optional equipment and technology upgrades on Cat^® medium wheel loaders that will pay for themselves many times over.

SEATING

A comfortable operator is a productive operator, and as any athletic trainer will tell you, when your body’s not warm, your mind isn’t sharp. 

• Seat heaters become essential equipment when the mercury drops. Don’t lose those first 15 minutes of operational time with a shivering and distracted operator when a warm seat could help them relax and start the morning out strong.

• Adjustable seat firmness controls not only increase comfort, they also help improve circulation to the legs and feet and make long workdays less tiring. To use, you simply pull a lever up to increase firmness or push it down to decrease firmness.
  
  

MIRRORS

• Heated mirrors are popular on today’s premium trim cars and trucks, so why not your wheel loader? Early morning fog and condensation render any mirror useless and make a machine unsafe to operate. Heated mirrors take just seconds to clear.

• Powered mirrors also add back operational time on your Cat wheel loader. The old trial-and-error method of manually adjusting mirrors is a slow, frustrating process, and you rarely get them perfect anyway. As with heated mirrors, powered mirrors take only seconds to align and maximize the side and rear visibility.
  
  

AUXILIARY LIGHTS

The construction season has been getting longer for years as contractors push to get more done in late fall and early spring — when daylight is scarce. Supplement your standalone jobsite lighting with auxiliary lights on your wheel loader to direct beams in the direction of travel.

Options include:

• Four additional cab-mounted auxiliary halogen work lights.

• Two additional auxiliary front LED and two additional auxiliary rear LED cab-mounted work lights with two LED work lights in the radiator grille and LED front turn signals.

• You can also replace the four standard halogen cab-mounted work lights with four LED work lights. 

Extra safety lighting on your wheel loader includes:

• Amber warning strobe beacon

• Reversing strobes

• External seat belt indicator light  
  
  

OBJECT DETECTION

Another way to improve safety and eliminate rearward blind spots is to spec an object detection system. The sensors are mounted on the rear of the loader and use radar to detect smaller objects in the mirror’s blind spots — such as tools or debris on the ground or a worker kneeling to pick something up. Adjustable mounting brackets allow you to fine tune the area of coverage. Like an automotive system, the rear object detection system will give you an audible warning in the cab if something or someone is in the rearward path of the machine.

COLD START PACKAGES

Cold starts can be hard on your engine and hydraulic system and warming up an engine and components can rob you of as much as 10 to 15 minutes every day — more if you have to shut the machine off and return to it later. A cold start package gets your wheel loader up and running efficiently when the temperatures drop below freezing. Packages can include things like

• Coolant heater for temperatures below 0 degrees Fahrenheit

• A transmission pump bypass or a fan/brake pump bypass to reduce the parasitic load on the engine. 

At temperatures below minus-23 degrees Fahrenheit (-30.5 Celsius), talk to your Cat dealer for additional solutions.