New engine helps redesigned Minecat Purr.

Industrial Fabrication Inc., the Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, mining utility vehicle manufacturer, has introduced the second generation of its multipurpose Minecat 100 utility vehicle. The Minecat 100 is available in 10 configurations with seating for up to 10 passengers. It can be configured with

Industrial Fabrication has redesigned the Minecat after acquiring the product line in 2002 through the procurement of North Consolidated Equipment's mining division. The most significant design change made has been the installation of Iveco Motors' 99 hp NEF engine, a Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and CANada Centre for Mineral and Energy Technology (CANMET) certified diesel.

"When Minecat first contacted us, they were looking for a source for new engines," said John Madey, Iveco Motors product manager and application engineer for North America. "We had been talking to them for a while about it in generalities and then we just decided one day that it had to be done and both sides just attacked the project."

Working through Genrep, the Iveco Motors distributor serving Canada, Industrial Fabrication transitioned to a 4.5 L four-cylinder turbocharged NEF N45 MSS engine rated 99 hp at 2250 rpm with 398 lb.ft. of torque. The Tier 2 engine is liquid cooled, has two valves per cylinder and is packaged with a Bosch rotary fuel injection system and Delco Remy alternator.

Integrating the Iveco Motors NEF engine into the Minecat, Madey said, "was really fairly simple because the engine that was in there before was a little bit larger.

"They were actually using one of our power units," Madey noted, "so they were buying the engine with the radiator and fan already assembled together and dropping that into their chassis. This made doing things like cooling tests and general application review easier because a lot of the drivetrain components were already designed and tested for use with that engine."

Those drivetrain components include a 4 x 4 fully synchronized powershift transmission with forward and reverse shuttle. It is mounted off the engine and situated in a modular, ladder-type steel frame. Heavy-duty axles are teamed with the drive using an industrial grade, center-driven front axle with double gear reduction and a rear axle with SAHR piston-actuated internal wet disc brakes. Load ratings on the axles are 15,400 lb. front and 20,400 lb. rear. Heavy-duty Galaxy tires complete the drivetrain assembly.

By pairing the Iveco Motors NEF engine with this drivetrain, Madey said the Minecat 100 vehicle can travel at a high rate of speed, negotiate steep ramps and stay ahead of production equipment. "Part of that was because they were able to optimize the transmission gear ratios and axle ratios for use with this engine," Madey said. "It has a little bit higher rpm range, so that allowed them to optimize gear ratios to get better performance."

Travel speed on the 10,500 to 15,800 lb. vehicle is 10.2 mph which is designed to be achieved at 20% grade.

According to Madey, the development cycle of the new Minecat 100 was extremely short. From start to running prototype was approximately three months, with the first model rolling down the Sudbury production line early this year. Industrial Fabrication sells the vehicle, along with its Mine Mule UTV, Load Lifter forklift and other Minecat variations, factory direct to the mining industry. The vehicle is used throughout mines in Canada and the western United States.

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