What Case Construction Equipment (Case CE) began heralding as a “new, industry-first equipment category” with marketing efforts as far back as Conexpo 2017 has finally become reality with the introduction of the Minotaur DL550 compact dozer loader.
It is a combination dozer and CTL, but Case stresses it’s more than a CTL with a dozer blade slapped on.
Weighing in at more than 18,000 pounds and working with 114 horsepower, the DL550 is designed to deliver dozing and grading performance as well as strong loading capabilities and the versatility of a compact machine with hundreds of attachments.
Its dimensions and weight also mean it can be towed by a 1-ton pickup and a heavy gooseneck trailer—and not a conventional truck with a lowboy.
The hallmark of the DL550 is the chassis-integrated C-frame with six-way dozer blade. The C-frame hydraulically couples into both the chassis of the machine, as well as the attachment coupler.
This design provides the stability and smooth operating plane of a small dozer while ensuring that all operating power is channeled through the whole body of the machine and not into the loader arms.
Case says this results in greater performance and long-term reliability than the simple combination of a dozer blade attachment to a traditional CTL.
The C-frame can be detached to change the business end into a loader with a 1.25-cubic-yard bucket. And there’s more: The machine is available with an optional fully integrated rear ripper (from the factory only) for breaking up rough soils.
View a promotional video below.
The dozer-style undercarriage helps provide 25,000 pounds of drawbar pull, and the machine is available with three different track options:
- 14-inch single-grouser steel tracks
- 18-inch triple-grouser steel tracks
- 17.7-inch rubber tracks.
The 90- or 96-inch six-way blade connected to the integrated C-frame is the same blade featured on the Case 650M crawler dozer. The machine’s electro-hydraulic (E-H) controls also deliver responsiveness like full-sized Case dozers, the company says, with the ability to adjust blade, steering, and shuttle sensitivity to smooth, moderate, or aggressive to meet the operator’s preference.
Blade responsiveness can be further dialed in to operator preference by independently setting the speed of the blade tilt, lift, and angle.
In its loader configuration, the unit features a 5,500-pound rated operating capacity (50 percent of tipping load) with 12,907 pounds of breakout force. It employs a vertical lift pattern (unlike the radial lift seen on the Conexpo 2017 prototype) and operates in the ISO control pattern.
Similar to the dozer mode, E-H control capabilities allow operators to dial in total machine responsiveness to low, moderate, or aggressive; or independently set tilt, lift, and drive speed, as well as loader arm and drive control to best meet the demands of the work.
Enhanced high-flow auxiliary hydraulics for running high-powered attachments such as mulching heads and cold planers is standard from the factory. The hydraulics can deliver up to 41.6 gpm at 4,100 psi via the ¾-inch hydraulic quick couplers.
It also comes standard with Case Universal Machine Control, which makes the machine ready for any of the major three providers of machine control technology, Leica, Topcon, or Trimble, which are sold separately.
Case points out that the DL550 holds 29 patents and has undergone more than 10,000 hours of testing in the field, in addition to customer clinics and typical lab and engineering testing.
Dealers are taking orders now, and DL550s are currently rolling off the Case assembly line in Wichita, Kansas. Customers who have already placed orders can expect deliveries in the coming months, Case says.
