With a new 655K crawler loader on the job and a Pixar-inspired name, Marmora aims to keep its landfill cleaner, friendlier and running smoothly
The purchase of a new crawler loader is helping the Ontario Village of Marmora manage its landfill as well as channel a Pixar movie classic.
In September, Marmora purchased a John Deere 655K crawler loader from Brandt to work alongside its Caterpillar 816F Series 2 compactor at the landfill.
The machine arrived with everything the site needed, except a personalized name.
Acting Landfill Manager Brandon Abraham, a father of four daughters, is well-versed in the world of Pixar movies. When deciding on a quick nickname for the compactor to log the municipal equipment’s fuel usage, he turned to one of his family’s favourite Pixar productions: Wall-E.
“A lot of places now have contests to name snowplows and other municipal machinery. We thought, why not name the landfill machinery, too?” Abraham said, who operates the track loader for the village. “We’re trying to make the landfill a nicer place for residents to visit, even if they’re visiting to drop off their trash.”
The film Wall-E is about a lonely trash-compacting robot, with its own personality, who exists on a ruined Earth. Wall-E meets a sleek probe robot named Eve, and together they help humanity return home and rebuild their planet.
“When we got the new crawler loader, Eve seemed like the logical choice for a name. It’s been well received in the community, too,” Abraham said.
The Marmora Landfill is a 11.71-hectare site with 4.6 hectares approved for landfilling. The site is licensed to accept domestic and commercial non-hazardous solid industrial and agricultural waste.
The new crawler loader is tasked with spreading and moving cover to the tipping face as well as loading construction waste bins.
“I also use it to smooth out and compact the areas where residents drive and walk to keep the mud and muck to a minimum. I want to keep the landfill as clean, dry and accessible as possible,” Abraham said.
The 655K crawler loader
The 655K was purchased to replace the municipality’s 2011 crawler loader, which has reached the end of its lifespan. The aging machine required constant repairs that forced the municipality to postpone work as the village waited for parts.
“Breakdowns were becoming more frequent, and repairs were becoming more expensive for a machine that had reached the end of its useful life,” said Kayla McLean, Marmora’s Manager of Environmental Services.
John Deere introduced the 18-tonne 655K crawler loader in late 2019, which included increased productivity and uptime, as well as lower daily operating costs compared to its predecessor.
Featuring a certified Final Tier 4 John Deere PVS 6.8-litre engine, the 655K uses the building-block approach based on a solid foundation of John Deere engines. Its net power has increased to 155 hp compared to its predecessor, and Deere equipped the loader with a hydrostatic transmission.
The transmission provides customers with infinite speed control, power management, live power turns, counter rotation while staying in gear and dynamic braking. As well, Total Machine Control allows customized machine response that can be tailored to meet the needs of individual operators.
Hydrostatic transmission
Hydrostatic transmission control options give operators the ability to choose between multiple transmission control settings — speed-in-grip and a V-pattern control with foot pedal steering.
Inside the cab, on-board hydrostatic and hydraulic pressure sensors make it quick and easy to read pressures in both the hydrostatic and hydraulic systems without the need for external gauges.
The 655K crawler loader is also equipped with eco mode, delivering up to 20 per cent less fuel consumption without loss in productivity. Another key fuel-saving feature, auto idle, automatically lowers engine speed when the machine is not moving and no functions are being activated. An adjustable timer can be set in the monitor — and coupled with auto shutdown — to lower fuel costs for customers and save warranty hours.
“With operating and fuel costs being so expensive, the eco mode and auto idle are features we look forward to using,” McLean said.
While the 655K met Marmora’s power requirements, the machine also checked several other boxes needed to meet the landfill’s needs, including:
- Glow plugs, block heater and dual batteries
- Automatic reversing engine fan
- Rotary ejector engine air precleaner
- Final drive trash guards
- A 2.4-yard general purpose bucket
- 55-cm track pads with extended life track bushings
From a comfort perspective, the village required a loader with in-cab features such as heat, air conditioning, rear-view camera, tinted safety glass, LED work lights and an adjustable air suspension seat.
“There were a lot of features we liked. It’s a versatile piece of equipment,” McLean said.
“Brandt has been a great company to deal with. Their service team has been fantastic with any questions we have had. They came on-site and made sure we felt comfortable with the new equipment and went over all the features with us so we could get the max potential from the new machine.”
From an operator’s perspective, Abraham explained the 655K’s controls are a welcome improvement.
“We went with the joystick controls, so all controls are done with your hands instead of foot control steering. This allows for quick understanding of the controls and ease of operation,” he said.
The 655K quickly helped improve efficiency at the landfill, thanks to features like Return to Dig, which has helped simplify tasks like top skimming. Deere’s Return to Dig feature automatically resets the bucket to a preset position for a new digging cycle, which increases efficiency by reducing operator effort and guesswork.
“There’s simply no comparison between the new machine and the old one,” Abraham said. “It’s night and day in terms of convenience, ease of access, adaptiveness and intuitive controls. It’s also a lot of fun to operate.”
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