VIDEO: Case Minotaur is a compact dozer with a loader’s tools

In this video, CONEXPO-CON/AGG 365 digs into the details with Case’s Brady Lewis about what makes Minotaur a rock and stump pulling bulldozer - much more than a compact track loader with a dozer-blade attachment. We talk about how 5,500 pounds of tipping load and 140 inches of hinge-pin height on the nimble compact-track-loader’s footing match the loading performance of any compact, and some mid-sized, loaders.

The Minotaur DL550 is making its way to Case dealers now, so you don’t have to take our word for it. Not sure what the allotments will be like but don’t forget that it comes with a choice of two types of steel tracks or rubber tracks.   

Wth an integrated C-frame dozer that pins directly to the machine frame, Case squeezed a 114-hp dozer into a compact track loader’s footprint. The joysticks are the same controls used in Case dozers, with the same functionality. Heavy-duty pins on hydraulic cylinders allow the operator, from the machine’s cab, to drop that C-frame with a simple maneuver. Throw a switch in the cab, and the control system is remapped to ISO loader functionality. You can quick-attach to a 1.25-cubic-yard bucket, or any other skid steer attachments.

Case reps say this versatility creates a new machine category, the compact dozer loader, and some will recall in that context Case’s history with the first backhoe loaders in the U.S. What do you think? Is the Minotaur DL550 a game changer? 

Maybe the category question doesn’t matter. Lewis talks about the value of machine’s transportability and situations where it can handle virtually every task a job needs a machine to do. That could make it a go-to tool for a lot of contractors.