Being built more "fun-size" than "super-size" I've always had problems with a couple of things: Buying a sport coat (tough to find "short" off-the shelf garments in many stores) and the accelerator pedals on many utility vehicles and skid steers.

You may be familiar with the throttle problem too -- you get on rough terrain and the pitching of the vehicle causes your right foot to punch the throttle over and over with increasing pressure, continually making the "short burst" throttle control into a bucking contest.

Well, someone has finally done something about it by using electronics to recognize the "short bursts" of erratic throttle position and smoothing out the whole process!

About 40 members of the landscape and building press and a pair of ag journalists got an extensive look at Caterpillar's new Tier 4A skid steers and track loaders at the company's factory in Clayton, No. Car.

I recently drove a new Tier4A 272D Caterpillar skid loader and a 299D XHS track-mounted loader over a long set of bump stripes that would make even the most picky parking lot Nazi proud! The new Cat machines have "intelligent throttle" which features various pre-set sensitivities and includes the throttle "snubbing" feature which watches for cases of the "bouncy foot." The level of control this feature allows is astounding, when I think back to the weekend I was moving dirt with a rental Cat 262 loader several years ago in the rutted wash-outs behind a country home we were landscaping. I had to crawl around on the eroded ruts to keep from doing the Jitterbug with a full load of top soil!

The problem is very noticeable on many off-road utility vehicles, too, particularly for we "vertically challenged" folks who drive machines which have no forward-and-back seat control (You OEMs know who you are). It's nice to see Caterpillar has addressed this problem so well.

Now, if they just made sports coats!