This standard covers mobile hydraulic excavator controls and the specific arrangement and direction of motion for the primary controls.

This standard applies to mobile hydraulic excavators as described in ISO 7135—Earthmoving machinery—Hydraulic excavators—Terminology and commercial specifications, and ISO 6165— Earthmoving machinery—Basic types—Vocabulary.

Purpose

This SAE Standard is intended as a guide for designing uniform two lever type operating controls for mobile hydraulic excavators, either wheel mounted or crawler mounted on independently reversible tracks.

Rationale

SAE J1177 has been upgraded from a Recommended Practice to a Standard due to its long standing position and acceptance in the earthmoving industry. It has been reformatted to the latest SAE criteria, references have been updated throughout the document and Figure 1 has been redrawn to include the use of ISO symbols. Figure 3 has been redrawn to show the more common and industry accepted foot pedal configuration for travel controls although the mode of operation remains unchanged. In paragraph 5.3 the direction of movement of the functions has been changed from “as specified by the manufacturer” to “idlers to the front and sprockets to the rear for crawler mounted machines and primary steering axle to the front for wheel mounted machines” which is the industry accepted definition.