Caterpillar
Cat 299D3 XE
The bright segment is what Cat 299D3 XE is rated to carry; the grey run past it is the rest of its tipping load. Bar length is tipping load drawn to the same scale on every machine on the site, so a short bar is a smaller machine and not a conservative rating.
Caterpillar publishes no list price for this machine, and we found no dealer listing worth quoting, so there is no number here to give you. What we can say is what the machines around it cost: the middle half of the 18 track loaders within 15 per cent of its capacity list between $92,000 and $114,464. That is a fact about them, not a quote for this one.
The outgoing D3 flagship track loader in XE trim, with the 40 GPM high-pressure circuit that the badge denotes. The next-generation 275 and 285 replace it, so it survives as dealer stock rather than as a current model.
Suits: Attachment-heavy work at large-frame capacity, bought against an outgoing-generation discount Its vertical lift path reaches highest at full extension, for loading high-sided trucks and stacking.
Lifting and reach
- Rated operating capacityTrack loader rating convention
- 3,560 lbs
- Tipping load
- 10,170 lbs
- Lift height to hinge pin
- 126.3 in
- Lift path
- Vertical Lift
- Operating weight
- 11,756 lbs
Power and hydraulics
- Engine power
- 110 hp
- Engine
- Cat C3.8 DIT
- Auxiliary flowStandard circuit
- 23 GPM
- Flow type
- Standard
- Warranty
- 2 yr / 2,000 hr
Fitted or available
What this machine can be ordered with. Some of these are standard and some cost extra, and which is which moves between trim levels, so check them against the quote rather than against this list.
What owners report
Summarised from the sources listed below. Nothing here was tested by us.
Attachment work is the entire case for this machine. In XE trim it carries Caterpillar's high-flow, high-pressure auxiliary circuit at 40 gpm and 4,061 psi, worth a calculated 94 hydraulic horsepower, and that is what buyers running mulchers, crushers and planers are actually paying for. The lifting is solid too at 3,560 lb rated on an 11,756 lb machine, but nobody buys a loader this expensive to move pallets.
Owners are unusually vocal about this one, and the picture is mixed in a specific way: they like what it does and complain about how it behaves while doing it. The cab is genuinely good, sealed and pressurized and quiet enough at 83 dB(A) that a buyer who went with a Kubota instead publicly regretted it over the air conditioning alone. Against that, the recurring theme across owner accounts is noise and derates. The hydraulics hum or scream under normal driving, and Cat's prescribed fix is an additive that owners say helps only marginally. Machines drop into limp mode, sometimes without setting a code. Aftertreatment faults are the single most reported failure category, with DEF injectors and NOx sensors the usual answers, and drive motor speed sensor codes turn up often enough to be a pattern rather than bad luck. One owner who bought a used 2020 unit with 2,905 hours had faults appearing on his second day with it.
This suits a clearing, forestry or demolition contractor who needs the flow and has a dealer relationship worth leaning on, because you will be using it. The emissions warranty running five years or 3,000 hours on aftertreatment parts matters more here than on most machines, so establish exactly where a used unit sits against that clock before buying. Confirm the unit actually has the XE circuit rather than the standard or XPS package, since that is the reason to choose this machine at all. And price the next-generation 275 and 285 beside it: they run the same 40 gpm at higher pressure, on a newer undercarriage and cab, and the only argument for the older machine is the discount.
What owners like
- The XE circuit delivers 40 gpm at 4,061 psi for a calculated 94 hydraulic horsepower, and when buyers ask which track loader will hold a stone crusher or a large mulching head at speed, this is the machine that keeps getting named, with the Kubota SVL97 as the usual alternative.
- The sealed, pressurized cab is the thing owners who cross-shopped it miss most. One buyer who chose a Kubota SVL95 instead said outright he probably should have bought the 299D3 XE, because the Kubota's air conditioning is anemic enough that he was adding fans between the heater core and the evaporator to move air at all.
- 3,560 lb rated is quoted at 35 percent of tipping load rather than the flattering 50 percent some brands use, so the number compares honestly against rivals.
- Independent torsion axles with speed-sensitive ride control make a real difference carrying material across rough ground, which is most of what a clearing or site crew does between the productive bits.
- Aftertreatment components are covered for five years or 3,000 hours under emissions warranty, separate from the machine warranty, and given how often those parts are what fails on this machine that coverage is worth more here than on most loaders.
What owners complain about
- Hydraulic noise is the defining complaint. Owners describe the hydraulics humming or screaming under ordinary driving, not just under load. Cat's service answer is an additive, part number 1U-9891, and owners who added a full bottle report the pump noise became only slightly less obnoxious while the underlying chatter stayed.
- It is not a bad-unit problem. One owner whose dealer supplied a 299D3 XE from the rental fleet as a loaner found the loaner had the same stuttering issue as his own machine, which is the clearest evidence available that this is characteristic of the model.
- Derates into limp mode are common and do not always set a code. One owner chasing a no-code derate was told it was the step pump and that it might be covered under warranty, and described going from one problem to the next on a new machine.
- Aftertreatment faults dominate the reported failures: SCR catalyst conversion efficiency low, catalyst reagent concentration low, and exhaust-related codes that drop the machine into reduced power mid-shift. Experienced owners point at the DEF injector or the NOx sensor as the usual culprits, and recommend premium DEF to stop crystallisation.
- Drive motor speed sensor codes turn up mid-job. One owner got left drive motor speed sensor and unexpected motor speed detection faults during a mulch job, which limit drive speed until cleared.
- Fuel system faults put it into limp mode too, and the parts are not always on the truck. One operator lost a day because the service call turned out to need a fuel filter and the technician had to drive 120 miles round trip for one.
- XE mode here is 40 gpm at 4,061 psi, the same flow as the next-generation 285 XE but at lower pressure, so the machine that replaced it does more hydraulic work at the same gallons per minute.
- It is the oldest design in Cat's large-frame track loader line, superseded by the 275 and 285, which shortens how long it stays a priority for parts and attachment support.
Drawn from heavyequipmentforums.com, skidsteerforum.com, hawthornecat.com, h-cpc.cat.com.
What buyers ask
Does XE mean this is an electric or hybrid machine?
Is the hydraulic noise owners describe a defect or normal?
What goes wrong most often on a 299D3 XE?
How does it compare with the 285 XE that replaced it?
Is a high-hour used one a reasonable buy?
Can it run a large mulching head?
Put the Cat 299D3 XE against
Machines in the same range
The rest of the Caterpillar line
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- Engine
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- Aux flow
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- Weight
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- Engine
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- Aux flow
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- Weight
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Full sheet & owner reports
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Cat 265
$95,000
- Engine
- 74 hp
- Aux flow
- 23 GPM
- Weight
- 10,492 lbs
Larger of the first two next-generation Cat compact track loaders, the 265 replaces both the 279D3 and 289D3. Its turbo after-cooled C2.8TA delivers a 43% torque increase over the outgoing models, and the vertical-lift arms reach a 132-inch pin height, with High Flow XPS pushing 34 GPM for demanding attachments.
Full sheet & owner reports