cat m popularity

[rshackleford]

in our area one of the biggest consumers of blades are county road departments. they have hundreds of miles of roads to maintain and snow to remove. the operators in at least three counties that i work closely with hate the m series. i think they mostly don't like it during the winter when they are plowing snow or traveling at full speed long distance.

many of the operators have petitioned for deere machines and some have quit or retired after cat m's were bought.

what does the rest of the world feel about the m?

 

[alco]

The only ones I can really speak to are the 24Ms. The operators here hate them, they have regular steering problems, and are grossly underpowered. Another big problem is how hard they are to keep control of when conditions are slippery.

 

[rshackleford]

that's exactly what these road maintenance people are saying.

i guess there are a lot of little computer type glitches too.

 

[140G]

Here, we still mostly use the G series. no computers, easely maintained, repaired, simple machine.
H series is new for us. Dont like it as Gs
M, I saw one , dont like it , dont think ever will.
The simpler the better.

 

[Lee-online]

Some people like them, some people don't. most of the bugs are worked out and now the operators who i have spoken with really do like them and prefer them over the old style.

I am not an operator but have played with most graders and i find the M series easier. I guess the new generation of operators will like them and the old skool operators will just keep on using the old graders.

 

[len740]

i tried a new m series a year ago and every thing seems to come natuarly on the joy sticks.my only issue was the steering . to use this machine on site up to 4th works great but roading and plowing in higher gears just wasnt comfortable. this problem i quess has been corrected some what. ended up with a870g deere also very nice machine .
my opinion only

 

[smoothoperator]

Believe it or not, you do get used to the joystick steering. I started out on a Cat #12 8T, moved on to a Wabco 440H, then a 1974 140G (no diff, no tip, tall cab), a new 1984 140G, a new 1997 143H, and in 2009 a new 140M AWD. I jumped into the M with an open mind, not knowing exactly how I would feel about the radical change in blade and machine control. As with any new piece of equipment, it takes time to get comfortable, getting the machine to do what you want it to do. I always think of the moldboard as a ruler in my hand, and it is my job to take that ruler and control how it moves material. A good operator can make even a difficult job look easy, and a not-so-good operator can make an easy job look like it was finished with a case of dynamite. Attitude AND ability, you have to have both to be a good operator. If you don't want to like the joystick controls, you won't like them. If you decide that you do like them, you will really enjoy the M-series.

smoothoperator...9000 miles forward, 350 miles reverse last year

 

[Grader4me]

I am not an operator but have played with most graders and i find the M series easier. I guess the new generation of operators will like them and the old skool operators will just keep on using the old graders.

I think this was discussed in an earlier thread. I think what it boils down to is this..old school operators are not the least bit intimidated by an "m" series grader. Probably if the truth was known they would find the new technology very easy to get used to...remember they already know what can be done with a grader and have lots of experience behind them. All they want with these new style graders is to be able to do the work that they are used to doing. If things don't work right as suggested in these posts, then that's frustrating for a grader operator.
I tried an "m" for a bit and found it very easy to operate, and I'm about as old school as they get. If I operated it for longer period of time and found it had many problems, and I was having difficulty achieving the quality of work that I'm used to..then I would opt for an older grader.
Remember years ago there would be days when I would come home after grading all day and all you could see is my eyeballs and teeth as I would be caked with dust. Not to mention the sore back and aching wrists. Those were the days.. lol
M series? ...piece of cake..lol

 

[AlbertaAl]

I have to fully agree with the last two postings about the new 'M' series grader. I am currently operating a 160M series grader and have approximately 3000 hrs of time on this machine doing road maintenance for a County in western Canada. I have been operating a grader for 20 years doing many different tasks and have found that the 'M' series grader better for doing certain tasks than a grader with a steering wheel. A good example is blading the flares on a road that intersects with another road going in another direction. With these new graders I find it so easy to blade around these 90 deg. corners because you can control the blade and steer at the same time without moving your hands all over to control the steering wheel and the blade control levers. My beat has a 4 lane major highway going through it and I regularly road the machine in high gear to wherever I am working. No problems with steering as Cat has worked all the little glitches out of these machines. Like every machine there are small annoyances that are found but as with every other machine I have operated I work with them instead of letting them 'get' to me. These machines do what they are made to do and will do a good job. I asked a Cat guy once why they went with the lever steering instead of staying with the old steering wheel. He told me that the average grader operator was 58 - 60 years old with about 20 years experience ( I fit right in here)!! They went with the lever steering as they thought it might be easier to train younger people to operate graders as it is somewhat like a video game. The old style with all the levers they found was a bit intimidating for these younger guys. Anyway this is what I have experienced and I thought I would share it with you guys. I found this forum a couple of months ago and really enjoy reading the posts and have even learned a few things. Thanks!!!

Cheers Al

 

[Grader4me]

Thats a real good write up Al. Thanks for sharing your experience and welcome to the forum!

 

[DGODGR]

I have head of a lot of complaints about the M as well. Several have had engine swaps in our area. I am glad to hear the bugs are getting worked out. It's funny to hear about those switching to Deere graders. They may be happy now, but Deere has introduced their new fanggled fly by wire machine too. Now that Cat has it worked out we can all switch back to them while Deere fixes what ever issues that surface on their graders.

 

[rshackleford]

i think the big sales pitch from deere is that they left the steering wheel in for travel and plowing.

 

[littleroadgrade]

Picked up my new 140M last week so far I realy like it. I ran a 140G for 13 years and a 14H for 11 years (county road maintenance).
My question is do you guys like the centering on the steering joy stick, I talked to the cat mechanic he said some operators have it remove and like it better. I seem to fight it but have to keep reminding myself I only have 24 hrs on the machine.
THANKS

 

[AlbertaAl]

Centering on the joy stick depends if the machine stays straight or if it tends to wander right or left. Of the two m's I have operated one seems to run straight when the joy stick is centered but the other one and it is the one I operate regularly will run to the right if the joystick is centered. I have overcame this by running the joystick a bit to the left to counteract this but it is a pain. I asked the cat mechanic if this could be corrected and he said no but maybe I can get them to take out the centering to correct this! Thanks for the info!!!

Cheers Al

 

[bladerunner123]

i think the big sales pitch from deere is that they left the steering wheel in for travel and plowing.

AND they still offer a machine with the "antler rack" controls. They didn't put all their eggs in one basket like CAT. I have 1600 hrs on my 140M and have gotten used to it for gravel maintenence, but the C7 just ain't got it. It also takes more fuel than my 140H did. I ran one of our 140H's for a few days last week and still felt very comfortable in it and I actually covered a few more miles. I've pushed the M to the limit plowing snow and just can't keep up to the H's. The M has some nice features, but if you look at the bottom line, it was a very spendy move (lower production + higher fuel consumption). 25yr. operator.

 

[Per Eriksson]

There's a repower program to replace the C7 with a C9 on some machines.

 

[bladerunner123]

There's a repower program to replace the C7 with a C9 on some machines.

I would like that, but I believe that is only on the AWD models.

 

[sdPete]

AND they still offer a machine with the "antler rack" controls. They didn't put all their eggs in one basket like CAT. I have 1600 hrs on my 140M and have gotten used to it for gravel maintenence, but the C7 just ain't got it. It also takes more fuel than my 140H did. I ran one of our 140H's for a few days last week and still felt very comfortable in it and I actually covered a few more miles. I've pushed the M to the limit plowing snow and just can't keep up to the H's. The M has some nice features, but if you look at the bottom line, it was a very spendy move (lower production + higher fuel consumption). 25yr. operator.

Our township ran a 140M doing snow and gravel for 3 years, that machine was far more productive than the H we traded off. A township about 10 miles away bought a 140M a year after ours did (they actually called and asked my opinion at the time) and they were disgusted as heck with it, the dealer eventually tracked down a computer glitch. Tires were and still are a significant performance factor. The 140M here was better on fuel than the H. We traded for a 140M AWD machine returned from a winter lease, with the C9 engine swap, and 17.5" tires, looking good so far, this winter will tell some more of the story.

 

[Alberta]

We are on our second batch of 14M ( 5 machines, trade every 2 years) and these machines are far superior to the first ones that we got. For a change, I can concentrate on the rest of the fleet and not spending all my time on the graders. The operators really like the newer ones and almost all of the previous issues have been fixed. They steer better, inching pedal actually modulates, trannyand final drives are a lot smoother. Still some minor issues with moldboard lift circuits but I'm confident that it will be solved. Ask your service reps to do calibrations on the hydraulics and steering once in a while : makes a big difference.

 

[bladerunner123]

We are on our second batch of 14M ( 5 machines, trade every 2 years) and these machines are far superior to the first ones that we got. For a change, I can concentrate on the rest of the fleet and not spending all my time on the graders. The operators really like the newer ones and almost all of the previous issues have been fixed. They steer better, inching pedal actually modulates, trannyand final drives are a lot smoother. Still some minor issues with moldboard lift circuits but I'm confident that it will be solved. Ask your service reps to do calibrations on the hydraulics and steering once in a while : makes a big difference.

I think between the service reps and engineers, they've spent as much time with the machine as I have. There was even a couple engineers out from Peoria to adress the fuel/hp problem, but I've not heard anything or seen any updates since then (at least a couple of months ago). But alas, I'm just an operator so I may be the last to know. I would like to try an AWD or the other size tires or both, but I think I'm stuck with this one for another 4 yrs. Adressing the steering complaints, one engineer told me that it worked "just as it should". I asked if he put the blade and wing down...."Oh no, I just know how to DRIVE them !! I told him a little side draft may change his evaluation.