Motor-Grading Techniques

[Grader4me]

Hello, I'm a student in my 2nd week of grader. I hear through the grapevine that you're a grader god of sorts

You talkn to grader4me?:tong:lmao

The next time you fall out of your boat...I ain't going to feel sorry for ya.. but I will pray for you....to the grader god...Bahahaha....:drinkup

If you don't make it back to your boat maybe you'll go to grader heaven...at least there you might learn to operate one....:beatsme..lol

 

[Turbo21835]

was referring to Randy but if you got anything that'll help, by all means, share!!

You may be waiting a while to hear from Randy, after all, it is the busy season for a good grader hand. In the mean time, I can tell you to head to the cat dealer. If you pick up the H series motorgrader application guide, you can pick up a lot of good information on how to make a grader work for you. They also have a DVD that has a good bit of info in it as well, while showing you the grader in operation.

 

[JimBruce42]

You may be waiting a while to hear from Randy, after all, it is the busy season for a good grader hand. In the mean time, I can tell you to head to the cat dealer. If you pick up the H series motorgrader application guide, you can pick up a lot of good information on how to make a grader work for you. They also have a DVD that has a good bit of info in it as well, while showing you the grader in operation.

Didn't Randy co-write that guide too?

 

[Dirty Girl]

You may be waiting a while to hear from Randy, after all, it is the busy season for a good grader hand. In the mean time, I can tell you to head to the cat dealer. If you pick up the H series motorgrader application guide, you can pick up a lot of good information on how to make a grader work for you. They also have a DVD that has a good bit of info in it as well, while showing you the grader in operation.

Thanks for the tip, I appreciate the info. I'll look into picking one up.

 

[JDOFMEMI]

Hello, I'm a student in my 2nd week of grader. I hear through the grapevine that you're a grader god of sorts. Just wanted some tips on removing material from a corner on a large dirt platform where 2 sides are a big drop off. I tried articulation and can get most of the material but there is a small windrow left that I can not reach. The pin on the draw bar is out of order for now so I can not move it to a better hole selection. Got any helpful hints thanks for your time.

Well, I will try a couple of pointers. One is to make sure you are going the right way. You don't mention what grader you are learning on, but most will have more reach to the right than the left. Use that to your advantage.
Don't try to get all the dirt at once. If you get very much in front of the blade in a sharp corner, the force on the blade will keep you from turning as sharp as possible.
I am assuming you are using the wheel lean also. One more thing to get a few more inches at that spot thats just out of reach is to pull up close to it, lean the wheels the wrong way, which will shift the front end over, as well as the blade, then as you inch forward, lean them back into the turn.
You can also drive to the point you can never make the turn in order to get the toe of the blade all the way into the corner then stop and work the center shift, circle, and side shift at the same time to pull the blade through the turn while the machine is sitting still, then reposition and do it again. It is slow, but a little at a time still gets it done.
The advanced way to get the corner out can get you in a bad spot if you don't have enough experience, and 2 weeks is not enough. It involves blocking the axle so you can put one front tire off of the pad and stay level. Probably best not to try it in a class setting.
Repairing the center shift so it will unpin and move will help the most.

Hopefully we can get some more good insight for you as well. Anybody else??

Good luck.

 

[Dirty Girl]

Well, I will try a couple of pointers. One is to make sure you are going the right way. You don't mention what grader you are learning on, but most will have more reach to the right than the left. Use that to your advantage.
Don't try to get all the dirt at once. If you get very much in front of the blade in a sharp corner, the force on the blade will keep you from turning as sharp as possible.
I am assuming you are using the wheel lean also. One more thing to get a few more inches at that spot thats just out of reach is to pull up close to it, lean the wheels the wrong way, which will shift the front end over, as well as the blade, then as you inch forward, lean them back into the turn.
You can also drive to the point you can never make the turn in order to get the toe of the blade all the way into the corner then stop and work the center shift, circle, and side shift at the same time to pull the blade through the turn while the machine is sitting still, then reposition and do it again. It is slow, but a little at a time still gets it done.
The advanced way to get the corner out can get you in a bad spot if you don't have enough experience, and 2 weeks is not enough. It involves blocking the axle so you can put one front tire off of the pad and stay level. Probably best not to try it in a class setting.
Repairing the center shift so it will unpin and move will help the most.

Hopefully we can get some more good insight for you as well. Anybody else??

Good luck.

Thank you so much! It sounds like I'm on the right track, Now to get that pin repaired! lol

 

[TriHonu]

If you pick up the H series motorgrader application guide, you can pick up a lot of good information on how to make a grader work for you.

A few months back, I contacted CAT about purchasing the H-Series Motor Graders Application Guide (CAT Publication AEGQ0945-01). I was told it is no longer in print.

However they did state the file was available on an internal CAT website and they could print me a copy. I asked if they would email me the file. They stated they would as long I agreed to not share it since it is copyrighted material.

Dirty Girl, when you contact CAT just be persistent. You could ask your instructor to contact CAT and get permission to provide copies to all the students.

It is 40 pages of clear and concise information.

 

[Dirty Girl]

A few months back, I contacted CAT about purchasing the H-Series Motor Graders Application Guide (CAT Publication AEGQ0945-01). I was told it is no longer in print.

However they did state the file was available on an internal CAT website and they could print me a copy. I asked if they would email me the file. They stated they would as long I agreed to not share it since it is copyrighted material.

Dirty Girl, when you contact CAT just be persistent. You could ask your instructor to contact CAT and get permission to provide copies to all the students.

It is 40 pages of clear and concise information.

Thanks, I got one today AND got the pin repaired on the grader, there'll be no stopping me now! lol

 

[RDG]

There is when all else fails, a thing called a shovel that most grader operators carry my self included that comes in real handy to deal with those little awkward corners that are just about impossible to get with a grader blade, specially round manholes and drainage pits etc. Cheers RDG

 

[john1066]

I just started this week on our 14G fine grading a road. i was told to always Keep my blade angled toward the crown. to carry the dirt to the top of the crown. Some one else mentioned brushing up the material with the blade backwards but should it be in float for this how am i supposed to Brush up.

 

[Dirty Girl]

I am not a very good person to ask as I am still in training myself. I do know that anytime I've tried to use the back of the blade I seem to make more of a mess. Maybe it comes with practice. good luck! Dirty girl.

 

[YELLOMTLMILITIA]

the leading edge of the blade is called the toe and the trailing edge is called the heel. You would want the heel towrads the center of the road to cast material and build a crown unless you were building an inverted crown for some crazy reason. Motorgraders arnt my specialty but I have spent quite a bit of time with CAT, DEERE and Volvos factory Motorgrader Operators so heres A few blade tips they have taught me

1. Always run your material outside your tandems or in between but never infront. so you can run on smoother ground.

2. I prefer to use circle shift whenever I can rather than blade slide to save stress on the slip clutch and worm gears and let the drawbar and gooseneck hitch take the stress.

3. Motorgraders generally have a 30/60 weight distribution, with a blade just in float I could imagine your front weight distribution could go down to 20% real easy so use wheel lean to counter sidedraft of the blade. But be carefull in rocky material wheel lean could allow rocks to pinch in your sidewall especially while turning.

4. Articulating your tail towards the windrow allows for you to put your blade at a sharper angle for better efficiency at moving material. the trade off is that you move the material a smaller distance but significantly more material is moved at once. I also prefer to roll my blade all the way back to lift the material and get it free flowing when just moving a windrow over.

5. When flat blading a large area you can carry a windrow across and work it from both directions. This will keep material for you to fill holes in with and keep the windrow from being slowly bulldozed to one end of the area.

6. Keep the windrow in the center of your front axle even when articulated unless windrow is so huge it cant be taken in one pass then take on half of it and move it in two passes.

7. When straight framed and you get near the end of the pass you can articulate the tail towards the windrow and counter steer and it will leave your windrow in a perfect line and also end the windrow as you bring the blade around in line with the windrow. Makes a very pretty windrow

8. When finish grading a large area you should over lap 1/3 of your blade onto the previous pass. If you have the windrow in the center of your front axle and move the windrow over with the center of the blade and heel. this allows you to follow the same tire tracks on the next pass and you finish at the same time rather than moving over a full blade width and having to come back and spend alot of time fixing the inconsistencies in elevations between your passes.

9. maximum blade penetration is with the top of the mold board pitched about 2" forward. but when grading dont hesitate to use pitch to increase or decrease your blade elevation all at once rather than constantly making adjustments to both lift cylinder levers independently.

10. when flat blading keep the the circle directly under the machine so that when circle turn is used the blade rotates level rather than changing it orientation to the ground.


I Hope this isnt too confusing but these are some basics and it gets a lil more indepth when you get out of the center hole and get into high bank grading or cutting flat bottom ditches and cutting backslopes.

 

[Grader4me]

I just started this week on our 14G fine grading a road. i was told to always Keep my blade angled toward the crown. to carry the dirt to the top of the crown. Some one else mentioned brushing up the material with the blade backwards but should it be in float for this how am i supposed to Brush up.

Hi john 1066, well I can't see where putting your blade on float and going backwards? is going to accomplish anything..except make a mess. I attached a link with some good information about crowning a road etc. Also I'm not sure what you mean by the term "brushing up". Could you be a little more specific as to what you mean?


https://www.heavyequipmentforums.com/showthread.php?t=4071&highlight=crowning+road

 

[RoundTuit]

Wow I just read through this thread and thank you for all the good information. Grader4me has some very descriptive posts. Im going to attempt the mouldboard turn around tomorrow.

Where I am at right now I have been having a common issue. Most of the pads I am assigned to build using a Komatsu GD705A butt right up to a 12ft dirt road with a wall on the other side. The issue is that there is not enough room for me to grade away from the wall initially. To get started I have to grade towards the wall and I end up with a windrow of material in front of the blade and nowhere to put it. That leads to making the consecutive passes difficult to keep smooth when the front tires hit the windrows.

The only solution I have been able to come up with is to grade towards the wall all the way across my pad then move the grader out on to the road and reach all the way out to smooth over the humps and grade the windrows out. This ends up being a painstaking process and it feels like a waste of time. So after all that my question is does anyone have any tips on how to keep from having material left in front of the mouldboard at the end of the pass without making a rise feathering the material out?

Pics to reference the wall, grader, and road.

 

[Grader4me]

The only solution I have been able to come up with is to grade towards the wall all the way across my pad then move the grader out on to the road and reach all the way out to smooth over the humps and grade the windrows out. This ends up being a painstaking process and it feels like a waste of time. So after all that my question is does anyone have any tips on how to keep from having material left in front of the mouldboard at the end of the pass without making a rise feathering the material out?

Pics to reference the wall, grader, and road.

Is there no way you can back drag this excess material after each pass and blend it in? Or at the end of each pass veer hard towards where your next pass is going to be, and drop your excess material. Keep doing that and you'll only have to get rid of the excess on your final pass. Sometimes grader work can be a painstaking process but if you achieve a good end result then its worth it.

 

[YELLOMTLMILITIA]

7. When straight framed and you get near the end of the pass you can articulate the tail towards the windrow and counter steer and it will leave your windrow in a perfect line and also (ENDS) the windrow as you bring the blade around in line with the windrow. Makes a very pretty windrow.


Im having a hard time understanding your exact situation but this helps me control where im going to lose my windrow and not have to make a slight lift.

 

[michael james]

I just started this week on our 14G fine grading a road. i was told to always Keep my blade angled toward the crown. to carry the dirt to the top of the crown. Some one else mentioned brushing up the material with the blade backwards but should it be in float for this how am i supposed to Brush up.

Hi john1066,
here is the procedure l "usually" use to form or maintain the crown on a road when maintenance grading with a 12 foot blade. First if the table drains need cleaning, remove sticks, leaves and grass from the equation, that way you won't have any impurities in the windrow of material you are working with, do that by whatever means.
After l have cut the complete surface of the road, (or ripped it) to completely remove all irregularities, eg pot-holes, corrugations, wheel ruts etc, l end up with a road looking like this.

 

[michael james]

more

now to shape the road, l do my first pass like this, grading the windrow not quite to the centre of the road gradually losing material.

 

[michael james]

more

My second pass puts the windrow over the centre line of the road, still losing material, check out where the back wheels are running( true to slope) and what the slope meter is reading, note l have the grader articulated.

 

[michael james]

more

Handy hint, always visualize the centre line of the road and how you want the finished product to look like.
The third pass takes the windrow near to the edge of the road, l leave a wheel width gap between windrow and drain so that the front wheel is running on a smooth surface when you repeat what you have just done. I articulate the grader and this lines myself and cab up with centre line of the road so as to be more accurate with a centered crown.

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