Bought another grader 12G

[Razorsedge2003]

High jack away. I like it when these conversations spin off a little. Post a pic of the roller that goes on the ripper please. JAJ asked about power increases? I’m curious to. This one is natural aspirated and seems to have plenty of power on the road. Our old 966 loader has the same engine but with a turbo.

 

[JAJ]

I just started another thread before I saw your post sorry. I’ll find some pics to post here too!!

 

[JAJ]

You can push down with the weight of the machine for more compaction but the more you push down the less traction you have. A friend has 140M and it had adjustable down force control on the rippers so you don’t have to worry about doing it manually while grading. The gov/council guys tell me they get it put in their graders too.
If the ground is pretty smooth it’s not hard to manage manually but if it’s got too many ups and downs you can get hung up if your too slow adjusting. I usually try to spread or grade and roll at the same time but sometimes it works better with a few hard passes at the the end.
It pivots in the centre to allow for twisting. This one has 16” tyres but I got two in the auction and the other has 15”. They need sandblasting and painting and some slop taking out of the pivot but I think they are pretty good. Means you can value add to the job and don’t need more people to do it.

Broons here in Australia makes a few different types some that you can pick up with the rippers and some are just towed.

Thanks for asking I like it when things spin off too, you get to find out how other people do things. I always enjoy learning new things.

 

[Welder Dave]

That set up would be perfect for my oval track. You must be able to put a lot of down pressure on it based on the size of the bearings. Interesting that there is at least 3 different tires on your grader.

 

[JaredV]

That’s a good point. I got to drive a 140H on a job a while ago for a few hours and it had 1400-24 bias type (non radial) and a 14ft blade. I was using it to build banks and it seem to just start spinning and not bog down at all when trying to push lots of dirt. I wondered how it would go with water filled radial tyres to get a bit more traction.
How do you go for traction?
I have a roller that clips in the rippers on my grader and adds nearly 2tonns counter weight but when I need the rippers I loose the weight.
I haven’t got to have a go at the 143H’s but I think they would be awesome for the work I’m doing at the moment.

Anyway I don’t want to hi-jack the Op’s thread to much

I think I'd want bigger tires if I didn't have front wheel drive. I work on steep muddy hills in the winter and wouldn't want to be without it. I think anything could use more traction but it gets the job done. I have a front blade that adds weight but I still have never run with the front end pulling as hard as it can so maybe that's an indicator that I should have more traction.

 

[JAJ]

That set up would be perfect for my oval track. You must be able to put a lot of down pressure on it based on the size of the bearings. Interesting that there is at least 3 different tires on your grader.

Yeah I think they are really good. You can lift the rear of the machine off the ground no problems so max down pressure would be up to almost the weight of the machine that’s on the drive tyres. If you’re pushing dirt and rolling at the same time you break traction if you try too hard for compaction. It’s a trade off.
To get max compaction I’ll do as much as I can as I go then roll again at full force at the end. Diff lock helps with getting a bit more without spin out too.

Yeah the tyres!! The grader came with one odd bald drive tyre and the other three had heaps of tread. They are 1400-24 but dump truck tyres apparently so have a larger rolling diameter. I couldn’t find a match for them. I found that odd one in the pics as a best fit match to try to make use of them. At the job we are at now two have died from splits in the sidewall due to age I think. I have a matching set of old ones on now that I found with good rims and I need to get a new set. That’s why the big tyres got my attention but they won’t fit my rims unfortunately.
The steer ones are just what ever we have to run out. We do a lot of bush work so risk of punctures from sticks and stumps means we don’t put nice tyres on the front.
When I get new drive tyres I’ll put old radials up the front to match things up better.

 

[Welder Dave]

The grader I bought had cheap Chinese tires on it. A couple went flat and at least 1 of them was leaking through cracks in he sidewall. I found some tires with rims at the RB auction. I was going to take the tires off to put on my rims but discovered they were foam filled for a telehandler. Luckily I was able to make some adapters to fit them on the grader. They tires are brand new grader specific Goodyear radials. Cost me more than I wanted to spend but will never have to worry about them. With the adapters and all the bolts with Nord Lock washers was a little under $5000cad. To buy just the tires are just under $2000us so probably $2500+cad. The tires and wheels are worth more than the grader. LoL The tires with the rims and the foam filling would cost around $20,000cad. so I figure I got a pretty good deal. The tires still had stickers on the tread. To buy new import tires would have been $3000 but then I would have to have them changed over which I'm guessing would cost $150 or more per tire. So far the foam filled tires are working fantastic. There's pics. of the adapters I made in an earlier thread.

 

[JAJ]

Ooh very interesting, I had wondered how the foam filling would go! Does it seem much different to air filled as far as comfort ect?
I have a wholesale account with a company that imports tyres and I have seen that you can get solid rubber tyres too. I think they could be a bit hard and not enough give on a grader though.

The tyre prices are they for the full set or each?
Just curious how prices compare to here.

 

[Welder Dave]

I haven't driven it on the road at high speed but so far I haven't noticed any issues with the foam filled tires. They squat a little and seem to have good traction. I think the extra weight gives better traction. The tires stick out 2 1/2" wider on each side than stock due the different wheels and the adapters I had made. They wheels are inside out but being foam filled there is no need to get at the valve stems. A couple valve stems got damaged mounting the wheels because I couldn't see them but not a big deal. I read that it's even possible to retread foam filled tires so you don't have to cut them off the rims to replace them.

 

[Blue-Fox]

15.5R25 is the radial option. TBH I cannot understand why anyone would want anything other than wide-base rims on a grader. Makes no sense.

Plowing Snow, here in Alaska the 14-24's are hands down the best combo. The wide tires squirm and slip and spin and worry their way around while the skinnies just push like they are chained up.

 

[Blue-Fox]

They’re 16.5/26 tires. Just ordered two new ones. Front mount scarifier for snow plow, push blade, and it want to make an attachment to scratch ahead of the main blade.

I was gonna say I will have the factory type scarifier coming off my 76 12G soon. Though I'm in Alaska, we find many folks running empty to the midwest alot.

 

[Blue-Fox]

High jack away. I like it when these conversations spin off a little. Post a pic of the roller that goes on the ripper please. JAJ asked about power increases? I’m curious to. This one is natural aspirated and seems to have plenty of power on the road. Our old 966 loader has the same engine but with a turbo.

You got a good looking machine there, Im hoping to paint mine up and make them look new soon.

 

[Razorsedge2003]

I was gonna say I will have the factory type scarifier coming off my 76 12G soon. Though I'm in Alaska, we find many folks running empty to the midwest alot.

Hey, that might be a possibility