mid mounted or rear scarifiers???

[michael james]

Which do you operators prefer, mid mounted or rear scarifiers on a grader, pretty certain l will be getting a new grader via a tender process after june and they are both options for me.

 

[Nige]

What size of grader are we talking about here .....??

 

[michael james]

What size of grader are we talking about here .....??

An 18 tonne grader, about 195 hp.

 

[Nige]

I'd think a front-mounted one would probably be best for a machine that size. You tend to find rear-mounted ones used mostly on machines much larger than the one you are contemplating. Also a lot depends on what type of work you intend to do with the scarifier though, care to elaborate..?

 

[michael james]

I'd think a front-mounted one would probably be best for a machine that size. You tend to find rear-mounted ones used mostly on machines much larger than the one you are contemplating. Also a lot depends on what type of work you intend to do with the scarifier though, care to elaborate..?

sure Nige, I do maintenance grading for local council, mainly grading gravel roads, sealed road shoulder grading, drainage work, and occasionally road rebuilds and shoulder resheets. with the road grading l have a rubber wheeled roller mounted to the rear of grader due to the insistance of council, see photo, l would rather a steel/rubber combo that you tow because of the advantage of having the steel roller.
If l have to rip pot-holes or corrugations out of the road, it means taking roller off so as to use scarifiers, which is time consuming and annoying, so it was suggested that l have a mid mounted unit fitted so they could do the ripping work, our council has always purchased graders with a rear ripper setup so we have no idea of the advantages/disadvantages of mid mounted setup or a front setup for that matter.
I usually have a water tanker with me when its needed, but the luxury of tractor and steel/rubber combo is a rare event even though we have one, not enough spare employees to run it:Banghead

 

[Nige]

Based on that I'd go for the front-mounted scarifier. However on a smaller grader (I'm more used to 16 & 24 size machines) I think I would also have an optional front counterweight installed put more weight at the front end and so stop the scarifier tending to rise up when you use it on anything a bit on the hard side. Of course that's the advantage of the rear-mounted scarifier that it has all the weight of the rear end of the grader to hold it down.

 

[michael james]

Ok Nige, thanks for that, is there much difference between having front mounted, or mid mounted setup, as l had thought of mid mounted plus front push block(counterweight), any one else with some views??

 

[Bluetop Man]

Mike James,

A rear mounted riper is best when you have to get down to business, but it makes any grader heavy and cumbersome. You get used to it, but it is always there, sapping you, like a program running in the background on your computer. However, if you are anticipating lots and lots of ripper work in rock, a rear mount is the best setup. They really come in handy on a road job, and are almost mandatory in dealing with any appreciable length of base rock due to their efficiency.

However, as it sounds like a rear mount is out for you, I recommend a mid mount, as they stay tucked out of the way when not in use, don't weigh much, and are reasonably efficient if you don't have to break open lots of surface area. One thing I'm pretty sure cannot be done with a mid mount is rotate the blade 180 degrees. That may be why you see front mounts on blades belonging to state highway maintenance agencies.

I never had any use for a front mounted anything on a grader other than a counterweight push block. I think front mounts are for someone who needs interchangebility between implements like a scarifier, dozer blade, snow blower, etc. Otherwise, a mid mount will do basically anything a front mount will. That's what I think, but it may not be the case with someone who has worked one extensively.

Well, I hope I have helped you with all this rattlin' on b.s.

And now my youngest daughter is home from veterinary college for Father's Day, so I have to go now and see how much money she needs this time around...

 

[RocksnRoses]

I'd think a front-mounted one would probably be best for a machine that size. You tend to find rear-mounted ones used mostly on machines much larger than the one you are contemplating. Also a lot depends on what type of work you intend to do with the scarifier though, care to elaborate..?

I'm not sure where you are Nige, but all the graders I have seen around here and the ones we have in the 150 to 180 HP range, have rear mount scarifiers and rippers, in fact I can't remember when I last saw a front or mid mount scarifier and then it would have been on a much older machine.

There is only one advantage I can see for having a front or mid mount scarifier, is the fact that you can see it more easily than on the rear, otherwise, to me the rear mount would be much more preferable. On the rear you have the weight of the machine to hold it down if ripping in hard material and you have a direct pull on the ripper, not pushing it with frame, I have seen the frames flex when ripping rocks with the corner of the blade, so a ripper or scarifier on the front ripping in rocks would have the same effect. As you say, you would probably have to add weight as well, if you were busting up hard road surfaces. Another small bonus is that the rear mount ripper gives you more weight over the drive which improves traction.

If it was me Michael, I would go for the rear mount scarifier/ripper, throw away that rear mount roller, the council used to have them here, but eventually woke up and went to the combination steel/rubber tyre rollers, it also gives you the advantage of having a hydraulically raised tow hitch for pulling the combination roller.

RnR.

 

[michael james]

Ok, thankyou for all your responses, alot of good information has come out of this.

 

[RocksnRoses]

Let us know which way you decide to go Michael and of course we will need a running commentary with photos, on the new machine.

RnR.

 

[michael james]

Yep, sure will.:yup

 

[770G]

I'm gonna have to say rear mount, although I've only ever had mid mount. Mainly cause I carry a roller on the back of mine (my old champion and now my 770). Few years ago I was asked to dig out a huge clay boil in the driveway of one of our shops with my champion. No excavator or rubber tire hoe available, it was so hard that I had to remove half the teeth to try to get them to sink in. And still I had the front wheels off the ground, I finally got the job done but I sure was wishing it was a rear mount just cause of the extra weight at the rear of grader.

 

[Nige]

That's why I was thinking of a front (or mid) mounted scarifier but with the optional front counterweight to hold the steering wheels down on the ground. Too much downward pressure is going to tend to lift the front whels unless the ground is really soft.

I suppose we really ought to differentiate between a scarifier and a ripper. For me a scarifier is generally mounted behind the front axle, is narrower, does not penetrate the ground as deep (9" or so), and has shorter teeth. A ripper is rear-mounted and has bigger nastier teeth - but less of them - and for a grader of the size you are conemplating maybe penetrates the ground as deep as 18" if you can get it to go in that far.

That said, does the operation you're planning to do with this grader involve mostly "stirring up the surface" of an already-constructed gravel road or road shoulder so that afterwards you can finish grade it, or are you wanting the capability go really deep and hook up boulders so that you can grade afterwards with material that is within an acceptable size range..? If all you need is a "stirrer" IMO go for a front-mounted scarifier, if you're looking for a "boulder hook" you need a ripper.

 

[michael james]

That said, does the operation you're planning to do with this grader involve mostly "stirring up the surface" of an already-constructed gravel road or road shoulder so that afterwards you can finish grade it, or are you wanting the capability go really deep and hook up boulders so that you can grade afterwards with material that is within an acceptable size range..? If all you need is a "stirrer" IMO go for a front-mounted scarifier, if you're looking for a "boulder hook" you need a ripper.[/QUOTE]

Nige, our work only involves applications on existing constructed roads and road shoulders, so no really deep ripping required, our rear ripper/scarifier setup on our graders have the nine scarifier shanks pointing down to break up pothole and corrugation structures, the three ripper shanks usually point upwards. With our two existing latest graders, the rippers have been taken off and stored in the workshop, to get rid of excess weight because we have the rubber wheeled rollers coupled to the ripper platform. The other thing we have is the sandvick cutting edges on our moldboards for gravel road grading, they are good for cutting through road surfaces, but you have to be carefull you don't cut to deep sometimes if the material is of a soft nature.

 

[Nige]

In that case I'd go with a front-mounted scarifier BUT with the additional front counterweight installed on the front of the chassis to get some weight on top of it.

 

[DPete]

IMO the rear is best suited for all around work that we do, you can get to a corner if need be, it doesn't take weight off your steering tires in hard ground, it is the machines width so you can get next to a stake row or curb.