Moldboard lengths

[michael james]

Anyone out there got any opinions on moldboard lengths when maintenance grading gravel roads? I had to use a hire grader for a couple of days and it had a 14 ft blade on it, I've only ever used 12 ft blades, and l found it very different. Two things l noticed was that the front end wanted to move about a bit more, and when adjusting toe or heel heights I lost a bit of accuracy with the amount of material falling under the blade. It also had me thinking about how many passes to do going from one side of the road to the other.
Here are some pics of the grader, it was good to operate.

 

[michael james]

more pics

 

[hammerman]

Two days more and stop the problems,basicaly is the same,I think,some day I hope to take some lesson with graders...

 

[mitch504]

what are the plastic enclosures behind the wheels for?

 

[Motor Grader]

Rear tandems? That is the fuel tank Mitch. That happened around Tier 2 emissions if I remember correctly. I believe it to be an after thought.

 

[snapfruzen]

I would say usually longer is better, although on narrow little roads maybe not. On wider roads definitely, it can save you from having to come back to move a windrow that last couple of feet.

 

[mitch504]

I believe it to be an after thought.

You can say that again. Thanks, Bryan, I'da never guessed fuel tank.

My Austin-Western and Galion kinda predate that foolishness.:tong

 

[Grader4me]

Anyone out there got any opinions on moldboard lengths when maintenance grading gravel roads? I had to use a hire grader for a couple of days and it had a 14 ft blade on it, I've only ever used 12 ft blades, and l found it very different. Two things l noticed was that the front end wanted to move about a bit more, and when adjusting toe or heel heights I lost a bit of accuracy with the amount of material falling under the blade. It also had me thinking about how many passes to do going from one side of the road to the other.
Here are some pics of the grader, it was good to operate.

I started out with a 12 foot moldboard years ago, and yes it took some getting used to when we went to a 14 foot. I find with a 12 foot blade it was easier for shouldering and leveling asphalt. For grading a road I always preferred a 14 as you had more reach on the side cuts, especially in the spring of the year when the shoulders are soft. Makes a wider pass so at the end of the day it takes less passes to grade the road. All of our graders have a 14 foot blade now. Used to have a Cat 140g that had a 12 foot blade with an attachable 2 foot extension. I would switch back and forth when doing different applications. You'll get used to it after awhile....

 

[michael james]

Ok, thankyou all for the feedback.

 

[YellowIorn]

Moldboard Extention question

This post got me thinking, my old boss's had a 140G when I worked for him, when they bought it the machine came from up northern Maine and had a front plow frame, 2' left hand extention and wing on it. They had took all that stuff off and it sat in a pile behind the shop. We used the old girl almost excluisvly for fine grading roads and parking lots, 50% of the time we even layed out the type A gravel with the dozer. The 140 had the 14' moldboard, If it had the 2' left hand extention installed on it, would you be able to this type of work without issue? I'm asking because the way they mount them looks kind of weak and and I would think it would be harder on the circle and moldborad its self. I'm thankful for any info on Iorn people have, I have a lot of time in loader's, dozer's, and hoe's and have only got to play with a grader a little bit but I'm hooked

 

[Brandt]

My Austin-Western has a 13' board. I always thought it was a 12', until I had to buy replacement edges. I originally bought 2 6' edges and found out that one of them was a 7' edge.

 

[Grader4me]

This post got me thinking, my old boss's had a 140G when I worked for him, when they bought it the machine came from up northern Maine and had a front plow frame, 2' left hand extention and wing on it. They had took all that stuff off and it sat in a pile behind the shop. We used the old girl almost excluisvly for fine grading roads and parking lots, 50% of the time we even layed out the type A gravel with the dozer. The 140 had the 14' moldboard, If it had the 2' left hand extention installed on it, would you be able to this type of work without issue? I'm asking because the way they mount them looks kind of weak and and I would think it would be harder on the circle and moldborad its self. I'm thankful for any info on Iorn people have, I have a lot of time in loader's, dozer's, and hoe's and have only got to play with a grader a little bit but I'm hooked

Are you sure the 140g came with a 14' moldboard? Reason I'm asking is that with a 2' extension making it 16' seems as though it would be alot of blade for a 140. I had a 140g with the 12' blade and 2' extension. You have to be careful and not hook anything with the extension as it is the weakest link so to speak. I graded, leveled gravel, asphalt, ditched and had no problem. It just what you get used to as I said in my previous post. A 12' blade is more manuverable in tight places as you can place an get rid of your material quicker.

 

[smoothoperator]

If the 140G had been a township/county machine used for snow removal and light road maintenance, the 14'w/2'LH extension would make sense. Our county has used that setup for many years, dating back to #12 8T and 99E's from the '50's and '60's. The regular route machines would drop the extension in winter, because of lack of power to move snow, and not being able to narrow up when backing through a cut. Any heavy cuts in dirt were always done with the right side, to keep from bending the extension and brackets. Articulation, blade sideshift, and more power lets us leave out extension on into winter, if the operator wants to do so, but it is so much easier to work with 14'. With 16', we can 2-pass most of our township roads and 3-pass our county roads. Some counties even use 14' w/2' on both ends. Seems like that would get to be a little too long, but I guess whatever works for you is what's best.

smoothoperator

 

[mg140h]

our gaders come with 14' that we use for winter plowing then we put a 2' ext on for the summer, we cant wait to get them on. the 16' feet works great for pulling shoulders and blading the wider roads. Yes on narrow roads it can be alittle too long but you learn to work with it. I find that on roads less then apx 14' which are mainly dead ends that just putting a one way slope works great.

 

[hotrod49er]

We run with 16 ft kennametal blades. Works great for wide rds. Have a few roads that you still need to make extra pass to get to centerline.

 

[myeffy]

hmmmmm 14 now 143 equivelent to a 140 14 will grade much better but your on a stepper angle than a 12 get it ? right now if your on a grader you must have some brains ? am i right ? now what would you expect with a steper blade angle my son ? ( the reason im doing this is to teach you )

 

[myeffy]

oi were's your scarafires ?????

 

[myeffy]

ps i think when it comes to 6x6 i will leave it to john deere cause in my experiance Cats dont need it hahaha