New Operator

[turkelton919]

Hello all,
I work for a municipality and the other two members of the highway crew have resigned. The last couple weeks I have been trying to get the hang of our grader. It’s a 1992 jd 672B. I’ve searched through the posts on here and have been able to answer most questions I have about the basic operation. On your first pass do you guys float the toe side and raise the heel to start your windrow or do you cut a couple inches off the entire length of the road and row that up then carry it back across and fill in what you just cut out? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[sled dog]

Turkel, I can only tell you how I was taught long ago. First, that blade is like a kids teeter totter, if the toe goes up, the heel goes down. The old blademan that showed me said do your cutting with the toe, spread with the heel. Get moving, set your toe to cut what you need, then let it ride and work the heel. I 'member my first pass trying to work both ends constantly, and he smacked my hand each time I moved the toe! I guess most important, think about what you want to do, and how you want it to look, then work every pass to get it to that point.

 

[20/80]

Welcome to grading, what type of material are you dealing with? gravel? older clay with some gravel? or just clay road with rocks through it? also did the previous operator cut the roads to the edge of the ditch or are you dealing with a sodded shoulder with gravel pushed up into it, how wide of roads are you dealing with also.

 

[turkelton919]

Thanks for the advice! I’ve been setting my toe to cut about 2-4” and my heel about an inch higher than the established crown on my first passes. Then on the 2nd passes I’ll turn my angle a little straighter and go a little quicker to fill in what I just cut out trying not to leave an edge on the ditch side and leaving enough in my windrow to work the other lane.

 

[turkelton919]

20/80 our roads are mostly 3/4 minus gravel hardpack some areas are pretty thin and I’ve ended up pulling a lot of rocks anywhere from 3 to 18” diameter. About 50% of our roads have sod shoulder sometimes higher than the ditch line. The width varies from 14 feet on our narrowest road to approximately 28 feet on our biggest.

 

[cuttin edge]

Filling potholes is just a temporary fix. When possible you need to cut them out. Not sure what you mean about floating the heel. As long as you're not actually putting it in the float position. I find it important to always be in control. Don't grade with the MB all the way back, or straight up and down. I always start being able to see the back of the cuttin edge. Once you start, you can roll the blade ahead, or back to find that sweet spot where she really cuts good. Also, a blade that rolled ahead (not all the way) will lift as you roll it back. That way to don't have to change the position of the heel or toe. If the machine is equipped with nitrogen cylinders, and they work, use them, until you memorize the position of all the big rocks.

 

[turkelton919]

Filling potholes is just a temporary fix. When possible you need to cut them out. Not sure what you mean about floating the heel. As long as you're not actually putting it in the float position. I find it important to always be in control. Don't grade with the MB all the way back, or straight up and down. I always start being able to see the back of the cuttin edge. Once you start, you can roll the blade ahead, or back to find that sweet spot where she really cuts good. Also, a blade that rolled ahead (not all the way) will lift as you roll it back. That way to don't have to change the position of the heel or toe. If the machine is equipped with nitrogen cylinders, and they work, use them, until you memorize the position of all the big rocks.

As far as pitch goes I’ve been starting with the top of my mb about an inch ahead of my cutting edge (carbide bits) then usually adjust forward a little more til I get a nice rolling action. The ditch side of my blade has usually been in float position depending on how soft the shoulder is. The opposite side towards the crown / center of the road I’ve been setting about an inch or two higher than the existing crown and trying to lay a windrow a little past the center point. I’m sorry if I’m not using the right wording or explaining it very well this is all pretty new to me.

 

[20/80]

Keep in mind that you have to let the water be able to get off the road, by using a crown and keeping the shoulders clear so water can flow away into the ditch, having sodded shoulders traps the water keeping your shoulders soft, also you can't finish out your crown and get rid of the rocks easily, I use the carbide bit (stingers) also, make sure they are kept in good shape or you will jam rocks between the bits, with stingers all the way back then ahead 1/3 to set your blade for cutting and spreading, how many miles on average are you doing a day?

 

[turkelton919]

Thanks for the reply! I will try and get some pictures to give you guys a better idea of what I’ve been doing. I’ll definitely try the 1/3 trick for my pitch today. I’ve probably been doing 5- 6 miles a day then York raking after to tidy things up a bit. With just me I’ve been having to leave enough time to drive the grader back to the shop and plan on time to rake so haven’t been able to get as much done as I would like to.

 

[20/80]

Thanks for the reply! I will try and get some pictures to give you guys a better idea of what I’ve been doing. I’ll definitely try the 1/3 trick for my pitch today. I’ve probably been doing 5- 6 miles a day then York raking after to tidy things up a bit. With just me I’ve been having to leave enough time to drive the grader back to the shop and plan on time to rake so haven’t been able to get as much done as I would like to.

Pic's would be nice, we are expected to do between 3-5 miles a day, 60ft wide roads, some are narrower 45' at the least, your widths I could see 5-6 miles easy done properly, I usually cut and get set up for spreading in the morning, then spread all afternoon, I have 60 roads I look after plus a few private jobs, I try to get three rounds on them before they freeze up.

 

[20/80]

Here's a pic of one of my Roads on my 140h

 

[turkelton919]

Here’s a couple photos of the day after grading. I meant to get some today but I blew a hose on my first pass. Rolling the moldboard forward gave me a really nice rolling action and helped move the material into a windrow. I’ve been doing a pass down and back to cut down the potholes and generate my material. On the next pass is when I have trouble. I’ve been working my material back across the lane filling in what I just cut but I’m having trouble keeping my crown nice I always seem to get a couple spots where my crown is higher on one side than the other.

 

[20/80]

Nice pics, not much for ditches, do you have a 12ft blade or 14ft?

 

[turkelton919]

I believe it’s a 12 footer. A lot of our roads are lacking as far as ditches. The one picture with a “ditch” was where I tried to at least make a spot for the water instead of it cutting down the side of the road. Once it dries out a little around here I’m going to make another attempt.

 

[skyking1]

Not a blade man, but I agree that the ditches are a thing. As you settle into this routine, maybe think about making time for serious ditch work on the worst sections. Can you man up for projects like that? Get other pieces involved, a loader and truck?
You can get those big rocks up and gone when you are fixing the ditches.

 

[20/80]

I thought you might be running a 12 footer, yes it has been wet here this year also, ditches did not really dry up compared to the last couple of summers, I also learned on a 12 footer, they are great for narrower roads, sorry for all the questions but needed to know what your dealing with before giving you some thoughts to help you.

 

[turkelton919]

Not a blade man, but I agree that the ditches are a thing. As you settle into this routine, maybe think about making time for serious ditch work on the worst sections. Can you man up for projects like that? Get other pieces involved, a loader and truck?
You can get those big rocks up and gone when you are fixing the ditches.

I would love to have the time and manpower to be able to reditch the entire town. Right now it’s only me in the highway dept so I’m kind of limited to one piece of equipment at a time. Once I finish up this round of grading I’m going to do some running around with the excavator and get as much as I can done. I think my problem ditching with the grader last time was it was very wet and I didn’t articulate my tandems to keep them in the road. I managed to get the machine stuck at least twice.

 

[turkelton919]

I thought you might be running a 12 footer, yes it has been wet here this year also, ditches did not really dry up compared to the last couple of summers, I also learned on a 12 footer, they are great for narrower roads, sorry for all the questions but needed to know what your dealing with before giving you some thoughts to help you.

Haha with our little goat paths I can’t imagine trying to do it with anything bigger. A couple of our roads are only 14 wide and I’ve found it challenging to get a nice crown with only half the blade. No worries about questions it’s all part of the thought process. I appreciate you guys taking the time to offer your advice.

 

[cuttin edge]

Here's a pic of one of my Roads on my 140h View attachment 243632

That's the trans Canada compared to anything I have to do for maintainence. I did one on the long weekend with no fines, and big rocks. Your road looks like you're getting ready for pave. Nice job. Wife was down to her homeland that weekend for Nova Scotia pizza and donairs.

 

[cuttin edge]

Here’s a couple photos of the day after grading. I meant to get some today but I blew a hose on my first pass. Rolling the moldboard forward gave me a really nice rolling action and helped move the material into a windrow. I’ve been doing a pass down and back to cut down the potholes and generate my material. On the next pass is when I have trouble. I’ve been working my material back across the lane filling in what I just cut but I’m having trouble keeping my crown nice I always seem to get a couple spots where my crown is higher on one side than the other.

Looks good for a newbie. Keep it up.