Shoulder grading,

[michael james]

Hi there, any of you guys out there do any sealed road shoulder grading, and just wondering how many miles\kms of road do you do in, 10 hours?
Also, does any one run a windrow eliminater behind a grader doing shoulders, I do, some times I like it, some times its a pain, any thoughts on them.

 

[Greg]

Here in Dane County shoulder grading is quite an ordeal. Tractor with a disk attachment lossens it up, grader no. 1 throws it in, grader no. 2 throws it back out, wobble wheel roller packs it back down, tractor with broom sweeps up and escort truck after that keeps everyone alert as to the four units ahead of it. Our tax dollars at work!!

 

[michael james]

Here in Dane County shoulder grading is quite an ordeal. Tractor with a disk attachment lossens it up, grader no. 1 throws it in, grader no. 2 throws it back out, wobble wheel roller packs it back down, tractor with broom sweeps up and escort truck after that keeps everyone alert as to the four units ahead of it. Our tax dollars at work!!

G'day Greg, thats quite a procession of plant moving along the road, good decision having an escort vehicle traveling behind. WE tried the two graders working together, both running free rollers on the back of each machine and found it very productive, unfortunately we only have two graders in our shire so it wasn't to be. We always have to have one doing gravel roads. Thank you for that info.
Mick.

 

[Grader4me]

We do this with the 2 graders as well. One hauling out and the other pushing back, with the power broom and roller following behind. We work 2 km stretches so we are not moving our signs so much. Still, when you have all that machinery on the road it can be hectic at times with the traffic.
I've also done it by myself but its so much better with the 2 graders. Only downfall is if the operator on the second grader is inexperienced the quality of the job isn't as good, and it reflects back on you. Experienced that before but I went back over the whole road myself and doctored it up.

 

[michael james]

We do this with the 2 graders as well. One hauling out and the other pushing back, with the power broom and roller following behind. We work 2 km stretches so we are not moving our signs so much. Still, when you have all that machinery on the road it can be hectic at times with the traffic.
I've also done it by myself but its so much better with the 2 graders. Only downfall is if the operator on the second grader is inexperienced the quality of the job isn't as good, and it reflects back on you. Experienced that before but I went back over the whole road myself and doctored it up.

We used to grade shoulders with one grader only,(exposed windrow and 2 km road signs), but for saftey reasons we had to alter our practices. Now I run with a windrow eliminator attached to the rippers. The windrow stays on the inside of the rear grader tyres and the eliminator grades it back out at a specified fall, a small gear driven broom sweeps behind the blade. The whole unit is classified as a mobile work site so with flashing lights, we don't need signs, however if we have winding or hilly sections of road we still use warning signs. Unfortunately we don't always have the pleasure of a roller for compaction much to my disgust. Suprisingly the shoulder material does conslidate givin time.

 

[Grader4me]

We have the same rules as you concerning moving operations, but with this particular operation (all the equipment) there is nothing defined. If we had just one or two machines going continuously with the flashing lights, slow moving emblems etc. then we wouldn't require signage.
I brought this up with the traffic & maintenance department and they were supposed to include the proper signage diagram (or not having to use signs) in our manual. Hasn't happened yet, so to err on the side of CYA we set up the signs and work the 2 km rule.
The windrow eliminator would definitely be the answer as the less machinery on the road the better. Wish I could talk them into that.

Michael, do you have any pictures of your windrow eliminator?

 

[michael james]

We have the same rules as you concerning moving operations, but with this particular operation (all the equipment) there is nothing defined. If we had just one or two machines going continuously with the flashing lights, slow moving emblems etc. then we wouldn't require signage.
I brought this up with the traffic & maintenance department and they were supposed to include the proper signage diagram (or not having to use signs) in our manual. Hasn't happened yet, so to err on the side of CYA we set up the signs and work the 2 km rule.
The windrow eliminator would definitely be the answer as the less machinery on the road the better. Wish I could talk them into that.

Michael, do you have any pictures of your windrow eliminator?

Hi Graderforme,
At the moment I don't have any pictures of it but I will get some and put them up. The unit is very basic(primitive), it was designed that way so that it could be quick detachable. To take existing roller off and to put the unit on only takes about ten minutes. There are no hydraulic lines to fit, the broom is gear driven. the turn table and other settings are done manually, also to alter height of heel end can be done using ripper lever. there are some wheels near the heel end behind the blade running on the newly formed shoulder material to help stabilize everything, and the toe end just sits on sealed edge collecting windrow. Its a bit hard to explain everything but it all seems to work.
Will be putting it on in a couple of weeks to start shoulder program so I will get some pics then. A neighboring shire has an eliminator as well, mounting it means taking off the ripper assembly and it has many hydraulic functions, taking most of one day to set up. It is very good but to get one built will cost just over $100,000 dollars, a bit to much for our council to put the money up.
Have a good day,
Mick.

 

[Grader4me]

I'll look forward to the pictures, and if you can would you mind taking some pictures of it at work and the finished product? Not asking for much am I? lol..
If I had some pictures it might help me talk my department into purchasing one, as we do this type of work quite a bit. Thanks!

 

[MKTEF]

G4me, You have seen ours some times...
This type of work is exactly what we use it for.(one of the areas)
When snow disapears, i'll try to get some more videos of it in this type of aplication.
The fine with winterblades on it is that the gravel goes through, and the roots and beer cans go into the ditch...lol..

 

[Grader4me]

Hi MKTEF..how are ya? Yes I seen the pictures of yours and if you can post a video then that would be great. I'm interested in seeing the "Primitive one" as Michael described. As ya know I'm a primitive guy myself...lol
Good to see you posting again...

 

[MKTEF]

You know, it goes up and down

Right now the snow and ice is melting. I'd say grading season is low right now.

Had som grader operators(20 y in seat) on a visit last week. They said we had great machines and that i should have been a salesman. They had not met anybody that had so much tech knowledge about their grader...
I'm claiming a % if they buy a new grader from the salesman...

And i've been on a trip to Afghanistan. They need som upgrading of a base out in the woods. That has made me work day and night planning for the upgrade of their base.

Even had a look at our last Champion, it needs som TLC and new batteries. Yes i tried to fire her up...no luck..
I'll have to put my rumpsteak more often into our graders...Office work sucks.

 

[michael james]

G4me,
I can do that, no worries, and I should be able to get pictures of our neighboring shires more elaborate set up as well.
Mick.

 

[michael james]

pic' of eliminator

Grader4me.
here are the pic's l said l would get about the windrow eliminator, l got delayed with lots of flood work and l've only just started the shoulder grading program.

Before and during the road shoulder work;

 

[michael james]

no pictures, l'll try again.

 

[michael james]

a few more

 

[michael james]

a few more

 

[michael james]

more pics

 

[michael james]

some pictures of the result

 

[michael james]

more pics

 

[michael james]

how the eliminator is attached and working parts.