Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Road Graders

Update: I have found a more extensive history of road graders.

Glen Miller posted
For $95 you could be in the road grading business in the 1890's.

Two road grader pictures in one day means it is time to post what I have on road graders. You don't see them very often anymore because most country gravel roads have been paved with asphalt.

I wonder if this plant in Marseilles was still using water power, or it they had converted to a steam engine.  I assume this plant used shafts, pulleys, and belts. The 1890s is too early for an existing plant to have been built using electricity.

Glen Miller posted
Another 1890 grader that is horse drawn. Since Carroll Avenue is along the Milwaukee Road, I assume it had an industrial spur.

See below for a 1948 vintage grader.

I now have a separate article on the Austin Western Road Machinery Co.

Best Machines posted
Fred Schuster: Need a caterpillar !
Stu Purser: Fred Schuster I absolutely agree with you after 55 years on Cat machines but man does John Deere make a nice machine!!
Tony Young: Stu Purser it’s nice because they copied the CAT H-Series Grader.
Stu Purser: Tony Young That's correct they also copied very closely the original 1973 Cat machines of the day when the famous G series was introduce they were a marvel. The John Deere copies were the 772BH series and were incredible as well. Many long hours on both.
Highway Engineering Discoveries posted
Before & Now
 
Kelly E McClanahan commented on the Highway Engineering Discoveries' post
Here is a "barn find" that saw.

Jesus Rabelo commented on the above photo

1937 Cat Grader
To quote the reference in the caption: "There was no hydraulic system. The blade was managed by dog clutches and drive shafts turning pinions on racks, and the brakes were mechanical." Reading how a little gas engine was used to start the main diesel engine was fascinating. Note only did the driver have to hand crank the gas engine, he had to climb up on a wheel to manipulate three levers that controlled the compression, clutch, and starter pinion. He then had to let it run 1-20 minutes depending how cold the weather was and go into the cab to open the throttle. There are several more pictures of the grader on the referenced web page.

1948 Austin-Western
Austin-Western was a pioneer of using hydraulics to control the blade. Cat used two axles in the back and one in the front. A-W used just one axle in the back and it steered both axles so it was much better suited for working tight spaces such as parking lots. They also introduced front wheel drive.

When I wrote 8 to 3 tractor companies, I learned that we are left with John Deere, IHcase, and Massey Ferguson dealers. While in Florida, I went to what the Massey Ferguson web site said was a dealer in Plant City. When I got there I learned it was a construction equipment dealer with various brands such as John Deere and CAT.
When I came across a used Fiat-Allis road grader, I was reminded that Allis-Chalmers was one of the brands folded into Massey Ferguson. The Fiat-Allis brand was used from 1974 to the early 1980s (tractors.wikia)

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They also had a modern John Deere.

HWequipment provides a timeline of the graders development.

Update: a video showing road graders in action. Note the slanted steering wheels to help offset the sideways thrust of the blade pushing the dirt to the side.

Rick LaBonte posted
Update:
Beau Henderson Allis Chalmers 6-12 motor cultivator.

Richard M. Gaskill Taken near Eureka in northern California this view features the Russell Grader - one of the more popular graders of its time.After beginning with horse-drawn graders, the Russell company made the transition to gasoline power by providing their grader mechanisms to several tractor companies, who outfitted the graders with their engines. Besides Allis-Chalmers, the Caterpillar company also adapted Russell Graders for gasoline power. In the late 1920s Caterpillar bought the Russell company, and began making the graders under their own nameplate.

Brian Trimble provided a link for the Model 6-12.


Zac Breazeale posted
Doing some road grading yesterday in New Raymer

NZ Contractor magazine posted
Classic Machine shots from our archives- this photo accompanied the Caterpillar No.12 motor grader profile that ran in our October 2017 edition.
Darwin Moulton: I remember riding many miles on the back of one of those graders back in the day. Ours had been updated with rubber tires being mounted on all 4 wheels, the tongue had an offset chain setup so the tow vehicle stayed on the solid level ground while the grader could offset to clean out ditches or the soft shoulders of the road in the spring in New Hampshire. It made for a long and exhausting day turning all the hand crank wheels to raise and lower the blade as well as offset and straighten out the travel of the grader.
Jim Scrivner: I got to ride on the tractor with my Dad. I knew we were going to turn over on the backstop. Best I remember a Wisconsin engine ran hydraulics on the grader. Was about mid fifties
[It looks like this one uses hydraulic power to lift the blade. But other adjustments are still done with hand crank wheels.]

John W. Coke posted
[I had never seen a grader for more than one lane of traffic before. I wonder if this is intended for doing both lanes of a divided 4-lane highway or for a mining operation.]
A video of a dealer's sample. One reason for saving this link is that it also includes some hit-miss engines operating along the side.

A video of a 25M pushing dirt during its test run. I noticed that its model number is one more than the 24M above :-)

Steven Large posted, cropped
The first of many Caterpillar 24H graders that I hauled.
In 1997ish.
It was sitting in a yard near Elko Nevada and had been taken over by Cat Finance or RDI and was sold to Klemke Construction from Fort McMurray Alberta.
The machine was still all together and we had to disassemble it to get the weight down to transport it but the customer didn’t have any contacts in the Elko area to set up the dismantling and cranes to load the machine, so with the help of our heavy haul fleet manager to secure the proper permits and pilot vehicles and another heavy haul guru that had done lots of it but had recently came into the office, we came up with a plan and I went down to Elko to get it.
Idaho had some restrictions on that was complicating things but once we knew the route and the weight we could permit, we hired a local mechanic with his service truck and a small forklift and in a couple hours, we had it taken apart and loaded on this Aspen 9 axle and a flatdeck to haul the wheels/tires, mouldboard, ripper and pushblock.
Judy Jones from Belgrade Montana was my pilot and a couple days later, Klemke was putting it back together and put it to work.
If there are any Cat fans interested, it weighed just under 110000# plus the load of parts.
I think the machine was s/n 7KK00036.    It was a good job! 
Tim Combs: Operated an O&K 9630 back in the day. About 10% larger than a 24,moldboard was 5' x 30'.

Legendary Machinery posted
Brian Rupert: I ran a CAT 140 and it was amazing the control you have. With small adjustments you could cut the roads to control water run off. It took some practice but miles of quarry roads I became the master.😁 LoL
Danny Jeffrey: Don't stand up quick. Bad headache!!
Dennis Melnychuk
UG20K Motor Grader
GVM* 15,000 kg
Engine model Cat C7 ACERT™ TIER 2
Gross power SAE J1995 108 kW / 145 hp
Frame articulation left/right 20 degrees
Steering range left/right 47.5 degrees
Turning circle inner/outer 60/227” 1524 / 5766 mm
Overall length (shortened spine) 26 ft 0.2 in 7930 mm
Width over front tyres 96.4” 2449 mm
Tyres 14.00 x 24 Triangle 12 ply E2 Tubeless
Modified 120k for underground [It has a lower profile.]

Old & Vintage Machinery added to an album
[There are several other examples of graders in the album that use hydraulic motors instead of rams.]

Roger Alderman commented on above posting
Benjamin Davis commented on above posting
Mark Haby commented on a posting
This towed unit appeared on the side of the road in the district where I work. After sitting there for a couple of years it just as mysteriously vanished again.

At the 2016 Will County Threshermen's Show they had an Allis-Chalmers M 100 road grader. Note that this is an older design because everything is done with either hydraulic motors or "arm strong" shafts except moving the blade from side to side. That has a hydraulic cylinder. The shaft along the top of the box beam frame is obviously for stearing. The shaft along the right side of the beam (see second and third photos) is probably to adjust the tilt of the front wheels.

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Forest Preserve District of DuPage County posted two photos with the comment:
The District's Fleet recently completed a total refurbishment of their oldest piece of equipment – the 1976 John Deere Grader. 
🟩 The sandblasting and repainting were paid for by the American Lung Association’s B20 Club to help promote the use of biodiesel to other government agencies. 
🟩 Fleet Management replaced the seat, fan, wipers, hydraulic lines, and upgraded to LED lighting. 
🟩 Facility Management’s Sign Shop replicated the old District logo and printed out new decals for it. 
🟩 Grounds crew transported the Grader to and from various worksites.
A true group effort with some remarkable results. In addition to looking ‘pretty’, the refurbishment will ensure that the Grader will get many more years of life for use by our Roads crew. We look forward to displaying the Grader at local Green events and Touch-a-Truck events next year to showcase the District’s biodiesel usage in all of our diesel equipment.
Forest Preserve District of DuPage County: Currently 95% of the District’s fleet of more than 170 vehicles is powered by alternative fuels — liquefied petroleum gas, compressed natural gas, ethanol, biodiesel, hybrid electric, and electric. Learn more:
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NA Contractor magazine posted
Classic Machine shots from our archives- this photo accompanied the Caterpillar No.12 motor grader profile that ran in our October 2017 edition.
Jeff Hockett: They slicked that steering box up with the 12E...that was the best grade-cutting machine Caterpillar ever made. Just my humble opinion of course 🤭

NA Contractor magazine posted
Classic Machine shots from our archives- this photo accompanied the Caterpillar No.12 motor grader profile that ran in our October 2017 edition.
John Boyd: My uncle ran over my cousin's midsection with a Cat 12. He pissed blood for a few days and they recovered completely.
 
NA Contractor magazine posted
Classic Machine shots from our archives- this photo accompanied the Caterpillar No.12 motor grader profile that ran in our October 2017 edition.
Comments on the above post

Brad Young posted
Notice that there are no hydraulics, just "armstrong!"
posting, bad language in comments

posting, bad language in comments

posting, bad language in comments



Screnshot
Tim Tuel Once you use joysticks on a CAT you won't even want to drive this antique!
Kevin Thomas An updated and improved, operator designed, joystick option is now available on John Deere Motorgraders.
Bruce Robinson After running the new CAT I have to say JD Is much better.
Jeff Douglas Hey Paxton Robinson. You ever seen a grader exactly like that one going down the road moving that much dirt??
Dale W Funkhouser Lol nice sand he's moving round.
Richard Surrency Austyn Surrency that's me run that grader in that video.
Todd Marshall John Deere. Over priced and overrated.
Justin Elliott You spelled Cat wrong!
David Jr Firth Junk

Machinery Planet posted
A John Deere 872GP Motor Grader

I've seen this photo before, but I guess I didn't save it then. 
Construction Machines posted
Nicholas Patient: Does it stand like this?
Chris Turner: Nicholas Patient Yes. Until weathering which causes the sharp top corner to crumble and fill the ditch line. Then it’s time to grade it again.
Ml Hatch: I was never that good. The best to this operator.

10:59 video
16G was Cat's "flagship model" (biggest?) when it was introduced in 1973.

Best Machines posted, cropped

Embedded photo of video of largest in the world
Legendary Machinery posted
Francis McIvor: I remember reading about theese massive machines the were a special order for Libya but the orders were canceled due to trade restrictions and the machines remained in Italy ??
Gary Erskine: Was to be exported to Libya but after the Lockerbie crash Libya was deemed a threat and all exports were stopped.

Best Machines posted

Rudi Suryo commented on the above post
I think this 14 H is already big....just know 24 H was much more bigger.

Big graders need big trucks.
Heavy duty machinery operators posted
Kurt McDermott: 24H

The cab is a lot lower on this one.
Dirty Machines posted

This was posted in a snow removal group.
Garry Desjardine posted
Champion made this "Little Fella" to strip gravel pits. The mo-board was 5 feet tall. They had it in the 100 year Town Anniversary of Goderich Ontario Canada where Champion then had a Plant.
[A comment points out that the guys indicate the blade is taller. A comment says the blade is 24'.]
Shawn Marcil: Champion was the best grader ever! Such a shame Volvo bought them, took credit for all their innovations, then discontinued them. But that's Volvo. Look what they did to Euclid, Michigan, Mack, Autocar, etc.

Kjell Oystein Kirkeluten commented on Garry's post
Kjell Oystein Kirkeluten: There's one i Norway too, placed in Mo i Rana

One need not put "Little Fella" in quotes for this one.
Machine World posted

Matt Rauch: Operated a lot of different graders in my time and that one takes the cake when it comes to no visibility to see the mow board.

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