Questions About Motor Graders

[rbattelle]

Why do motor graders always seem to look like they have a massive camber problem with their front wheels? Example.



Do they have any kind of self-leveling systems that keep the blade level independent of the terrain?



I'm just curious.



-Ryan

 

[Nate]

I always wondered that too.



Google came up with this:



... the front wheels can be leaned right or left (up to about 18°-20º) to offset the load of material on the blade,

 

[BNakamura]

You can tilt the front wheels from side to side, I think it is for traction. I don't think they came up with a system to keep the blade level. It is controled by the operator. They have a laser level that beeps, but the operator has to control the blade, and they have GPS systems. I played with some of the regular ones with out the laser and the GPS and it takes alot of patience and skills. I don't like to do it daily, it gets stressful.

 

[rbattelle]

Fascinating. So the driver controls the wheel lean?



-Ryan

 

[Dl5treez]

Yes, it's an operator controlled function.

 

[Dl5treez]

Just the mold board can move 10 different ways... . between that ******* thing, keeping the wheels where they need to be, using the articulate, and if you're lucky like me (insert much sarcasm here) running a wing plow *and* and V-plow in the snow on an icy township road, well let's just say you either get good quick, or find out just how deep the snow in the ditch really is. :-laf



Not to mention the independent wheel brakes, hand throttle over-ride, front wheel assist, the clutch, picking a gear, VHP... ... ... . they can drive you to drink pretty quick.



Dan-

 

[Turbo Tim 1]

I watched this old boy operate a small one a while back that was quite impressive, a dump truck would come up, start dumping and drive away leaving a trail of dirt, the grader operator would drive up over the pile and start his magic. On the first pass everything was perfect and flat except for the small pile to the side of the blade, he'd back up and take care of the berm in one more pass. Pretty neat watching him and he wasn't moving slow either, he definantely had better motor skills than me! :-laf

 

[MKoth]

When the blade is angled to spread the dirt, gravel, etc, in the direction you want it to go, it outs a side load and tries to force the machine in a direction opposite the way the dirt is being forced.



Angling the wheels helps the front tires grip the ground better to counteract the force of the blade.



What gets really confusing, is if you learn to run a grader on a Cat, and switch to a Deere, or a Champion. They all usually have differnt control paterns, and can make things a little fun till you relearn what lever does what.

 

[BLillquist]

Grader wheel lean

They lean to counteract the the forces from the angled blade as tries to push the front wheels to the side. I was a heavy equipment operator in the army and ran Cat 130G'S.

 

[RDupree]

you learn to drive with your knees,working the levers with both hands,all the while watching the blade tips,the tree limbs,the fence,oncoming cars etc!its fun!

randy