ive read a number of posts here at HEF, from the operators who say, if you can run a gradall, you can run anything!dad always said that the motor grader was tough, but maybe he never tried the gradall. i think we would all like some feedback from you guys who keep our ditches dressed up! and perhaps other chores you guys do, that im ignorant to!
I run both a G3WD Gradall & Badger 670 along with a 12G grader. We also have a Gradall 660 but I havn't ran that personally. Back when we had the contract for a local VDOT residency, when building a road they would want the ditches pulled w/ a grader, picked up with an athey force feed loader, then the back slopes cut w/ a gradall to the right-of-way. Don't ask me why they wanted it done like that, but thats what I did for 3 years.
I ran gradalls 660,880s as well as the g1000 both track and truck mounted as well as a truck mounted badger 888. I also spent a good deal of time on Hopto excavators which have the same controls as the gradalls, less the center stick to rotate the boom. Some had the pilot controlls to run the truck carrier from the upper cab while others required an oiler to reposition the machine. I still have not had the pleasure of running one with joy sticks. All of the ones I ran were the two levers and four pedals, with two additional travel levers on eash side of the seat on the tracked machines. I did a lot of work with them in 3 states, Colorado, Arizona, and here in California. This was in the late 70s and 80s. Everything from ditching, sloping, structher excavation, as well as stripping falsework on bridge jobs. It was fairly easy for a competent gradall operator to find work. And I must say. I DONT MISS EM!
gdadall thanks for the feedback guys! we would sure like to here more!
Anybody ever ran a Case 1085B, Badger 1085C, or even Drot 40 Cruiz Air's? Those..machines are a nightmare! I ran them for quite some time before getting on the Gradalls, after the learning process it was a piece of cake compared to the Cruiz Airs. They're like wrestling an octopus.
Whats a gradall??
a gradall is a truck mounted unit that is somewhat like a back-hoe, or excavator, that mostly freshens up drainage ditches along rural roadways! did i put that right ,guys?
This would be a "classic" Gradall, there are several other variants. They also made some very good telehandlers IMOP.
a gradall is the only machine that kicked my butt. i would rather run a bucking bull.
If you think operating one of the god forsaken things is tough try repairing one of the steaming piles of dung........ Gradall is one of the lines we carry and I travel 2/3s of Indiana repairing them.... ointhead
We call that Job Security my friend. Ive spent a little time in a Gradall. I didnt have much trouble with them. They are a different animal to say the least. But I did enjoy my short stay in one non the less. Maybe it was that screamin jimmy behind me :beatsme
Thanks a lot.. that sure does look like a hard piece of equip to run.....
gradall so is gradall mostly community used for ditches!!! tell us more you guys who run them!!!!!!!!!!
I've done quite a few different things w/ a gradall. From digging soft spots in roads (asphalt has to be cut), i've knocked down a few trees with them (nothing bigger than like 8-10"). Put in driveway pipes in and shaped the entrance of them, a ton of rip rap put in ditches over like 300 foot long. When putting rip rap in ditches people love to beat the hell out of the stone w/ the bucket. I simply angle it to the angle I want, put slight down pressure and roll the bucket back and forth. It'll lay the rock down just as pretty as if you had hand placed it. Used them to dig out the top soil when installing turning lanes for the state. They're also great for cleaning out the back of truck beds, as long as you don't have to get in between the dog box and bed. But yeah, a majority of its life is committed to ditch work. You can easily crush a 4' x 15" pipe up by rolling it in the bucket and rolling it all the way up on a lot of models.
history http://www.gradall.com/history.html They bought LOED telehandlers in the early 80's and now sold it to JLG few years ago.
I personally hate Gradall's, especially working on them.
I think I see more of them in FL than anywhere else.
Yea, sadly
What makes them bad to work on? Hey if they keep ya busy better than no work.
Yea they do keep us busy, thankfully. Just trying to order parts and find info on them is such a pain since we have to go through a Gradall dealer, since we are a Cat dealer.
I preferred the crawler mounted machines to the truck mounted. Seems to me the crawlers were more stable and didn't throw you around in the cab so much. Gradall's used to be the standard for county road crews, don't see them so much any more, but they sort of took over from the cable backhoes for many years. I rented a Gradall in Maryland some years ago because of a change order on the ditches along the ROW. All the pavement and culverts were in place and some of the work involved long reaches to the bottom of fills or way out in soft ground. It was a rubber tired unit and I didn't like it. Neither did anyone else that ran it there.
I know everybody is getting tired of hearing me talk about running the Cruiz Air's. But those were a scary machine. If you had your boom straight out off the side w/ a load in your bucket all the way out the machine would tip untill the bucket hit the ground. I've had my fair share of those situations, i've even seen my brother tip the machine up on the corner of the tires on the side... you want to talk about scary. But the gradalls on the other hand are very stable machines. Since they don't have the giant sidewall tires that the Cruiz Air's had they just seem a lot more stable. I'd take a gradall any day over a Cruiz Air hands down, much simpler machine to run, and much more stable.
Gradall's are not bad machines we have been a dealer for a long time all though the old ones did leak a lot used to carry a box full of seals for the control valves. But the new ones are nice they now use all hi pressure hydraulics the same as all excavators and pilot controls so very few leaks
You don't see them much around here anymore, but they are pretty good for sloping and cleaning out swales.
Where did you find a picture of the D.F. Frangioso Gradall
2WD Gradall I never knew they made 2WD Gradalls until I saw this one. pretty cool little unit.
Thats still a 4WD, G3WD's came in both 2WD & 4WD. We've got 4 G3WDs currently and 2 are 4WD and 2 are 2WD. The 2WD ones are about a foot lower to the ground w/ no front rear just suspension.
If you see a gradall around here anymore, this is the common version. Our county still has one six wheel carrier, but has 2-3 of the 2 axle carriers. Any more most counties are switching over to standard machines, with wrist twist attachments. Ours is really starting to push this, but I think its because our county is doing actual road construction now. Instead of contracting ditch cleaning, culverts, pulverizing, grading, and paving of sections of roads, they are doing most themselves. About the only thing they contract out is the pulverizing. It takes them about twice as long to do a section of road. They usually do 15-20 miles of road in a season.
Thanks for the info :drinkup how do you guys like yours?
Yea, ours are doing a little more themselves too. However it is putting a hit on the smaller guys that used to contract for the city. I have seen quite a few newer 6 wheeler gradalls around here, they must be at least decent machines.
The Gradall G3WD is a common sight in my area.Our county highway department runs two of them.They are great for road ditching, and working under overhead power& telephone lines.Every piece of equipment has it's place ,and the gradall is made for road ditching.
They're a haaaaaaarddd machine to beat. You occasionally run into a few problems with the mother card & daughter cards in the front panel (under the front window) that controls everything getting to dusty/dirty and start acting funky. Like 1 & 2 in Forward and 1st in Reverse don't work when in Travel, and 1st doesn't work in remote. If you just simply remove the assembly and clean everything up with a fine brush (to get the bulk of dust off) and clean the entire area w/ alcohol & and a q-tip it goes on working fine. I can never figure it out on why they decide to act up whether it'd be dust around one of the buss's or what but removing and cleaning always helps (except for the last time on my personal G3WD which looks I-freakin-dentical to the one you posted). But i've got a spare 4WD set of daughter cards (replaced mother card) but I got tired of fooling with it and we went back to work. My G3WD had bocoup loads of power in the hydraulics. If you pulled it, that boom came in!
We have a xl 5100 and have used it for alot of different jobs from spreading loam,paving, box cutting roads , digging ponds, grading slabs and small parking lots, to back filling buildings and digging drain lines under over passes. the nicest part of ours is that you can drive it at highway speeds and still have a 325 sized machine
Excelent machines, Ive been running them for 25 years I started out on a 1960s G600 track mount and went to a 1970 660 and then a G3WD, by far the best Gradall ever made, the new 3100 that replaced the G3WD is a piece of junk compared to the G3WD. I have over 15000 hours in Gradalls, and you can do just about anything, the control you have with a G3WD is amazing , I can literly scratch your ass with one, pick up a quarter on the side of the road, use it as a dozer with just as much speed . but as with all machines , each one has it own pourpose, but if you could only have one machine, It should be a Gradall
Our department rented one years ago. It would go around the area doing ditching jobs. I'm not sure why they discontinued using it though. The operator did a really good job with it and covered alot of ground. I've never tried one but would like to someday.
WE were the dealer for them for years there factory support was not so good they were horible to work on the smaller hydrastacic ones 4 hyd drive motors steering cyls outriggers and blade oil running threw a swival valve you cant even see it would get so hot it would sieze up and twist the mounting bolts off then wind the hoses up. nice they are the cats behind for concrete breakout though
Gradall Hello. I very much like the gradall, except for the engine! Both the truck and the unit proper had the same engine yet the truck ran much quieter. As far as controls go, the first one I operated had 2 pedals for things that would get stuck all the time. The later machines are much nicer and I am a very happy operator with one. The only thing I like more is the crane, if perhaps only as I have done only around 500 lifts. I have a burning desire to be the best operator there is, I might not make it but I sure as hell am trying!
From the day i was born there has been a gradall in my yard. My father has been running gradalls since he was 17 and he will be turning 61 this may. I started running a gradall for my father when i was 17 aswell (last summer) and iam happy to say that i will be sitting in a telephone booth looking at truck tailgates for the rest of my life... We have an xl 5100 and 3 E 660's(one track mounted) and also im in the motion of picking up a 01 xl4100 that is absolute mint! Telerscopicr
we have one a xl4100 6 wheel drive and use it for brush and tree trimming with a shearer and a chipper. it will shear 10 in or so on most trees if it wont shear it straight up roll back and forth and close the jaw. they can pick up a bunch of weight also we use it to pick up the bigger stuff we cut with the chain saws, then feed to the chipper. works slick all the limbs when sheared fall right next to the boom hardly ever one gets away from the machine in any way. our operator of it is pretty good grabs small 1" limbs and dosn't cut them in to and places them next to the chipper for us off the bank
Well, Aloha- A friend brought his 10? (12 ton machine up to my mountain cabin in Hawaii and knocked down a 60' dead hardwood tree and use the bucket to clean the land of Wild Ginger that was crowding my house in moisture, as well as clearing 30' Jasmine Trees (weeds) and crush rock and lift up a couple of guys to pressure waqsh my roof. Also carried some cars down a four wheel drive road to the tow guys!
Just starting to learn on the gradall,,man whatsthe secreT haaaa,,
No secret, just time! My friend can help, maybe chat on the phone..he's happily married. I'm slow to respond this month on the Web. Aloha
Thanks,,,,d
Gradall I have been running a gradall for 15 years from a G3wd and current a XL3100 you name i might have done it. Dig ditches set driveways tear down houses clear trees. Love running a gradall. I have running the XL3100 for 6 years one thing about the Xl3100 you and switch the hyd lines so the controls will be like a cat or deere. You can do so many things with a gradall. Maybe I like to go over seas and find a job running a gradall.
You can do it!!!! I been running one for 15 plus years. I will take a bit you will get the hang of it.
I had never seen this thread before, but it's funny to find it now. We're actually trying to get the managers to OK the rental of a Gradall over this coming winter to clean out our shovel buckets.
The big advantage used to be that the bucket being mounted on a telescoping boom kind of made it unique but then they came out with aftermarket bucket swivels for excavators so their only advantage now is they can be driven on the street. It also usually takes an oiler and an operator to get some production.
Hey thanks a lot for the information!!!!
The have never used a oiler and operator around here and the other main advantage is you do not need so much overhead height to dump into a truck unlike a excavator you don't have part of the arm and boom sticking above the bucket
Ive ran a graddal XL4100 with a foresrty attatchment on it. It was nice, tricky to get use to thoe. But as soon as I got use to it and got in the swing of things things went smoothly. It just takes getting use to.
Hi Gradalls are the most versatile piece of equiptment in the construction industry. The g1000's I was taught on by my father and have run 3wd, 880c, 660e, xl 2300,xl3300xl4300. I run every other piece of equiptment out there to do with road building being at it for 30 plus years, and love the gradall. The new XL 4300 series II is my favorite to date, although I would love to get my hands on the new xl5300. The old gradalls were a bit of maintanece headache due to hoses mainly. The new xl series are much better and if the operator stays on the machine and has mechanical apptitude and takes some preventitive approach they are hardly ever down,usually cellenoids that have to be bypassed untill a new one arrives. I ran a xl3300 for over 8000 hrs and never bushed the bucket. They have over 30 grease fittings. You either love gradalls or hate them, but they save alot of labor work. I am looking for a company that is needing an experienced Gradall operator if anyone has some leads.
By old ones<how old are you talking about?
For grading purposes the Gradall will out do any other wheeled excavator.
This guy sort of knows what he is doing with a Gradall http://youtu.be/flbkoPmqX9A
exactly, in fact for any municipal or county type situation they cant be beat. I've run an xl3100 now for 10 yrs or so and love it but unfortunately its up for renewal and the higher ups want to replace it with conventional wheeled excavator. Don't think its a good idea. The Gradall moves from job to job quick and makes light work for labourers. Its not uncommon for us to be at 2 or 3 different locations in 1 day, each could be 15 miles apart.