This may sound like a silly question, but I've always wondered what the purpose of the front wheel tilt was? Does it increase traction to the front tires? I've watched graders work but have never operated one.
Ah! I can answer that one. Front wheel tilt is to aid in steering for making sharp turns etc. Also good when making a heavy cut, as you can lean your wheels toward the windrow to maintain better control of your grader. For example, you are blading your material to the right side, so this would have a tendency to push your front end to the left, so lean the wheels a bit to the right to overcome this, and you are not fighting with the steering wheel all the time. Also when you are ditching you lean your wheels to the high side for balance/steering/ etc. Hope this answers your question.
Not silly cause I don't know either although I think traction would be an answer because the corners of the tire would have more "bite" in that position. Oops typed too slow. Funny how I see the grader out here everyday and have never asked the operator that question.
I wondered about the steering radius. I kept working it out in my head trying to figure out if it helped but came up empty.
Being a grader man is just like a cat skinner its a skill that takes years to master. Many of the old farts I know cut their teeth on old 740 Champions and loosing their hearing from a screaming 6/71.
Old farts? Naw... I won't bite on that one :Banghead Seriously though...I wear two hearing aids due to hearing loss. This day and age the machines are sooo quite, but if you are operating older equipment that is loud..... wear hearing protection as I am living proof of what can happen if you don't.
The new machines are really quiet the days are gone with the screaming engines. The highways maintenance contractor has a near new Cat 14H grader has lots of power seen it running around yesterday.
I can contest to the hearing issue. two summers ago my 988F lost oil pressure and I had to run a 1970s 988. No airconditioning all the windows open, including the rear sliding window, oh yeah that was a roaring s.o.b.
It's not to bad if you are in a loud environment once in awhile. But day after day and year after year it can really sneak up on you. I was very foolish not to wear hearing protection. But you know hearing loss is painless and you think that heck it won't happen to me. Getting away from the original topic again...this thread highjacking is starting to get fun :yup
I'm sorry, can you please speak up?
:laugh Smart ass :laugh My god it's hard to be serious in this forum!
say what?
Try to prevent other members of this great forum from suffering hearing loss and this is what I get Hey Dwan how's the grader coming along? eh? what?
That was only partly in jest. If we were having this converstion in person, rather than typing over the internet, chances are I'd have asked you to repeat yourself several times already... I'll second what you've said. If you haven't already ruined your ears-- USE EAR PROTECTION!
And I took it in jest ...right on digger..and thanks for reinforcing this:thumbsup
I got the grader back inside today and now it is time for me to think about what I was doing. First to go is the hearing then the memory. I went to renew my hearing aids last November and the people @ Costco ware I get them did another hearing test. The results said I had a large air gap in my hearing. This means I can feel sound through my bones but cant hear it. They said they would not sell me any more aids till I seen a specialest. I made an appointment and they said my problem is correctable with sergery. Si I will be heading to the seattle area as soon as it quits snowing. I am deaf in 1 ear and can't hear out of the other LOL. They say by cutting some of the old bone out with a laser and replacing it with a plastic one I should be able to hear as well as I did when I was younger. Digital hearing aids in Alaska start around $3200 a pair and go all the way up to $9K @ Costco in Tacoma they run me $1800 for there top of the line. (a pair) Now if they could just replace the part of my brain that has to do with spelling???
i sat on a drott 50 with a 6v-53 screamtroit and a cracked exhaust manifold when younger for about 5000 hrs....huh, whad you say?
Holy crap hearing aids are expensive
It's great that your hearing loss can be fixed :thumbsup Mine can't, so I will just have to live with it. My hearing aids cost $3500 but I'm lucky because compensation pays for them. They also pay for all repairs, batteries etc. Your spelling is no worse than anyone elses here, me included.
i cun eeerr pufactlee...jus carnt undirstund wat yoos is seyin..coz wen i wiz a yunun i wiz werkin roun hi...hi...hisped.....veerie fust turbins...ana doc sez ize blowin outa bits of eeerin wat duz the deaf...the defun....Deefini...unnastannin off the werds. Soz no neetoo speecUP..jus turna bluddee Doof Doof muzac offf.
You need an apostrophe is "else's"... :wink2
:lmao :lmao :lmao You guy's are nuts
:Banghead (I'm not going to edit my post above, because that was an honest typo. I hate when I do that! I must be getting hard of seeing too...) :bouncegri
I have always heard that your hearing was the second thing to go.:bouncegri Ron G
With me it was 1. hearing 2. hair :crying 3. eyesite Next step...bone yard
Losing our eye site had nothing to do with running equipment. I was told when I was a teanager that other things caused that. As far as the hair goes he only part I have lost has ben the color. I think m mind will be next. What was this thread about? Dwan
Something about wheel tilt on a grader I think
Getting back on topic..although there was another important message that come from this thread (hearing protection) Here is a tip for you grader operators, that you might not know. When backing a grader up to turn around, lean the front wheels the opposite way to which you are turning. So if you are backing to a sharp left, lean your wheels hard right. This will allow the grader to turn easier and sharper. Strange but true.
Good to know but why do you think of things like this @ 5:15 am?
It's 7:15 here. I'm an early riser..always have been. My mind works better first thing in the morning. I begin to lose it as the day goes on...
Sorry I just guested at your time. it is 2:15 here and I was just checking the weather to see if I had to plow or sand this morning. By the way I don't have tilt on my machine unless I shake it real hard. LOL
Do I sense another project for your grader??:wink2
Lean wheel function on graders Hi, Folks. I too have noise induced hearing loss, sometimes called Industrial Deafness. I ackshully foun dit yoosefull wen I wuz m(h)arried. It seemed to cut in automatically when 'Honey' started nagging. Leaning grader wheels ackshully started on the rear wheels of towed graders from what I can gather. (Contrary to some people's opinions, I WAS NOT around in those days.) Then, when graders first became self-propelled, they were often based on a small crawler tractor which was driven into the grader frame and securely attached, with the various controls being connected to the operating station of the grader. When graders became self-propelled wheeled machines, it was easier to lean the front wheels which weren't driven than the rear wheels which were driven. However, many self-propelled wheel graders did not have lean wheels until the advent of tandem drive. Many of the early tandem drives did not have a differential. They were simply a solid axle between the two chain cases to maximise traction and this made them rather hard to turn sharply so leaning front wheels were the answer. 'Course, this also helped with keeping the grader on track when cutting heavy and when side cutting batters. I once had a job where I sometimes had to drive a grader various distances from job to job on the company's own winding single-lane dirt roads. I found it entertaining to see just how far I could go steering with only the lean of the front wheels on an old 21F Cat 12, flat out at 20 MPH. I never did miss a corner on roads where you could travel a normal 4wd drive vehicle at 40-45 MPH.
Really good information Deas...thanks. I would also see how far I could go just by using the lean wheel...always chickened out and grabbed the steering wheel when I met a car though. :yup
On Chickening out. Hi, Grader4me. I had one over you there. Where I was doing that, there were mostly only about 17 vehicles scattered over an area about 30 miles long by 2 miles wide. Twelve of those were Land Rovers and the other 5 were Bedford trucks, all single drive, four with tipping bodies and one tray top and it would be a VERY unusual day when ALL of them were out and about at once. In fact, there weren't normally enough people in the camp to put them all on the road at once. Traffic volume was what one might call 'light'. You are absolutely right about leaning the front wheels out on a reversing turn - works a treat. However, a lot of operators don't seem to be able to differentiate between leaning the wheels for the sake of leaning of them and only leaning them when there is a need for it. Tyre and steering component wear is accelerated somewhat by unnecessary use of the lean wheels in normal operation under light loads. Mind you, having just written the above about accelerated wear, I also had the rather perverted habit when sitting at traffic lights in a grader, of checking out the occupants of the cars alongside my front wheels. If there was a good looking sort in a car there, I would slowly lean the front wheels toward said car. I got quite a few startled looks, wondering if the front wheel was about to fall on her favourite car. Nasty type, aren't I? One of the very early discoveries about articulated graders was their ability to overcome/counteract loading on one side of the blade by turning the rear end toward that side. This has the effect of aiming the driving force more directly at the load. The front lean wheels may still be needed to counteract sideways drift at the front end, especially if the load is on the front corner (toe) of the blade, as when windrowing material out of a bank. Very useful ability. And it was worked out by operators on JD 570's and 670's before the 'G' series Cats even came on the market, at least DownUnder. Waal, I guess it's about time to get back to my (t)rusty hammock under yon shady tree.
:lmao Thats a good one.. We just discovered one of the most important reasons to have lean wheel on a grader.:notworthy
Teckernickel Information. Hi, Grader4me. There is some benefit in gathering all this teckernickel information and making these discoveries for yourself BUT it's of FAR greater benefit to the whole human race if, once you've done the gathering and discovering, you share it around.
Gathering & Sharing Right on Deas...You just keep on gathering, and keep on sharing with us here on HEF. I for one appreciate your knowledge and wisdom, and learn from each one of your posts.
Unfortunatley that assumes others are smart enough to listen
If Others Listen. Hi, Squizzy. Is your glass ALWAYS 'half empty'??????????????? Do you ALWAYS wear 'low beams' and take the dim view??????????? Do you ALWAYS take the cynical and/or pessimistic view????????????????? LOL. To be quite honest, Mate, it bothers me not at all whether people choose to listen, and maybe even learn, or not. I have no doubt that some people won't. On the other hand, I have met a LOT of people over the years who did listen, some even attentively. Whether or not they attempted to put any of it into practice is another matter. On top of that, my ways and ideas are NOT the only valid ones (if indeed they are valid) anywhere on the face of the Earth and people have every right to make their own choices about what is right for them. So, I will go on collecting information, experiences and ideas and disseminating them to those who want to listen and I will continue with good grace to allow them to do with it as they wish. Grader4me, I thank you for your kind words and I will turn them back at you too 'cos you also write some very interesting and informative posts. I have said this before but I will say it again because to me it is the WHOLE essence of operating earthmoving machinery. "The whole art of operating earthmoving machinery is in being able to set the blade or cutting edge to take the material from where you need to take it and put it where you need to put it, in the condition that it needs to be in, with the least possible effort in the shortest possible time." Th- Th- Th- Th- That's all, Folks. (Well-trained soapbox takes itself off back to its corner until the next time it's needed.)
ROFLMA my Beer is always half Empty I have great faith in the Fallibility of the human species...dogs on the other hand...they are much more reliable...and loyal...and punctual Very well put...so why do some humans manage to make it so difficult Lol And anyway...I always thought the tilt on the wheels was a directly proportional to how much suds the operator consumed the previous evening.:wink2 Remaining optimistic
Some Alternate Views. Hi, Squizzy. "my Beer is always half Empty." So finish the darned thing off and get a re-fill. Yer wastin' good drinkin' time. "Very well put...so why do some humans manage to make it so difficult." Simple. 'Cos they ain't read me yet. LOL. "There are few things in life that can't be fixed with a good hit over the head with a shovel." But a warm beer and a cold woman are two of them. You might change the shape of them by hitting them over the head with a shovel but they'll still be a warm beer (even if it is soaking into the ground, floorboards or carpet) and a (out) cold woman. "And anyway...I always thought the tilt on the wheels was a directly proportional to how much suds the operator consumed the previous evening." No, Squizzy. You are mistaking the 'tilt' of the drunken operator's body for the tilt of the lean wheels. Does the above answer your questions?
What the leaning wheels do is to nudge the weak power steering system into performance. This is coming from the owner of an A/C DD grader, and I oughta Know!:cool2 :cool2
That's a different use for the lean wheels:eek2 The best use so far has been this.. That one is priceless:naughty
What did they do before . . . . . .???????? Hi, DIYDave. Good point and quite valid for many types of power steering. How-wevver, I have one question for you. "WHAT did the leans wheel do BEFORE there was power steering???????? 'Cos even some of the old drawn graders with no 'donk' and NO power steering had lean wheels - way before power steering was ever fitted to powered graders. I vaguely remember that it was Adams that first fitted lean wheels to a grader and it WAS a drawn grader but I am open to correction on this.
Uses for lean wheels. Hi, Grader4me. Thanks for quoting my earlier post. It reminded me of another use for leans wheels. They don't do a real bad job at all of flicking chrome strips off the sides of cars whose drivers are silly enough to try to push the front wheels of the grader sideways in traffic. I had a car with 3 Vietnamese birds in it try this on me one day in city traffic. I was crossing a two lane bridge when the 'lady' (???) driver of this car decided to overtake my grader in the face of oncoming traffic. She suddenly realised that there wasn't enough space for her to achieve this feat, by which time she was about level with my front wheels. She veered towards my front wheels in an attempt to push her way in. (Silly woman - a 3/4 ton car against a 12 ton grader?????) I leaned the wheels slightly towards her car and the tyre lugs did the rest, flicking the chrome strips off the side of her car with gay abandon and taking the front door handle for good measure. That is not to mention the strange patterned black marks left on the side of her car. After 3 bounces off my front wheel she finally decided that discretion was the better part of valour, braked hard and pulled in behind me. With a little co-operation from the oncoming traffic, I forced her to stop and went back to discuss this matter with her. She was utterly panic-stricken and the last thing she wanted was for the police to be called - no driver's license?????? Maybe even no entry permit to Australia?????? I told her that unless she signed a statement saying that the incident was NOT my fault I was going to call the 'fuzz'. She wrote and signed the statement and handed it to me and I never heard any more about it. I have wondered from time to time though if she learned anything from the incident , not that it has cost me a great deal of sleep. And I still chuckle every time I think of her stupidity in thinking she was going to push the grader aside.
Hey Fellas , Not sure if it was mentioned in any other post ( sorry , haven't read them all but did like the hearing , or no hearing bit ) , but I found that by using the wheel lean I could make small corrections in my direction rather then using the steering wheel . Granted , this applies more for rough grading then fine because it can make a difference in elevation when you roll the wheels over . Also , I've gotten into the habit to whenever I grab the articulation lever I also position my hand to use the wheel lean lever as they work so well together . That bit of info wouldn't be so useful in a few years , as they ( Cat ) goes to the two joystick control system . Cheers , rob
Lean wheel uses. Hi, Blademan. I also found the lean wheels handy for dodging around pegs as I graded along the edge of a road way or whatever. Just lean the wheels away from the peg as you approach it and back toward it again after you've passed it. I once ran a 20 ton Austin Western 6x6x6 grader that had little thumb levers on each blade lift lever that operated the front wheel steering. That was a great idea too, for the same reason as well as a couple of others.