Hello, I'm looking for a good grader attachment. I know Cat use to market a really good grader but seems they don't carry it anymore. Wondering what everyone else out there is using. Any input would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.
The attachment you are refering to I think was called a Patrol or something like that and it was not that great at all. CAT carried it but it was built by someone else. You sat in a forward seat with control levers that ran back to the skid steer, it looked like a circus act. I dont own one of these attachments but from appearance the Grrreater attachment is the best built. The company that made these was bought out by another and I cant remember who that is right now but a couple minutes on the Net should tell you who makes it. I watched a used and abused Grrreater attachment go through the Boise RB auction on the 7th for 4750.00 I was blown away. Although I would like one of these, that was not it. All the cylinders leaked, it was sloppy loose looked like it had 10000 hours on it. Couldn't believe it brought that kind of money. They used to be around 8K new. Likely more now. There are some lighter duty models like the one built by Palm which is the BC version, and QuickAttach builds one that is kinda interesting. It comes in pieces so you can use the blade only. Might want to look at that one, its a little more versatile. I think for one of these to have the most value they have to interface with the switches on the control handles of the host machine, so you can make moldboard changes at the touch of your controls. The versions that have the mechanical controls coming into the cab resulting in having to release the control handles to make changes to the board are not the way to go in my opinion.
Thanks, I'm looking for a grader like the one in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8-xM46bRt4 I believe this model is made in Italy, would like to find something similiar made in NA. Might have one custom made. Looking for something that I can run GPS on. We currently have a QuickAttach 6way blade, but would like something that can work stand alone with GPS and not have to integrate skidsteer loader hydraulics for auto blade height.
I have seen this before. There was a crew here in Ohio working on I-75 installing those cable barriers between the north and south lanes. They had semi loads of new Cat skids working that job. I bet they had 10 of those graders in use. I would try Ohio Cat in Troy Ohio. I think that company was renting those units from them. That attachment looks very expensive though..... Seems to me if you had a d3 or d4 dozer with the gps you would be much further ahead.
That is a good looking blade. Definetly not the one I have seen the CAT dealers selling around here. I really like the way the ends have the hydraulic plates on the allowing you to feather out the material or keep it in front of the blade. Great Idea. If you find someone selling that attachment in NA, be sure to post it on here. It does look expensive, I bet it a $15-17K new. I think its one of the nicest grader attachments I have seen. Especially since its all intergrated into the machine.