hi, After making a not so good looking job of my parking lot with a box blade, I started looking for a better way to keep the parking lot nice. Looking for some type oif hydraulic attachment for the tractor, saw a Grader is for sale about 20 minutes from me. It's a Galion 118. I looked and it needs some work. Power steering has an issue, brakes don't work and the hydraulic oil is milky. Tires are good, Cummins started right up. Casting date on the block is 1960. Everything hydraulic seems to work. Price is about the same as buying a hydraulic blade attachment for the tractor. After doing some research on grader operation, I have noticed this particular 118 does not have hydraulic pitch adjustment. Pitch is manual. Is manual pitch a deterrent? Or can hydraulic be added for the pitch? There doesn't seem to be much info around on the Galion 118. Is there a place I haven't found that has info? Any thoughts about a 1960 Galion grader? thanks, Mark
It's just one of those things that was added over the years. At one time a dozer blade didn't tilt side to side. If you have never run a grader with blade roll, then you won't miss it. Never been around this model, but if it's only for personal use, and not a production machine, might be fine. No idea what getting parts for them is like. Just be aware that if you have never owned heavy equipment, that repairs can be expensive, and as I tell all new grader operators, that unlike most machines, you can hit the machine with the MB, or blade, and it can do some damage, especially tires.
Galion graders were the cream of the crop in their day. Unfortunately a 118 is at least 50 years old with almost no parts support to speak of. When Dresser bought out Galion Iron Works, it was business as usual in Galion Ohio at the factory. Fast forward 25 years or so and Komatsu ends up with Galion in the typical corporate fashion, and now they have an odd manufacturer of graders, art-deco rollers, and hydraulic cranes. As far as I know the Galion brand exists in name only. You may still be able to get a few things through Komatsu, but finding a parts person who knows how to look up the parts is difficult.
Thanks for the replies. Was the 118 ever available with hydraulic blade pitch? I wonder if anyone is parting out a 118. Or is there any type of salvage yard for this stuff? This one is close to home which is a big plus. A scarifier would be nice, but it isn't a requirement. Hydraulic pitch seems to be a big convenience if you are reforming a dirt parking lot. I know the guys selling the machine and they are good guys.....certainly reasonable on price. Darn.....decisions.
For what you are talking about using it, I would not worry about a hydraulic pitch. FWD
Like the others have said, hyd pitch control is nice but not a necessity. I think you’re going to have a time maneuvering a 13’ blade machine doing a parking lot. I would keep looking for a smaller machine personally.
Today, I committed to purchase the 118. On ebay I found original Galion parts manual and operating manual. This week I will be handing over some money and then picking up the machine. Only two towns away, I could probably drive it home. Without power steering and no brakes, I think it would be much better to have it hauled. Luckily, my trucker friend lives just up the road from where the grader is located. Yes, this machine is probably a bit big for the parking lot I take care of. At the same time, a P&H H312 excavator is a bit big for use around the house. While a mini is sufficient, the P&H was 6 times the excavator for a 1/4 the price. This Galion is a complete machine at the price of a hydraulic tractor attachment. thanks, Mark
Today I went down to fiddle with the grader a bit. Topped off the oil. Put in a new battery. It started with a sniff of ether. Not bad since it was 7 degrees this morning. I found the serial number of the machine. 1 -C-02823. Can anyone make sense of this serial number to determine what year this machine is? I have the feeling it is about a 1960 or 1961 due to the date casting of 4-11-60 on the Cummins engine block . I'm not sure if the engine has been replaced or original.
Post some pictures.
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A knuckle buster
She sounds really nice.
I haven't run a grader before. What would knuckle buster refer to?
Not your machine, yours has hydraulic controls not mechanical. Bob
Never run a Galion, but the Cat graders with gearbox controls would sometimes kick back at you, and give your knuckles a darn good smack. I ran an old Cat 14E that wasn't too bad, but sometimes when you were not ready....snap!
Hard mechanicals as Cat and Allis were dog clutched at the levers, Engaged or disengaged no in between or would hammer the hands.
very nice project! Looks like a great start, IMO. If there is no hurry getting it out of there, you might get those brakes and steering working where it sits. I would sure investigate that angle, unless you have a heated shop to put it in at home.
Never been around a Galion before. What puts the MB down, a rotating hydraulic motor? It looks similar to the mechanical arms of a cat.
Look at the video shows a hyd. cyl. on a bell crank. The cab shows levers on hyd valves . Bob
Ok, I see the 2 pistons in this picture. Did Galion have mechanical drive at one time? Seems like an unusual amount of moving parts instead of putting pistons in the regular position.
Yes I think I have seen mechanical Galion.
Yes, it sure looks like that was a carryover from a mechanical drive. Remember, that design is remarkably close to the pull type graders where the gearbox was driven by a handwheel by the operator that stood on a low platform where the cab is. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Galion_No_14.jpg
I have never seen a mechanical Galion, but early ones may have existed. Galion was an early adopter of hydraulic control on graders, long before many of the competition. The bell crank system worked ok, but years of use made all the extra linkage loose and sloppy and hard to tighten up. The linkage system according to my dad was for times that you did side slopes on banks, and large ditching projects as the link arm extended, and the bell crank could be repositioned in several holes in relation to the horizontal shaft. Another reason according to dad is hydraulic hose was unreliable and expensive way back when, and the bell crank kept the hose run short. I’m guessing that long rod cylinders were expensive also, so the ability to use a short stroke cylinder may have been a factor also. Galion was a popular brand around here as the factory was only 150 miles from here. You were more likely to see a Galion than any other make, with Wabco, Huber and Cat pulling up behind. It seemed that Galion would install whatever brand engine you fancied in their machines also, Continental, Cummins, International Harvester, Detroit Diesel, Waukesha, and Hercules.
No graders around here, at least in my time. Seen a few small cranes, and maybe a roller
I bought a couple books on eBay for Galion. Both parts and operators manuals. I realized these are for earlier machines, from the 50's. Luckily, I found both parts and owners manuals for about the 1960-61 era. My serial number falls into the range of both books. Hopefully sometime this week we can pick up the machine. As far as fixing the grader where it is, I'd rather being it to my shop. It's too cold outside and all my tools are at the shop. One issue that needs to be fixed is the milky hydraulic fluid. Luckily, I have a hydraulic fluid purifier. This machine removes water from the hydraulic oil by means of vacuum dehydration. It works very well, turning milk into gold. Water in the hydraulic fluid could be the root cause of the power steering problem. Wet hydraulic fluid is bad news no matter how you slice it.
Love, love, loved .... the "Handle to a Hen's Nest" style thermostat housing.
Ya just don't see many of them Galion 118's and in that condition - WOW .
Reminds me of a T-500C we had at a job I worked at years ago. It had a horizontal muffler that exited to the rear of the machine. The 3” angle cut pipe was irresistible to birds building a nest. The 4-71 would always fire up the first piston up and the nest and birds shoot out instantly.
OK you got to feed me Seymour... Say What? I got to check into this new alien tech...
Saw these in action at the nuke on hydraulic actuator systems supplies.
It would work under the principle that water will boil at room temperature if under a vacuum. The same thing happens when you put the vacuum pump on an A/C system to evacuate the moisture, the water boils at 20 some inches of mercury.
Looks like I will have to make a video of purifying the hydraulic fluid. The purifying process isn't quick. The exhaust hose of the vacuum pump will drip some water and emanate some steam. Whatever else is coming out creates a terrible odor. Gotta vent the hose outside. I went on the hunt for a purifying machine because my bucket truck seems to collect water. Used it on my Grove crane as well. To flush all cylinders would probably take about 4 times the hydraulic fluid capacity of the machine. Then you have a bunch of water contaminated oil to dispose of. I let this circulate till clean and then top off. Here is a pic of the big machine and small machine. The more vacuum you apply to water, the lower the temp is for boiling. You can boil water at room temp if you apply about 30 inches of vacuum. It work opposite of a radiator. The more pressure you apply will raise the boiling point.
I've been started and forgot a couple of attempts to build a simple version of that. With just a refrigerator compressor and a junk electric water heater tank. I think it will work, and I don't care how long it takes to work. If you heat the oil to 120-150F the water will boil out with much less vacuum. Biggest problem I see is a condenser so the compressor doesn't get flooded with water, or short compressor life from too much water.
A regular automotive AC vacuum pump pulls moisture out of the A/C system I bet they are easy to find used on CL or FBMP. When the water boils, it comes out as a gas, no worries on flooding. Talking with Pall Company---the one who made the purifiers I have, they say too hot of oil will allow additives to boil and be stripped out of the base oil. Also, foaming can happen at too high of heat. I tend to run mine between 110-130F. The small purifier had no provision for heating oil, so I added one on the intake side. It needed heat since the small machine was outside strapped to the back of my crane last winter.
Can you just use a filter cart with the appropriate filters to remove water and particulate? I was up in Edmonton last fall talking to a guy that only deals in filtration and he was showing me some filters for water contamination. Here's a pic of my filter cart that I still need to finish plumbing up.
Filters will work to remove a little moisture. They don't hold much, and are expensive enough to be more than new oil. The problem is you can never remove all the oil so you have to change many times, so a filter cart or centrifuge or vacuum dehydrator makes more sense.
Water absorbing filters are good to run to help control regular condensation. They will probably capture some free water, and emulsified water. Not sure if they'd have much effect on dissolved water. It seems water gets dissolved after going through the pump. In case you're wondering Free water is the strait water at the bottom of the reservoir. Emulsified is suspended droplets---like shaking up a bottle of Italian dressing. Dissolved is molecules of water bonded to the molecules of oil. Not sure if dissolved water would ever separate without some mechanical influence.
FirstEliminator and Delmer. Thanks for this. I don't know if the filters can get all the water. How do you measure water at the molecular level? Do the typical oil analysis tests cover this?
These sensors are made by Pall. I found these on ebay. There are other brands. Some require consumables to test. Some you just clean the probe. If the fluid looks milky, the saturation is high.
yes, oil analysis will report water and fuel percentage. A crude test is to heat up a piece of steel and drip one drop of oil on it, pure oil will smoke, moisture will sizzle, free water will pop and splatter.
Pop and splatter ... sounds like my brain after reading this mind blowing info and it is so simple. DUH ... looking into doing something with this information... Thanks everyone. I have tons of old collectors, compresses, condensers and refer parts ... I know I can make something.