I have some local road districts that I have been servicing. I have increased my service area. I currently haul my grader but I’m considering updating the grader with one which will road faster. My current CAT 12 top speed is 20 mph; if I could get a 12 to 14 size CAT which would road about 40 or more I would not have to have the hauling rig. Recommendations on model or years which might do this, or how fast do people road their graders? Any help would be GREAT! Thanks, Paul
Fastest you'll get even with a modern piece of kit is about 30mph (12M - 27.7, 12K - 27.9, 14M - 31.0) in 8th spd forward. One thing you must consider when roading long distances at that speed is the capability of the tyres to dissipate the heat that is generated without de-laminating.
I road my old 12E from time to time. .but never more than a few miles. Several counties around here road their graders, Champions, Cats and John Deeres. .seems they only run 'em around 25 mph or so.
How far do you have to go? I maintain 3 townships with my 163H which will go almost 28-29mph according to the speedometer. Once I finish the farthest township, it's about 15 miles back to the shop.
Thanks for the info guys; I have a couple of districts about 20 miles from the shop. One time in Calf. I happened to see a grader on a side road going fast for a grader, it looked like about 45mph! It was just far enough away I couldn't tell the model. It was a CAT but that’s all I could tell. Any, other recommendations for moving other than hauling?
I have a 570A with a towing function on it that I have never used. I suppose it would eliminate a trailer, but would take a substantial tractor to move it down the road at speed. My guess is that it is intended to retrieve it when broke down.
Lol of course a john deer would have that towing fuction there's nothing good about a deer grader.
I've roaded my old 120 mechanical cat and a series 1 720 champion alot. I downloaded a speedometer app for my cell phone and the old cat actually would get up to 21-22. The Champion would do about 25-28 but I'm ussually under 25 the way the roads I'm running are. I have a pickup set up to be towable and I leave the blade where ever I end up at the end of the day and just have a place to park it at the end of the round. I cover alot of ground and my roads are spread out but not enough to justify a lowboy. My bids are set up to include my travel time so I'm generally getting paid while the machine is going down the highway. Its the most efficient way to run for what I've got going on. I had the same theory about increasing my top speed by going with the champion, but it also increased my fuel consumption a little more than i originally anticipated. Today after 8 hours of blading 1.5 hours of which was roading I burned around 26 gallons, if it had been my cat 20 gallons would of gotten me 11 hours or better. Just somthing else to think about
....and that's why they're outselling the competition almost 2 to 1.
I have seen a Mitsubishi grader, drive 400 km on a summer day, on dirt roads, at a speed of around 40 km/hr, without anyone giving it a moments thought. It also happened to have a Volvo loader following in convoy. It was a common thing for this particular outfit, and there didn't seem to be any problems caused by excessive roading.
We had mid 80"s champions that did close to 30 mph and roaded them 50 miles or more quite often,had one with oversized rubber that one would really move.
A little off the original question, But I ran a 627 scraper 142 miles in 10 hours one time in North Dakota. We had one lo boy and 4 machines to move a.s.a.p.
I used to operate a 140H but had a pickup with a tow bar on the front. I'd tow my truck when I had to change locations and leave the grader at the next work site.
Thanks guys for all the thoughts; this was just one more idea for trying to improve efficiency and less equipment. Paul The Buggyman
I don't think you will find a grader that will do 40 to 45 MPH. As posted above, around the 30 MPH mark is the best you will get, unless there is a custom job out there.