Was reading an older post from 2009 on the new joystick controls. Now that more people have had a chance to try them, I was wondering what your thoughts were. I have never had a chance to try them yet, but being old school, I am reluctant to embrace the change.
Welcome to the forum cutting edge. I am old school as well but I have been operating a 140m for the last 4 months. It takes some rethinking and relearning but it isn't too bad. I think there is room for improvement but a lot of the road district guys like them the way they are. Aw heck, it's new, it's pretty, it's clean, quiet, has a good radio and AC. Too close to retirement to give a hoot. hahaha. I don't know what your job description is for sure but seem most people can adapt. Just have to take your time and get to know the machine.
Many years ago I met a "one armed wall paper hanger". He was trained in Lithuania as part of a post WWII jobs project. I got to watch him work all by himself, so I know this to be true. A couple of days ago I met a "one armed M grader operator" who just retired from a job in North Dakota. He too had some ideas about how he would like to redesign the joystick for the M. Now I have never seen him run an M, but assume that his arm was functional during his initial training period many years ago as he said "you don't have to move so fast that you can't take your good hand and reach over to the other joy stick". Now I can't imagine running an antler rack of levers effectively with one arm, but once said the same about wall paper hangers. I don't know, but it seems the possibility of a totally programmable joy stick is very possible today now that the antler rack is being delegated to the dust bin of equipment design history.
It's all electric over hydraulic so it would be easy to do. I would think a one armed man would be more ar ease with the rack than joystick. Especially if it was arranged like some john deere's with the blade lift both on one side. I ran an H with a full cast on my arm for three weeks. I know I couldn't run a joystick as I couldn't twist my wrists.
G'day, I'm not a grader operator or anything at all so I may have a very warped view of this. I personally find that the joysticks just... make sense to my head and that "antler racks" don't. I find driving the M series graders very easy and comfortable. I'm struggling to say more however, just in light that I am not an operator. I would like to say that antler rack vs joystick may simply be an option in the future when you purchase a machine... although I suspect that joysticks may simply take over just in light of the direction the manufacturers seem to be going. :my2c
I have always found that when a person climbs into the cab of a grader, the first comment is, " Look at all the leavers, I could never remember all of those. " I know their positions in my sleep, but yet if someone was to ask me to describe them on the spot, I have to think about it. I get comfortable with things, and don't like change. Perhaps if I had never learned the old way, I would like the new. I find the notion of operator fatique funny because unless I am spreading for a lot of terrible dumpers, my hands stay resting in pretty much the same place. Once I have my mouldboard down I raise and lower height by rolling it ahead or back, a one finger operation, with slight adjustments every now and again right or left side, again only slight movement with one hand or another. Even sideshift, and board angle is finger movement. Guess I will be heading the way of the dinosaurs. I can't call this my 2 cents, because the government took our penny away, gotta go with 5 or 0
I'm not necessarily a blade operator, I became fairly proficient on the old JD 772A, but much more than smoothing a grade raise, blading a driveway, or trimming the sides of a building pad would be over my head. I do believe, however, that the wobble stick, no steering wheel maneuver that is the "New Way" in graders was forced upon everyone for a couple of reasons. First, with GPS control becoming ever popular, electric over hydraulic was necessary. Second, experienced finish blade operators becoming fewer and farther in between, these video game playing brats of the 2000's probably could learn the joysticks quicker than the antler rack. Not to mention the big boys could pay a 20-something kid less than a true blademan who probably learned on machines that were older than said kids father. :my2c