When you look around at the morning tailgate meeting does any feel that there isn't any young blood in a grader anymore? Lots of the younger guys I find get frustrated reall quick... Wondering whats going to happen in the next 20 years???
Its a progression the young guys start out moving bulk dirt and then slowly work their way into finish grade. You don't want the youngens turning out the finished product, do you? In the next twenty years I'm sure you'll see these guys finish grading, and you'll be shaking you're head at a whole new gruop of guys.
Hey, I agree to that. With blade work there is much repetition, going over your work till you get it right and to grade. Sometimes it takes a lot of time. Thats what it takes and thats how it is and even for some one with a lot of hours up is can seem boring and frustrating. Patience and a good eye and feel and being able to anticipate what the machine is going to do in advance and where your material must be and where it will end up once you done a pass is essential ingredients of a good blade hand. While not wishing to be too hard on the young guys, there are many good operators among them, some of their generation have not learned patience and that is the main essential for all types of trimming no matter what machine you are on. If the job needs another one or two or three passes to make it tidy or right then that is exactly how it is. We all must learn this and just go and do it and not wait to be told by the boss.
Next twenty years? My friends.. in the next 20 years you will be operating a computer not a grader... In the present time though, to learn to operate a grader requires great patience. You evolve over time. Some can only come so far and that's it. Believe me as I've seen it many times. You either have it or you don't. Doesn't matter if you're 55 years old or 20 years old. If you're young and get bored operating a grader then you should be on someting else. You can't learn if you're bored. Some use the excuse that operating a grader is boring because they realize that they just can't do it. Been operating a grader all my life and never got bored. Loved every minute.. Anyway.. nuff of my morning rant...just my 02 cents
Notice:...I never said anything...............yet!
Far from boring Right on G4me. This is the start of my 35th year operating these jewels and I have a hard time putting “boring” and “motorgrader” in the same sentence or even paragraph. I’m a fouth generation blade operator and the career has taken me halfway around the world and back. I was even awarded patents while helping Caterpillar with the development of the H Series. I got to take the first 24H out of the plant on December 22nd 1995 and put on a demo for the NPI Team. I then delivered the machine to Gillette Wyoming and trained the first operators. I helped deliver some other units and some to S.A. I might never have gotten to go there had it not been for the fact that I could operate a motor grader. The only limiting factor with the machine is the mass between your ears. It is extremely versatile and can take you and your career just about as far as you’ll ever want to go. I have gotten to travel and work in some of the neatest places and on some of the coolest projects, from pioneer trails through mountain passes to 15,000 ft runways for the military and every other type of project in between. I’ve worked in 26 States, Johnston Atoll in the Central Pacific, Columbia, Peru, Chile, Canada and a few other places; all because of a motor grader. I can’t wait to get to work tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Randy
Far from boring (cont.) Just using some imagination!
Far from boring (cont.) Oh the possibilities...............
Far from boring (cont.) and this is just a small portion of what's possible................. Where else would you get to crash a brand new $250,000.00 machine just to test the ROPS?????? Boring??? Not hardly..
Also great to see pictures of your adventures Mr Krieg. I have to say you have been the inspiration that has caused me to spend all my free time at the training center on a grader. Ive even been told by our 25 year grader veteran at the training center that I have what it takes. Maybe its because ive spent most of my dirt career around finish grading crews. The last season was fine grading with a small dozer. That being said. Its hard for a young guy like me to find a seat in a grader. Maybe one day, but until then, i think im gonna be stuck with this demo stuff. Just curious, what work did you do on Johnston Atoll? The company I work for did a major demolition project on the atoll a few years ago. From what I understand theres not much left there these days. In fact, The last 6 months of the project they lived on a ship the company leased
Stick with it!!!! :thumbsup Turbo If you keep showing interest the right person will spot you soon enough. I was on Johnston Atoll in 89. We milled up and repaved the runway and parking apron. I don't know if you're aware of what Johnston Atoll was? Originally it was used to detonate 3 Nuclear weapons. After the island was cleared up it became a Chemical Munitions storage area. In the late 80s Brown & Root built a Chemical incineration plant there to destroy Chemical stockpiles I believe as part of the salt II treaty with the Soviets. Every horrible agent you would never want to come in contact with was stored on that Island. We were required to carry a gas mask and three antidote kits with us anytime we were down wind of the plant. Once all the agents were incinerated the plant was torn down and the Island is now abandoned. http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/facility/johnston_atoll.htm There were 1500 people on that little Atoll when I was there. It's only 2 1/2 miles long and a 1/2 mile wide. Best food I've ever eaten in my life was there. That's what they had to do to get good people to go. Lot of people didn't want to go due to all nasty stuff there. Regards, Randy
Love the pictures Randy. We came in second on a sheetwall job at Johnson Atoll in 97. I was really hoping to get it but an outfit out of Hawaii got under us. Might have been the Mob cost. You need to post more pics. I know you got em.:thumbsup
Who says that operating a grader is boring? (Honestly, I can't say because I've never been in one! Though I wouldn't mind trying it out...) Randy, sounds like you have some interesting stories. More pics please?
I guess I'm one of the young ones who found motorgraders interesting. I've had the oportunity to to have some seat time in an old John deere 590 grader. Thing was older than I was but it did the job. More flippin leavers that I had ever seen in a machine before but after a few hours I was good to go. Takes time to get the fine grading part down pat, well I thought it looked good Last time I used it I was able to grade out 1500 tons of crush and run in a parking lot in about 8 hrs. Nice machine to run but I don't think I would like to be on one everyday.
Very nice pics there Randy. I am a younger guy trying to get on grader but what i found was I get a day or two here and there but cant quite crack the line up,but the thing is we have about three or four guys that are just deadly finish blade hands, yeah kinda tough to get seat time and not for a lack of trying
Lol... don't you start mister man..I'm trying to be serious here Nice pictures Randy :thumbsup
I'd love to learn to run a blade, but for now I like demo there ain't no rain days.
Booorrriiinnnnnnggggggg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! Hi, Folks. I don't have Randy's eat time in graders only but I suspect I beat him in total seat time in all machines run. I've had about 10 years total in graders out of 43 1/2 years full time so far and I have found very little if any of it boring. Graders particularly are an interesting bit of gear to run 'cos more often than not, you are leaving finished product behind you. I'd suggest that if you are ever finding any operating boring, you may need to look at the quality of the work you are leaving behind you and/or your attitude. Also, graders tend to be a bit of a jack-of-all-trades and Mr Fixit combined around earthworks, quite often being called on to fix some stuff-up somewhere. They often get a bit more overtime too, cleaning up and/or weather-proofing the job. It is also not uncommon for the graders to be first ones out after rain, drying out the haul roads and the fill areas. The art of grader operation is being able to set your blade and your machine to take the material from where it needs to be taken to where it needs to be placed in the condition it needs to be in at placement in the least number of passes. The same pretty much applies to any earthmoving machine but it is paramount with graders.
grading I'm a nineteen year veteran road maintenance blade operator. I've never finished grade on a construction project other than pads for buildings or someone's personal driveway. I would agree that grader operation is either in you or not, regardless of years at the controls. I would also agree that finish graders will very soon be running a computer rather than running a grader.
No, the guy on the roller, that follows the grader, is leaving the finished product. And I defy you to tell me that that's not boring. :sleeping :cool2
Rollers are NOT boring. Hi, Digger242J. Again, it's your attitude that governs whether the job is boring or not. You can have a LOT of FUN with a roller, especially a smooth-drum following a grader. With a little knowledge and undertsanding, you can annoy the hell out of the grader operator by rolling his crown sideways. You can even do it to opposites sides in alternate sections so that the crown has a 'staggered' appearance. This will usually cause steam to issue from the grader operator's favourite ears, giving the grader the appearance of being steam-powered. Then you take photos of the said steam-powered grader and post them here on HEF. Another little trick for a roller operator is to get right up behind the grader as he is finishing his pass. He throws the grader into reverse and begins backing up, only to run smack into the front of the roller. That usually gets their attention focussed on where they are going when reversing, which makes for improved safety on the job. It may also make for a steam-powered grader and more photos on HEF. Or, you can roll his dumped road base or fill BEFORE he gets to spread it. This will often cause the grader operator to make like a demented windmill with copious quantities of unprintable verbage directed towards the offending roller operator. Rolling the windrows is usually good for a blast too. Hey, Grader4me, Randy and Northart, how am I doing so far? LOL. Mind you, it has been said before and may well be said again that smooth-drum rollers are only kept on the job to fix grader operator's mistakes. LOL.
Very Well Spoken :exactly Deas Only personal experience could write that kind of statement with such color and flavor. I knew an old blademan that all his roller hands referred to him as the "The Windmill"! :waving Your comments brought back some memories of him. On a serious note though, a good roller hand will make or break ya. I have been blessed with some great ones and I’ve had some that really caused me to blow a gasket. My favorite trick is when they leave the vibe on and change directions. ops This generally results in something, which resembles a thermo nuclear detonation inside the grader cab then followed by a large mushroom cloud. :cussing I sometimes tape derogatory signs to the ripper for my roller hands to read; just to get a good laugh. :nono I have told many young guys that want to learn how to operate a motor grader, go run roller behind a good blademan, watch how he does thinks. See how he manages his material, how he uses the water truck, how he directs and manages the roller. That’s how I got started; rolling behind my Dad. My dad always got great checkups at the dentist since he flossed his teeth with my rear-end hairs on a regular basis. When I screwed up his grade, Oh man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Best lessons I ever learned. My father is now 72, still in excellent shape and when I can keep up with him on a grader I will finally feel I have mastered it, but I guaranty that won’t be happening anytime soon. :my2c I have met many a man who tell me there the greatest :soapbox on one these things, but I have only seen a few that really impress me.:IMO Regards, Randy
Wow thanks guys never thought I would get this kind of a response...
Doin great Deas! Great Story. I tell the roller operator to stay to heck out of my way and I'll tell him when to roll when I'm levelling and fine grading. Spreading asphalt I've had a few times when I've cursed the roller operator. Making that final pass along the edge of the road, asphalt rolling off the moldboard in a nice flow, keeping the grader as straight as an arrow making that perfect straight edge, looking as though it was done with a asphalt spreader. Look in the mirror at your beautiful job and then to your utter horror here comes the roller guy weaving in and out on the edge of the hot asphalt, making my perfect straight line looking like it was spread by a drunk:cussing Yeah..the roller guy...
Yeah,,, What do you expect from those guys that can't operate... A messy job
Oh yes, I remember now, the roller guy... Hey Mario from Cookes in Vic ... you would run up on the freshly dumped heaps of clay the tippers had just put there with the vibrating padfoot and tighten them all up before I could spread them with the blade and laughing like hell. You knew it annoyed me, but hey you were a good workmate and I enjoyed your company, hope alls good with you.
Obviously, Deas, you are blessed with a better imagination than I. :notworthy I haven't done much rolling following a grader, but I have done some compaction on dirt jobs. One particular one I remember was compacting fill inside an old building foundation. I was literally falling asleep, but when the machine bumped into the wall at either end, it would wake me up, at least long enough to change direction.
Find me a guy that can stay awake for a 12 hour shift on a smooth drum roller, and ill find a job for him somewhere. The only thing worse than running a smooth drum is running it in -10 deg temps
Not The Victim _ Just The Spectator Hi, Randy. Fortunately, I have never been the 'victim' of the antics described above. Not one of the roller operators that I ever worked with did any of those things to me but I have seen them done a time or two to other grader operators. I got into the habit very early in my grader operating career of having a little chat with my roller operator(s) BEFORE they did any of the above. I had the benefit of somebody else's experience before I actually had to do it myself. The guy who gave me my only anything-like-formal instruction on a grader, a whole 1 hour's worth, told me about those sorts of 'tricks' and made the suggestion about the above appraoch to dealing with the problem. He also mentioned that graders have seats for the specific purpose of having bums parked in them. I was a good pupil - largely 'cos I am too lazy to stand up and I don't like doing things twice. LOL. I'd never claim to be in your class as a grader operator and I suspect that one or two others on this site may have a little more grader experience than I do too, including that 'old fossil' up there in Talkeetna. LOL. I have spent too little of my total operating career on graders to be one of the really good ones. How-wevver, I have done enough to know the basics and have left one or two 'experts' scratching their heads over the years. Like you, I have heard a lot 'experts' over the years and have not been hugely impressed in a favourable way by many of them when they have to strut their stuff. 'Expert' - an 'ex' is either a has-been or an unknown quantity and a 'spurt' is a drip under pressure. Here is a little story from a book that I am writing in my spare(?) time: "On this same job, we had a 30-ton hydraulic excavator, one of those machines with the long arm ‘thingy’ on the front that digs holes wherever people want holes dug (and sometimes where they don’t). This machine spent most of it time loading trucks with one sort of stuff or another, anything from rubbish to good clay fill. The operator of this machine, whom we’ll call Shane, was quite capable at his job although not one of the real top-liners. He had also spent enough time on several other machines, including graders, that he could also operate them reasonably well. One day, Shane asked me if he could have a play on my grader for the last hour of the day while I ran his excavator. I agreed, we swapped and off he went. When I next saw him at knock-off time, without waiting for me to say anything, he came straight out and said, “You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din.” I asked, “What are you talking about?” He replied, “I’ve just been working my arse off on that grader. You look as if you just sit up there and let it happen.” The above-mentioned grader was an old machine, an early Cat 14G, that didn’t have much in the way of brakes and had a few idiosyncrasies of its own but could still do a fair day’s work - IF you knew its tricks. I did. This ‘appearance’ of ‘just sitting there and letting it happen’ or of ‘not seeming to be busy’ can often be the hallmark of a really good operator, some-one who knows exactly how to get the machine to do what he wants it to do and who does not get flustered when faced with a ticklish situation or a heavy workload. Such operators are usually very smooth, very accurate and very pretty to watch." End of story.
As a manufacturer we are seeing a shortage of operators. Just last week I actually a had a sale go cold because the owner lost his operator. Future plans for us are to develope a real motor grader training school where anyone can send their operators to learn basic and advanced grading techniques. My plan is to hire experienced grader experts to do the teaching. I just hope I can get my school launched before we run out of operators.
CAT has been ready to go operatorless for sometime now, they have had a rigidframe truck in tinaja hills running for a many number of years with out an operator. real time kinematic GPS is going to take all of our jobs lol
Grader school. Hi, Brian. It shouldn't take long to set up the school. The HARD part will be accreditation and all the attendant BS paperwork. If you offer Randy and Northart a good 'retirement' package, you may be able to win them. I faintly suspect it would be hard to get 2 better operators together. Perhaps the promise of warm winters in So-Cal or Florida might be good bait. LOL. Maybe that other old fossil, wotzizzname, Grader4me, would come along to 'boil the billy' for smoko and lunch. LOL. Then again, if the school was up in the Arctic circle and the students learned to operate a grader well in a 'skating rink', they ought to be able to do it well anywhere. Something that I would have liked to do would be to set up an operators school where people actually were taught how to do jobs with the machines instead of just moving windrows or piles of dirt around. There is not one of the operator training schools that I have seen around here that are turning out operators that you can put on a job and know that they will be able to do at least a fair job of it. Good luck with that project but don't wait too long. We're all getting older.
Graders and Operators Hello Randy, Nice pictures of your work travels . Interesting to see the tire tread pattern on the Cat 24H grader, never seen one quite like that. Wish I'd get to the Cat proving grounds someday, to offer my 2 cents in one some equipment. The Cat H Series graders are terriffic, not so sure of the M series . I'd have to actually run them, to be more sure of my views. Sat in the seat and scrutinized them closely. Time will tell. Hello Deas Plant, Been busy with my stuff and place, getting ready to return to the grader seat. Finish up last years job. Trees are budding out now and the pollen is heavy in the air and ground. Pollen allergy time , At least the snow is gone. Anyway, remarking on the roller hands job, they sure can make or break any blade mans job in a hurry. Usually I've had enough clout with the management, to say whether they stay or go ! Sometimes must hold school though on the job. I watch their work like a hawk, coordinate the roller and water truck operations . It becomes a team effort. Once people understand that , they become aware of when and where they should be at all times. Anyway , later, Northart
On teaching the rest of the crew. Hi, Northart. I can relate to holding school on the job. I've had to do it a number of times myself. I will be forever thankful to old Harry who gave me the only anything like formal instruction that I ever had on running a grader, all one hour of it. It was he who told me to carefully evaluate the 'talents' amongst the rest of the crew in any finishing work that I was doing and 'edjumackayte' those who came up short. Then watch 'em to see that they did things the way I wanted them done. It was he who told me that the grader operator 'runs' the job, answerable to the foreman/supervisor and that results will often speak louder than rank, i.e., leading hands. The first job I ever had a crew working with me on was for the state government's Main Roads Department in Western Australia in 1967. I was running a Cat 12 8T grader that was on 'wet' hire to the department to widen a section of state highway. We were using bush gravel for the formation and a process known locally as water-binding to compact and seal it ready for a two-coat bitumen and stone chip topping. I had never done it before but had had it explained to me in detail - - - - - and it worked. I did have a helpful foreman from the Main Roads department in charge of the job but the crew were all pretty experienced at this work anyway 'cos that was almost all they did. They shifted from job to job as a crew and were kept pretty busy all the time. It could be said that they worked under a bit of a handicap 'cos they kept getting new hired grader operators to break in on the different jobs. I sympathise with the poor ******* a bit 'cos they got me as green as grass but I didn't hear any complaints. Maybe they were an exceptionally polite bunch? Just as a side note, when that job was finished, I had to road that grader 329 miles back to the yard in Perth, around 18 hours driving over 3 days with repairs to a broken main fuel pipe along the way. Earlier, I'd had to pick it up from 70 miles East of Perth and drive it up to the job at the 329 mile peg on the Great Eastern Highway, Western Australia, a tiny blot on the map called Bullabulling. Google Earth it for chuckles. So spring is springing around your way? Good stuff. Now you can go out and earn an honest living. LOL. Catchyalater.
Bullabulling hey?.... thats a fair ol' drive, especially on a grader:dizzy. Still I s'pose you could've been further out around Widgiemooltha or Cocklebiddy Cheers:beerchug Stripeyjack
Mmmm, operatorless grader with fancy gps? I'd like to see that. Couple of stumps and rocks on the shoulder will jerk er into gear real quick I reckon. Maintenance grading for instance often done by the operators "feel" and what he can see and what the seat of his pants tells him and more than likely with little material to work with say like couple of empty beer cans, cigarette packets and a few gum leaves thrown in. On a lot of materials rolled in and sealed off, with too much downpressure and cut it will "tear" and break away in sheets. GPS, dunno, dunno?? However, it is good to see some positive comment on the M Series on this board, must have some feel left there somewhere.
What ever job you would want me to do Deas! Maybe I could just be there to help you old folks up into the graders
A fair drive Hi, Stripeyjack. Welkum too ther 4um. Yeah, I coulda bin outa round Warburton Mission or even Giles. Spare a thought for Grader Garbo who graded all those roads originally with Len Beadell and the Gunbarrel Road Construction Party. They musta bin one tough bunch of blokes. If I had bin outa round Warburton or Giles, Ida needed a with me to get home. LOL. I pulled up in Kellerberrin on the second night and parked the grader across the road from the pub - since burned down - against the tin fence along the railway yard. I fired the pilot motor up at 6.00 am the next morning on a dead still morning. It echoed VERY nicely all across Kellerberrin for a couple of minutes until I got the diesel fired up and got outa there ---- ahead of any vigilantes. LOL.
Whatever job, huh??????? Hi, Grader4me. In your decrepit state, I figured boiling the billy would be a reasonable work load for you. LOL. As regards helping us up into the machines, I dunno about Randy and Northart but I'm still fairly capable of getting up there myself. It's not all that long ago that I had to climb 5 , repeat, FIVE , steps to get up into a grader. I know I'm only a little feller but I could just reach up high enough to put my lunchbox on the footplate before I climbed the 'Empire State Building'. LOL. Please see the attached photo. This is an O&K G350 grader, one of only 34 made. It has a Cummins 855 'donk' at 400 hp, weighs 42 tons and has a 20 foot blade. It also carries a 4 shank ripper across the back end with shanks almost as big as a Cat D7E, F or G. How about you? Could you make it up those step into that cab? LOL.
Maybee you old dogs should stop barking at each other...:jerry Your without teeth, and soon tecnology has passed u all.:deadhorse The memorys of pony engines, ether, standing operating, black smoke and long, high, steps in black and white photos will soon be the only thing left. :stirthepot:stirthepot:stirthepot
Could I make it?? Sure... no problem for me to make the climb, but I won't have to because I'll be "boiling the billy"... so...just what in the heck would I be cookin?? Goat is coming to mind here... Remember you're talking to a Canadian ...eh? Great picture of the O&K. To have an opportunity to operate a machine that is as rare as that, and have a picture of your grader as well? Priceless.
Memories. Hi, MKTEF. At least we've all survived long enough to HAVE all those memories and we CAN still run AND maintain those machines if need be. There are a lot here who haven't, and can't, and keep asking for our advice and assistance. Redundant? Not yet, I think. I'll soon be attending a show with a LOT of those 'dead horses' of yours and I'll be loving it, as will a lot of other people, many of them a good bit younger than us 'old dogs'. If those are Swedish Army grenades you're tossing in to stir the pot. I'd suggest you change suppliers. Those ones aren't having much effect. LOL. What machines are in the Engineer's Museum - 1999 Volvos? LOL. :stirthepot :guns :woohoo :sleeping
Nothing beats some HEF to go with coffee in the morning, better than creamer. Deas, tell me more about that O&K. I did as much reading about it as I could when I working in Decatur, but I couldn't actually find anyone who had run one. I talked to foremen and Superintendents who had been around them on jobs, but no operators. The worst ladder I ever climbed was on a 16H. The machine was at the Yanacocha Mine in Peru. The mine was at 14,500 ft. elevation in the Andes Mountains. Yanacocha/ Newmont had bought 4, 14Hs & 2 16Hs, I went there provide training for the operators. The air was so thin at that elevation by the time you got up the ladder you would collapse in the seat. The machines ran like slugs. Amazing operation. I was working at MINEXPO in 96 for Caterpillar when they introduced the Autonomous Triple 7. It bombed at the show. The customers didn’t want an Autonomous Truck, they wanted a bigger truck and they made their case perfectly clear. Immediately following the show the push was on to finish developing the 797. Komatsu had their new BIG truck at the show and that’s what everyone that money was looking at. Once again the customer had spoken! Regards, Randy
That O&K Grader. Hi, Randy. That grader was a BEAST and a half. Not as heavy or as powerful as the Cat 24's but still up there with the top end of graders. At 42 tons and 400 hp and with a 20 foot blade, you can shift a LOT of material and look after a LOT of scraper-loads in a day. I had no problem looking after the fills and the haul roads for 3 Cat 660B scrapers on short hauls being push-loaded by a 'Kummagutsa' D455A dozer. I was also ripping the borrow pit floor for them, cleaning up after top-soil stripping, putting the last scrapings of top-soil into windrows that the scrapers could pick up, tining up any wheel-rolled areas before new fill material was placed there, getting the fills ready for wheel-rolling to seal them at night and doing any other little odd jobs that the foreman managed to dream up, all without sweat. It had both blade lifts under the right hand, plus lean wheels and scarifiers/rippers. All other functions were under the left hand. The blade lift controls and a couple of others were air-over-hydraulic. Some were electric over hydraulic but none that required any degree of 'feel'. It's a rigid frame machine - 'Give me 40 acres and I'll turn this rig around' - but still surprisingly handy when you are used to it. The transmission control, under the right hand, is a Morse cable control that has the early John Deere grader disease - it has the neutral position to the rear. It also has detents between gears, INCLUDING between first and neutral. Not smart. I thought it had pretty good blade visibility and good general visibility all round. I could even see what the rippers were doing behind me. All in all, I quite liked operating it. It felt stable and strong, it could put its grunt on the ground and it was pretty comfortable. I did a bit of batter cutting with it and didn't leave any 'twisty-cap' marks on the seat. I pushed the 660 scrapers out of bogs with monotonus regularity and could even push-load them way better than a 270 hp Cat D8H that was also on site. I had been on a Cat 16 for about an hour 3 years prior to this and that was the biggest grader I had run to that time. Immediately before getting on the O&K, I was running an early Cat 14G and had no problem stepping up to the O&K. They had tried 3 other operators on it prior to me and none of them seemed to be able to get their heads around just how much it could do. They were running it with Cat 12-sized loads on the blade and falling way behind the scrapers all the time. Just for an idea of what it could do, we were building an earth-wall retention basin for treated effluent for sugar cane irrigation. The base of the bank had to be keyed in down to good sealing clay. This meant that the scrapers would come through and cut a straight vertical-walled trench down to the clay. This trench might be anything from 2 to 4 feet deep. I would then come along with the O&K and cut one side of the trench down into the bottom for the scrapers to pick up. Then I would cut the other side the same way. It seldom took more than ONE pass, even in a 4-foot deep trench, to get the side cut down into the bottom for the scrapers to pick up. I was impressed. When all is said and done, it is still basically a heavy, rigid-frame, haul road grader with all that implies but I liked it. Any questions?
Good one MKTEF! I'll have you know that regardless of everything else that I've lost..I still have my teeth.. Lol...yup...memories...
O & K G350 grader Hi, Randy. Here is the link to the Polyarch page about the G350: http://members.aol.com/polyarch1/g350.htm You can by one for the mantelpiece here: http://www.machinerytrader.com/list...6156380&GUID=b82eeede3c544d59a04245a990b0ecda
Question for Deas Plant.... Regarding the wilds of Western Australia... do you know anything of Len Beadells Gunbarrel Highway Construction Party dozer, I think **** Smith was looking for it for an restoration project about 10 years ago, and if it was found??? I may be wrong but I think it was a D7. I want to one day go and have a look at 'Lennies Cat Cage' where the grader is kept (Warburton/Giles cant remember brain going a bit mushy or something)... only need to firstly win Powerball this week to afford a fourby (and the fuel ) to go for a thrash down the Gunbarrel and see first hand what this bloke achieved... a real legend in my book:notworthy. Cheers:beerchug Stripeyjack
My old man has some of these books by Len http://books.google.com.au/books?as...=print&ct=title&cad=author-navigational&hl=en Now I would have swore Black & Blue that both Deas and I have posted pics of Len's Grader on here but I can't find it for the life of me. They did find "a" dozer but it wasn't a D7...and nobody knew where it came from. I'll search some more. Too long in the Bush is just a great story: http://images.google.com.au/imgres?...rev=/images?q=Len+Beadell&hl=en&safe=off&sa=G
Yeah I have a few of the Beadell books, 'Outback Highways' is a 'best of' and is a real good read and also a biography by Mark Shepheard and also have "too Long In the Bush' on video which is pretty good also and is now available on DVD and can be ordered off a website run by the Beadell family http://www.beadell.com.au/lb_ourprods.html#DVD . As for the dozer I think that it was going to be a restoration project by the Aust. Geographic Society which is why Richard Smith (the electronics fella ) was involved but cant remember what happened with the search...so thats something to have a scout about on the web for I guess. I know the grader was a Cat product-must've done it tough just like the crew and the Land Rovers etc :notworthy (hold Cat stuff in high regard too ) Still finding out the ways of the forum, it would appear that D ick is not a accepted nice word, coming up as **** in my last post, hence the use of Richard in this one, just in case there was any confusion:bouncegri Cheers:beerchug Stripeyjack
THAT Dozer. Hi, Stripeyjack and Squizzy246B. As I understand it, there were several dozers used during the 8 or so years that the Gunbarrel Road Construction Party was making roads through central Australia. I suspect that there were at least two used in the original Gunbarrel highway construction. If you have a copy of, "Too Long In The Bush", there is a photo there of a Cat D8, probably a 1H or an 8R series, on a float with the prime mover well and truly stuffed into the front door of a pub. I believe that is the first dozer that they took out there. They brought out another float, swapped the dozer over to the second float and continued on their way, leaving the first float to hold the front of the pub up. Later in the book, there are photos of a Cat D7 cutting road through the bush. In one photo taken directly from the rear, it shows the dozer fitted with a logging winch. There is also a photo in this same book of a Cat D7 with a string of vehicles in tow. I believe this photo is actually from the time of the book, "End Of An Era", when they had to tow several broken vehicles and the broken-down grader back to Giles. The Gunbarrel Highway was cut through to the Giles Weather Station site and then halted while the weather station site was cleared and levelled and an airstrip put in. It's been a while since I read the book but I seem to remember that there was an end-of-year break in there too before they continued on with the rest of the road through to Warburton Mission. This link may be of some interest to you: http://www.beadell.com.au/lb_other_news.htm The dozer shown on this site is not, to the best of my memory at least, any of the dozers seen in any of Len's books. But then I am getting along in years. LOL. Stripeyjack, if my understanding is correct, you can't drive ALL of the original route these days without getting some special permits. I've been told that the route was changed to cater for an aboriginal reserve that was created after the original road was built. Pity, but that's why we have bureaucracies, to tell us that we can't go where we want and do what we want in the only home we've ever known 'cos some others have laid claim to some of it while those others CAN go where they like when they like and how they like. Sounds a whole lot like discrimination to me.
Thanks for the info D.P., all interesting stuff, might go and rustle up my Beadell video as my books are elsewhere but due for a re-read too! Still if any of the dozing gear has survived it'd be a neat restoration project or monument to the road projects. Youre right in terms of the permits as I think a few of the communities are sort of closed shops and indeed some of the Gunbarrel has been abandoned I think... I know what youre saying and agree re the bureaucracy, I had :my2c worth on the 'tree hugger' topic on the dozer section yesterday and its sorta the same sentiment, but I am not going to:stirthepot any more on that one! Cheers:beerchug Stripeyjack
So any of you old timers going to start that grading school???? I would be interested in learning a few tricks... Thanks :drinkup
Grader School??????? What grader school?????????????? Hi, w2bstoned. Grader school? What grader school? Just go out and learn the same way I did, by getting your favourite rump steak in the seat and doing it. LOL. I don't know that I'd be much use to you if I started a grader operator's school. The commuting would KILL yer. Yer see, I live DownUnder, I'm not that keen on raising my voice and I doubt you'd see me from where you are if I made like a demented windmill with hand signals. Hope and pray that Brian Abernathy gets his school up and running soon.
I can move a grader... Grade a road with a crown but I would like to learn some tricks of the trade... I will agree that there isn't many grader operators left... Alot of the rookies want nothing to do with the grader... I really think some could make a small fortune in teaching people to operate on a real job site. But hey who do you know that has endless supply of patience? :my2c
"Donk"? engine? Deas, what's with the "donk" engine? That much of a pain in the rear or what? Please edumacate us yungster's here amigo. :notworthy
'donk' engine. Hi, Bear. Here in DownUnder, 'donk' is an older slang term for an engine. The early Cat gas pilot motors were also called 'donkey' engines DownUnder. The pilot motor was one of the exercise devices that God ever let anybody use. You could get a whole week's exercise in one morning sometimes, just trying to get the pilot motor started so that you could start the diesel to go do some work. Then you had the benefit of all the exercise involved in doing the work as well, what with walloping great steering levers, brake pedals, a heavy master clutch and cable blade control levers. No wonder there were less heart attacks way back then. We got far more exercise then than we do today. LOL.
Grader school. Hi, W2bstoned. Endless supply of patience? More to the point would be an endless desire to learn. Even more so than with most other machines, if you ever stop learning with graders, you're dead from the neck up. One of the best learning aids you can possibly have with a grader is a good supply of blood to the 4 pounds or so of grey, mushy material between your ears to keep it alive and responsive. This helps you to learn from your experiences, both good and bad and to also learn from the experiences of others, without having to go through the pain of making any of their mistakes yourself. " 'Tis better to ask a question and appear dumb than to not ask the question and prove that you are dumb." With this in mind, feel free to ask any questins that occur to you here on the forum. There are one or two crusty old fossils here who may just have an answer or 3 for you.
Great Information :thumbsup Deas Thank you very much for the response/information on the O&K. Very informative as always. Also enjoyed your take on the "pony motor"/ "donkey engine". The first D8 my grandfather & father owned had a pony motor. They were masters at starting that thing. It took me a while to learn the idiosyncrasies of it. Sometimes I just had to go sit down and rest for a minute I was so worn out from trying to crank that thing. It sure worked good for preheating the combustion chambers of the main and priming the rods with oil pressure before flipping that compression release. It really was a neat concept in all. For you young guys that hven't been around one, they routed the exhaust pipe for the pony motor through the the intake manifold of the main engine. They also had a compression release lever on the firewall so you could spin the main engine over without compression, let it build a little heat in the chambers, some oil pressure on the gauge then flip the lever. Great preheating system. I remember starting that thing at sub zero temperatures after letting the pony spin the main for about 30 seconds, it would light right up as soon as that compression lever was flipped. They had that lever setup just right so you could flip it over with your right toe. :scool Mmmmmm The good ol days! Thanks again Deas Plant Regards, Randy
Those pony motors also had a two speed transmission in the event that it was so cold that you could not turn the diesel engine over in direct you could get the oil moving and start building up engine heat in low gear until you could get back in direct and spin the engine fast enough to start it.It was an ingenious system and I marvel over it today.Ron G
Thanks fer the onfo fellas. It didn't get to the other side of my head as to donkey+pony= the same thing, go figure the company i did bridge work for had an old cable dozer with a pony on it (don't remember what model but it was a cat) they had a big grader box type thing on the front occasionally to spread fill and all that I never had to mess with it being out on the deck catching iron and all that but the guy that ran that one kept it in good shape and seemed like performed more maintenance on the pony than the dozer. It was only on that particular job we did in WV and the only reason it was brought out was if the thing was lost off the side of the mountain it was cheaper to leave it and buy a new one (or they were hoping to lose it :beatsme ) the guy running it kept it alive and out of trouble and for the most part was running when some of the newer stuff was down for repairs.
That O & K. Hi, Randy. Yer welkum, M8. Just to give you an bit more of an idea what it could do, you could sink those four ripper shanks full depth in the clay in the borrow pit and the beast would march away with them like she had some place to be. I haven't been on a Cat 24 of any series or the Acco grader but that O & K toy impressed me with the 'grunt' it had and the way it put it on the ground. I sure wouldn't say 'No' to another chance to run one.
New Grader Operator Hello all! Im 26 years old and have been running heavy equipment now for the past two years! i was bounced back and forth between excavators and dozers for the first year and a half and then was asked to run our new "mini" grader full time! I was very excited to take this job beacuse my old man has run a grader his whole life and now ive been given the chance! I am still very much in the learning stages of this mechine but i love it to death. I would way rather run the grader, even tho i really dont have a clue what i am doing, then any dozer or excavator. so im some of the new blood around.. ill be pumping you guys with lots of questions in the next little while!
Welcome to the forum Danial! Nice to see the interest you're taking operating a grader. Lots of knowlegable folks here that will help you out.
What make/model is this "mini"? Who are you working for, Dexters?
WELCOME what part of the emerald isle did your folks come from Daniel? and that goes for you too Deas or is it O'dea stock
On learning to operate a grader............... Hi, Danial Doherty. Welkum too ther 4um. Now why would you want to go and do a 'stoopid' thing like learning to operate a grader? They are just the most fascinating piece of machinery that man has yet devised for moving and shaping the Earth. All you have to do is put up with all the other people who just can't seem to 'SEE' the finished product like you do and you have to keep them pointed in the same direction that you are heading in order to get the job done. I think the best piece of advice that I coud give anyone starting out and wanting to learn operate a grader would be to cultivate the right mind-set at the start. By far the great majority of grader work is leaving finished product behind you. Get into the habit and always have the aim of leaving behind a job that you would be proud to point out and say to folks, "I did that". Fire away with the questions. You set 'em up, we'll knock 'em down.
Oirish? Hi, Stock. Ackshully I'm a born-and-bred-and-proud-of-it DownUnder-ite. How-wevver, I do have 1/32 Oirish blood in me veins. I don't know what part of Ireland she came from but one of my mothers way-back 'lations had the maiden name of Norrish and did in fact hail from the Emerald Isle. The name 'Deas' is originally a Scots surname. D-e-a-s-e is the Northern English spelling but the scots are too 'frugal' to waste the last letter. At least that's my story and I'm stickin' tuit. LOL. Are you able to tell us anything - or post any photos - about grader work among the shamrocks? I'm always interested in hearing or seeing how it's done elsewhere.
Yes i am working for Dexter. It is the new Champion C80c pretty much the same as the one shown here, except mine has a push blade front.
Quite the thread. Its amazing to listen to you old blade hands talk back and forth. I know from being around a lot of operators and guys that some just think the old guys are just that OLD GUYS but myself I love learning from them and even the occasional rear end chewing from them when I have done somthing wrong or improper. One guy, whom I have talked about many times is one of those guys you refer to as the Operators Operator, Don is even at 75 still an awesome blade man and one of those operators that can get the most out of every machine he runs. For me to have the chance to spend many days working with him and my uncle whom still to this day amazes me with what he can do with a bulldozer, is somthing I will cherish for the rest of my life. At my new job its mostly bulk work and some of the guys they send to "operate" with me just see a dozer or excavator or any other piece of equipment as just a "toy". I enjoy listening to you guys and thanks for the stories, hopefully we, the younger generation, share our stories to the next generation as well. Trbo
Yer Welkum. Hi, Ez Trbo. Yer welkum, M8. All I ask in return is that you DO share your knowledge with those coming along after you. I suspect you will anyway - - - - - IF they'll listen.
Danial, your going to be a great blade man. You have already been given the best opportunity by being put on a Champion Compact Motor Grader. HA HA I guess I am partial to the Champion's. Don't be shy, get some pics of yourself running the grader and post on here. Make sure you get some high res shots of the machine working and we will do a job story on the company you work for and include your comments. For an example of what I'm talking about go to www.championmotorgraders.us and click on news. We have several stories onthere.
Deas Grader ? I was snooping around on the net when I found this. Was wondering if Deas Plant knew about it lol. She went for $25,000 au. :drinkup http://www.graysonline.com/lot/0024-7004001/earth-moving-and-mobile-plant/1985-o-k-g350-motor-grader
BTW another top machine I have driven was one of these babies. GD825A-1 Komatsu. Out push and rip a 16G or H series & hang onto a batter like a bloody spider. These pics don't realy show the size of them. There a big grader 16" blade + heaps of "GRUNT" :drinkup