Am running a 140h, and blading a road that seems to have the sun on my back or in my face. I usually have sunglasses on but just want to delete the middle man in this problem. Anyone put some tint on your cab windows to help prevent glare? or heat reduction inside the cab? I think a few graders out there come with tinted windows from factory. Anyone operate these graders out there? Do you loose that much visibility while blading? how's the visibility while plowing snow at night? Thanks for the info. Kidd.
I have some film tint I put on my grader to cut some of the the Western Colorado sun. Just need to tint the top half or so, don't want to mess up visibility of the ground around you.
I run a JD770D. The windows are slightly tinted from the factory but I still have to wear sunglasses. I see some graders around here with dark tint on the top half of the windows but as mentioned above you wouldn't want it too low if you work at night. Also wouldn't want much tint if you push snow at night. We just traded for a JD770G grader. The salesman added sun visors on the front and rear windows. They were pretty cheap and he assured me I'd like them. I don't know. Seems kinda wussy to me but we'll see next month when we take delivery. I've been working on elevating an East/West road for the past week and I'm kinda tired of feeling the hot sun on the back of my neck....
This may sound cheesy, and you cannot do it on a front or side window, but I have seen two graders with Levelor mini blinds on rear windows. They block the sun; you can adjust them for visibility and raise or lower them as needed. They came in black with a reflective coating; just like you buy for your house. Again, sounds cheesy, but they seem to work, the operators like them.
That actually sounds like it would work. You'd have to anchor the bottom when lowered or you'd get real tired of it banging into the back of the seat.
Sorry, I forgot to mention that part, you are right. Use something simple like a hook or Velcro, not something permanent. You want to be able to pull them up out of the way completely when the sun does not shine. Here in Washington this year, they would never be used; it has rained all year, keeps the dust down and the water trucks home….
Weather seems to be very extreme this year. We are in above normal temps and below normal moisture. Really sucks for the grain farmers. Started out with a beautiful looking crop, now it's burning up. Good part for grader work is you can get into any drainage area that needs touched up without worrying about burying the grader!!! I wouldn't consider grading gravel roads now because of the dust. Roadbeds are hard as a rock and whatever material you moved wouldn't stay where you wanted it anyway. We are supposed to get a good rain tonight, haven't had anything measurable since 02 July.
put your film on lexan sheets and then install them on the outside of your machine,,,, think of it as a storm window, than you can easily remove them for any reason... even during the shift your working if you want.
They make tinting that is like the old Color Forms toy that you can stick to glass then peel of and reuse it . I've used this stuff for a number of years works great and you can just peel it off and put it on a different machine if you have to.
I think you should add your film on the lexan sheet and cover it on the machine outside so that it protect it.
I installed about 10" of tint on the top of each of my doors for the sun glare, the rear window has a black screen blind that you can raise or lower its factory from Cat, it does not slap or move around, works very well, only thing about the tint is in the fall of the year the sun sits lower in the sky in the mornings so my tint is not as affective.
Mauldin makes their graders with factory tint, and I hate it. I wouldn't mind the rear and 2 side windows, but I have to run doors open to see, and the windshield is impossible to see out of in a shaded area.
I would absolutely hate that!!!! My doors are only open for entry/exit.
That's kind of a safety issue, you would never see anything at night, the little bit I have done is enough, couldn't imagine everything tinted.
We get extremes out in western NSW Australia 40c+ Even with tint on the sides plus the roll down real blind on a 140M I've operated for several years, the sun/UV beats in relentlessly. I use some of those auto screens (suction cap style) we place inside your car to protect the kids. Long oval shape which add that extra protection & are removable. Hope this helps
Be bad the AC quit working
M Series with bad A/c haha I driven plenty & all bar one had underwhelming A/c. Unfortunately, it isn't my current M
I have tint on my mini, 35% on the front and 3% everywhere else. I left the little skid when clear. I know it is not a grader but the concept is the same
I've only run grader at night. Volvo G940 and CAT 160M... hate, hate, HATEEEE the joystick on the CAT steering too. Same on 980 and 988... I much rather have a wheel.
Yes, the M steering takes some getting used to, but everything else is great. Vision & cabin ergonomics are a million miles from the Cat 94c Knuckle buster I started on in 1979. Once you master an M series, then go back on a "rack" style grader with a steering wheel, you'll notice your production is down & at the end of the day, your fatigue level will be a lot higher than running an M series. I love the 16M but it's too large & heavy for the style of work I'm on.