Educate me on motor graders, I'm looking to buy one

[terex herder]

I have decided I have a need for a motor grader. 80% of the usage will be soil conservation work. Mostly filling ditches, some fixing terraces, smoothing out terraces and waterways. Finish a building pad every couple of years. I figure a budget less than $25,000.

What do I need to look for when evaluating a machine? What features are useful for my type of usage? It won't be doing any road work.

 

[56wrench]

An old Cat 120G(which has articulation) is a good machine. They are kind of a small/medium size machine that are maneuverable in tight spots. 3304 engine and powershift trans.

 

[56wrench]

Well, after looking at the asking price of older 120G machines, they seem to have held their value quite well and the ones i saw on machinery trader mostly were in the 40k USD range but i'm sure there can be better deals found

 

[Delmer]

If you ask farmers, they'll say get a pull pan or scraper behind a tractor. If you already know that and still want a grader, carry on. I hear that's a common strategy in the third world for road maintenance, even see some smaller townships in WI with a tractor and pull grader blade instead of the old grader.

 

[John C.]

Base values for any grader that runs is above $35,000. If you can actually run a grade with it the price climbs incredibly fast.

 

[cuttin edge]

Anything cheap will be worn out. You can walk a good steering machine a fair distance. Do you have a gooseneck float to move one for farther moves. The cab is pretty high for a higher trailer. I'm a Volvo Champion man myself, but a Cat or Deere might be easier to get parts for. Like John C said, if you're good enough to put it on the line, you could get a lot of work for one. These are pretty handy if you can find one. Easier to move around, great in parking lots. Renohusker likes his

 

[crane operator]

Four or five years ago, my county sold three 140G graders. A 1991,1993 and 1995. They went from a low of 59,000 to the newest one brought 69,000. The head of road dept. at the time was blown away by the price they brought, but from what I heard, there were a lot of buyers right then for newer G's and H's because no one wanted the new joystick M's.

I would think you could get a deere, or champion galion- far cheaper around here than the Cat. I looked a galion with engine issues a year or two ago, it was cheaper than I could buy a used track skid loader, I was wanting something to just maintain my gravel yard and driveway. I kind of gave up finding a skid loader and thought about the grader instead- just because either would work for me (I ended up not buying anything).

At the time I was looking, I saw a champion and a deere that I could have bought in your price range, both in "fair" used shape, but would have easily done part time use. I don't know if the prices on graders have gone up like everything else.

 

[Jonas302]

The biggest thing to look for would be a strong engine and transmission or last time they were overhauled Cat make us nervous around around 15000 hrs
AWD probably out of budget so get some weight no small graders for terrace work
Make sure it is equipped with diff lock
Take your time and find a great deal they are out there

 

[John C.]

Cat graders I believe came standard with locked differential. Differential unlock was the option. Budget money is looking for something thirty or more years old with plenty of problems to spend money on.

When i worked for the dealer a county cycled out 10 of their early 12H models. Low hours and mainly for snow and lane work. We gave over fifty each and sold all for more than $100K each. All were gone within weeks of them cycling through shop for just a wash down. Some went from the county shop to the customer direct. The county equipment manager should have lost his job.

 

[terex herder]

I've got the scraper special tractor and pan. It doesn't do well when all I want to do is roll a ditch shut. I do have a 50 ton lay down neck, but I shouldn't be going over 20 miles. If it won't road that far it won't work. It sounds like a $25K budget is about the bottom of what I will have to spend for something decent.

 

[ponch458]

I have decided I have a need for a motor grader. 80% of the usage will be soil conservation work. Mostly filling ditches, some fixing terraces, smoothing out terraces and waterways. Finish a building pad every couple of years. I figure a budget less than $25,000.

What do I need to look for when evaluating a machine? What features are useful for my type of usage? It won't be doing any road work.

I have had at least 4 different motor graders in the past 15 years and have some advice. One short sentence…. If it ain’t a Cat it’s a dog.

However, the old John Deere 570A we have has been very reliable and quite capable. It is far and away the most maneuverable and quickest of all the ones we have. You couldn’t run fast enough to give me another Fiat Allis (torque converter makes it real thirsty). Champion is probably a little better but not much. The old 570A is a fuel miser. Right now I have an insanely clean tight 1995 Cat 130G I found at a farm auction. It is a very worthy machine. Probably gonna need at least 50 for a decent blade imho.

 

[cuttin edge]

The biggest thing to look for would be a strong engine and transmission or last time they were overhauled Cat make us nervous around around 15000 hrs
AWD probably out of budget so get some weight no small graders for terrace work
Make sure it is equipped with diff lock
Take your time and find a great deal they are out there

I see the word terrace work on here a lot. It's not a term I am familiar with

 

[crane operator]

I see the word terrace work on here a lot. It's not a term I am familiar with

Its a water control land contour. You build "terraces" so that the rain water and snowmelt doesn't wash all the good soil away. They will build up with run off soil on the top side and need reshaped/ cleaned out.

 

[cuttin edge]

Its a water control land contour. You build "terraces" so that the rain water and snowmelt doesn't wash all the good soil away. They will build up with run off soil on the top side and need reshaped/ cleaned out.

View attachment 253690

Thank you, that's my new thing learned for today

 

[DMiller]

Need farms grounds as we have here, "HEL" Highly Erodible Land, Loess Soil. EVERY Farm is terraced here on the S Side of the MO River.

Our place was terraced in the 1940s to make More Productive, have been reworked a time or two and need it again.

 

[terex herder]

Crane operator shows what I've heard called track hoe terraces. The land is steep enough the terrace is made by pulling the bottom side up with a hoe as steeply as possible, and the slope is not farmed. Where I am the land is not as steep and the rainfall much less. The terraces are typically pushed up with a dozer by pushing a berm to the downhill side. Around here the terrace channel is cut with about a 1/2% grade. The entire terrace is farmed. The terrace will typically drain into a grassed waterway. The grass slows the water to allow the soil to drop out. Typically when new there will be 18" between the channel and the top of the berm, with slopes of 1:6. When the height gets less than 9" water tends to break over the berm.

 

[20/80]

I have decided I have a need for a motor grader. 80% of the usage will be soil conservation work. Mostly filling ditches, some fixing terraces, smoothing out terraces and waterways. Finish a building pad every couple of years. I figure a budget less than $25,000.

What do I need to look for when evaluating a machine? What features are useful for my type of usage? It won't be doing any road work.

If you have lots of work for a machine then don't cheap out or you will pay one way or another and loose out on contracts, if your serious get a good working machine in good working order that has been looked after, a shiny new paint job could be just lipstick on a pig, the seller should have good maintenance records and receipts for any parts or work done, simply buying a used machine from someone that the machine has been sitting in his back yard for 6 months to a year can be a disaster waiting to happen, 25 grand is not going to get you much these days, you may find one but you will spend another 30 grand to keep it going, so in saying that don't Rob Peter to pay Paul. good luck to you.

 

[crane operator]

https://www.machinerytrader.com/listing/for-sale/210930265/1996-champion-710a-iv-motor-graders

https://www.machinerytrader.com/listing/for-sale/211344421/1990-deere-770a-motor-graders

https://www.machinerytrader.com/listing/for-sale/195476241/1980-deere-670a-motor-graders

https://www.machinerytrader.com/listing/for-sale/190972781/1998-deere-670b-motor-graders

I just put in machinery trader- 1980 to 2000 year, and under $35,000.

Looks like late 80's to late 90's stuff can still be had in the price range you're talking. Still enough counties buying new graders every year that I doubt the used supply will ever totally dry up.

 

[Welder Dave]

The Champion looks like a nice clean unit. It's a little smaller but if you don't have heavy work to do it would be pretty economical to run with a 5.9 Cummins. With Champion you tend to get a few years newer for the same money. Cat is usually quite a bit more money.

 

[cuttin edge]

Need farms grounds as we have here, "HEL" Highly Erodible Land, Loess Soil. EVERY Farm is terraced here on the S Side of the MO River.

Our place was terraced in the 1940s to make More Productive, have been reworked a time or two and need it again.

Not a lot of farming around here. Forestry and mining was always king. The western part of the province has some potato farming. Never really noticed if PEI does this to their fields or not.