Nolbyone
New Member
Hello all! Excellent forum you've got here. I was hoping I could lean on a few of you to help with information on a Galion 104H grader that my dad and I have saved from the jaws of the scrapper?!
The unit in question has a serial number of 104HB-GC-07982. Any information anyone might come up with would be great. Such as year of the machine from the SN? Or if that's not possible maybe the years that the 104h was produced? The advertisement said it was a 1979 but I kindly kindly doubt that. I'm thinking more late late sixties to about 73ish maybe? It's all hydraulic. Except for the blade tilt, not the circle, the circle is hydraulic and took some persuasion to work correctly after all the sitting and corrosion, but the tilt angle is adjustable only with what looks like pinch bolts that need to be loosened manually and tightened back up when the operator has the angle they want.
Fun story for anyone interested. The grader popped up on a local classifieds site for $2000. The photos showed six flat tires, next to no glass left in the cab, and orangish/reddish paint job that was barely hanging on. A sad looking machine for sure! I've wanted a grader ever since my dad sold his Caterpillar 99e on an oilfield sale in 1995. So I called on it.
I ended up talking to the mayor of a small town in Kansas. The grader belonged to the city and was last run in 2005. Both the mayor of the town and the last guy that ran the machine told me that the engine was seized, the hydraulic pump was shot, all the tires were ruined. The guy that ran it last, his exact words to me verbatim were, "I wouldn't wish that machine on my worst enemy." So I took them at their word and decided to let them scrap it. But it kept pulling at me... So I had a day off a few days later, and I called again and asked if I could drive the hour from my hometown to come see it. He of course said yes.
Upon my arrival I threw a hot battery in it and turned the key... click,click, click. So I shrugged my shoulders and thought, ok it's locked up. Was about to load the battery up, but tried it again. It cranked!! Only for a few seconds...I looked up... And white smoke from the exhaust! In only a few seconds! This thing wants to live! Well I was completely unprepared aside from a hot battery, albeit a very undersized battery. So no ether, no big battery. Only my diesel Colorado filled with oilfield tools and tiny tiny jumper cables. Needles to say... Thirty minutes later with a little finessing and a set of jumper cables probably on the edge of melting and that 471 Detroit was singing!! Luckily no stuck open injectors as it idled down almost immediately after starting. I idled it back up and tested all the hydraulics, and drove it forward ten feet in first gear on flat tires and then ten feet in reverse. Everything works!
So I shut everything down. Called the mayor, who to this point still thinks the engine is locked up, and he immediately invited me to his house. Right there over his dinner table I kinda low-balled their asking price. To which he told me my offer was the EXACT price he'd been authorized by the city council to sell it for. I wrote him a check and as he laughed he asked me what my plans were, scrap it, yard art, part it out? I simply said I might just air the tires up and road it home! He was absolutely blown away that it ran. He was so happy about it he ran over to the machine with me and used the gas powered air compressor on his flatbed to air up all the ratty old tires. We had a good laugh about it and he very genuinely told me he was happy to see it was going somewhere where it'll be used. And it has! I've had it home two weeks now, and without brakes of course, I've graded my driveway, my dad's, several of the neighbors, and a couple of very local to me oilfield lease roads!
All this after doing my due diligence of course. Such as, service, oil change, filters all the way around, enough grease through the grease gun to wear it three Milwaukee batteries, shining up the circle gear with a wire wheel to reduce the drag, soaking it in oil. I'm just shocked and stoked at the same time! For $1200 bucks plus filters and fluids and $375 dollars to a friend with a drop deck equipment trailer for getting it home and my dad and I landed an awesome old grader that we think will do a ton of work for us in the future! We're not wanting to go into business with it or anything but we're just elated to have lucked into such an awesome old machine! And save it from the scrapper in the process!!
Currently attempting to pull the wheel hubs to get to the drum brakes. I've got a really really talented parts guy that's just sure he can find all the bits we need to restore the braking capability of the old girl, which would be very handy!
I apologize that this turned into a novel but I'm just really excited and want to learn more about this old grader. Funny enough I've already ordered a vintage Galion grader hat off eBay that I only wear when I'm running the machine. Though the only real drawback is my wife is gonna kill me if I ever try grading the driveway while the baby is trying to nap ever again!! That Detroit is not conducive to sleeping babies!! Any help I'd greatly appreciated! Thanks much!!
The unit in question has a serial number of 104HB-GC-07982. Any information anyone might come up with would be great. Such as year of the machine from the SN? Or if that's not possible maybe the years that the 104h was produced? The advertisement said it was a 1979 but I kindly kindly doubt that. I'm thinking more late late sixties to about 73ish maybe? It's all hydraulic. Except for the blade tilt, not the circle, the circle is hydraulic and took some persuasion to work correctly after all the sitting and corrosion, but the tilt angle is adjustable only with what looks like pinch bolts that need to be loosened manually and tightened back up when the operator has the angle they want.
Fun story for anyone interested. The grader popped up on a local classifieds site for $2000. The photos showed six flat tires, next to no glass left in the cab, and orangish/reddish paint job that was barely hanging on. A sad looking machine for sure! I've wanted a grader ever since my dad sold his Caterpillar 99e on an oilfield sale in 1995. So I called on it.
I ended up talking to the mayor of a small town in Kansas. The grader belonged to the city and was last run in 2005. Both the mayor of the town and the last guy that ran the machine told me that the engine was seized, the hydraulic pump was shot, all the tires were ruined. The guy that ran it last, his exact words to me verbatim were, "I wouldn't wish that machine on my worst enemy." So I took them at their word and decided to let them scrap it. But it kept pulling at me... So I had a day off a few days later, and I called again and asked if I could drive the hour from my hometown to come see it. He of course said yes.
Upon my arrival I threw a hot battery in it and turned the key... click,click, click. So I shrugged my shoulders and thought, ok it's locked up. Was about to load the battery up, but tried it again. It cranked!! Only for a few seconds...I looked up... And white smoke from the exhaust! In only a few seconds! This thing wants to live! Well I was completely unprepared aside from a hot battery, albeit a very undersized battery. So no ether, no big battery. Only my diesel Colorado filled with oilfield tools and tiny tiny jumper cables. Needles to say... Thirty minutes later with a little finessing and a set of jumper cables probably on the edge of melting and that 471 Detroit was singing!! Luckily no stuck open injectors as it idled down almost immediately after starting. I idled it back up and tested all the hydraulics, and drove it forward ten feet in first gear on flat tires and then ten feet in reverse. Everything works!
So I shut everything down. Called the mayor, who to this point still thinks the engine is locked up, and he immediately invited me to his house. Right there over his dinner table I kinda low-balled their asking price. To which he told me my offer was the EXACT price he'd been authorized by the city council to sell it for. I wrote him a check and as he laughed he asked me what my plans were, scrap it, yard art, part it out? I simply said I might just air the tires up and road it home! He was absolutely blown away that it ran. He was so happy about it he ran over to the machine with me and used the gas powered air compressor on his flatbed to air up all the ratty old tires. We had a good laugh about it and he very genuinely told me he was happy to see it was going somewhere where it'll be used. And it has! I've had it home two weeks now, and without brakes of course, I've graded my driveway, my dad's, several of the neighbors, and a couple of very local to me oilfield lease roads!
All this after doing my due diligence of course. Such as, service, oil change, filters all the way around, enough grease through the grease gun to wear it three Milwaukee batteries, shining up the circle gear with a wire wheel to reduce the drag, soaking it in oil. I'm just shocked and stoked at the same time! For $1200 bucks plus filters and fluids and $375 dollars to a friend with a drop deck equipment trailer for getting it home and my dad and I landed an awesome old grader that we think will do a ton of work for us in the future! We're not wanting to go into business with it or anything but we're just elated to have lucked into such an awesome old machine! And save it from the scrapper in the process!!
Currently attempting to pull the wheel hubs to get to the drum brakes. I've got a really really talented parts guy that's just sure he can find all the bits we need to restore the braking capability of the old girl, which would be very handy!
I apologize that this turned into a novel but I'm just really excited and want to learn more about this old grader. Funny enough I've already ordered a vintage Galion grader hat off eBay that I only wear when I'm running the machine. Though the only real drawback is my wife is gonna kill me if I ever try grading the driveway while the baby is trying to nap ever again!! That Detroit is not conducive to sleeping babies!! Any help I'd greatly appreciated! Thanks much!!
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