tx_swordguy
Active Member
Hey Guys. I am a complete noob with graders. I have experience with older tractors and backhoes but no experience with graders. I have taken on the road maint for our community that has about 2.5 miles of outside gravel/dirt roads with some rather short ( 150 YARD) interior roads. outside roads are all straight with about 5, 90 Degree turns that are not too sharp. Turning onto the interior roads are much sharper turns but can be worked with a 30hp tractor and box blade.. We are looking to buy an older grader in the $10-$18k price range. I know that we are not looking at a perfect machine for that price. My thinking is cat 112E, JD 570a, JD 670A. I was thinking those would have good parts prospects and repairs would be less likely to leave us with a stranded machine due to parts availability. We looked at a cat 112e that started and ran. blade movement was easily accomplished at idle but raise the throttle a bit and the levers would jump and it was almost impossible to keep the levers engaged to move the blade while not moving and throttled up.. I did do some minor grading on some soft ground with it at idle and moved the blade just fine like that. I did not try reving it up while moving the grader and blade at the same time so don't know it that was possible or not. I like the hydraulic aspect of the JD graders but also have the hyd pump and numerous hoses that could cost some money to replace when needed. The mechanical aspect of the cat seems less maint hungry but that is an assumption by me. With our budget and the graders I am looking at what is your recommendation, and why? Also any ideas of what to look for would be appreciated.
Mark
Mark