Thread: My baby is sick

I rekon I convinced the boss today to get a bigger grader.
Doing winter grading with the bigger mullboard,I can now do the first cut across in 2 less cuts and 1 less on the cut back across.
So,in 1Km on an average width road,I normally do 1 drain cut,then a cut up onto the road then 1 more to get the dirt past the centre,then the other drain cut,1 cut up onto the road,1 past the centre then 2 to cut off into the drain.1km of road is 8km of grading,today with only 2 feet more blade,1km done with 5km of grading,cant belive nobody has done the sums before!!!! Over the life of the machine this would save plenty over the extra purchase price alone,never mind the bonous of the bigger machine when doing construction.
The grader they have leant us is a 2001 Volvo 720VHP,with 8000hrs on the clock.Hasnt got the horsepower of mine(127kw VS 145kw),but it still can push(actually PULL before somebody picks me up) a full blade with ease.Difference being the bigger tyres giving better traction,plus I dont use the full power on my grader doing maintence(leave the economy switch on) as it isnt required.
Andrew

Hi Ian
Not bought another one yet,the CAT 12H goes next year,I get the new grader,mine goes to maintence.
We get exceptional service backup from CJD for my grader and our 20tonne excavator.Makes sense to change all the fleet over to Volvo,I can tell you we will never have another JCB.Our loader has been a pig from day 1,its just started loosing water AGAIN,2 head gaskets,2 turbos and a motor rebuild and its only done 2500 hrs.The supplier wont even return calls,took them 3 months to rebuild the motor last time.
This old volvo goes well,hydraulics are painfully slow compared to mine and vision isnt quite as good.MISSING MY HORSEPOWER and TRANSMISSION.
Andrew