Grade Expectations

Let’s say your construction fleet is a football team. The offensive line would be big bulldozers. Skid steers would play running back — sturdy and maneuverable with an array of capabilities. Compact motor graders would be… well, they would be the kickers. It isn’t so much that compact motor graders are known for kicking, but they have an atypically long life cycle and they are highly specialized pieces of equipment.

But wait, you say, everybody makes fun of kickers. Admittedly, that’s where the analogy falls apart. Because even though they are gawky and funny-looking pieces of equipment that look like giant grasshoppers crouched at the edge of a jobsite, nobody makes fun of a compact motor grader.

Compact motor graders can find a home in many fleets, as leveling and finishing the work surface is important in many projects. They are most common, however, with small paving and concrete pouring contractors. Jobs from pouring driveways and small parking lots to smaller-scale road grading can be well-served with a compact motor grader.

Compact motor graders typically weigh between 8,000 and 16,000 lbs. Motor graders that exceed that weight are the big guys you might have making final preparations before a big road or highway paving chore. The large models are manufactured by the usual suspects in construction equipment manufacturing — Caterpillar, John Deere, Volvo and so on. Even though the major manufacturers offer compact models of other types of machines, compact motor graders are typically manufactured by smaller outfits. VT LeeBoy (Lincolnton, N.C.), Champion (Charlotte, N.C.) and NorAm (Palatine, Ill.) are hardly household names in the construction equipment industry at large, but in the compact motor grader business, they have carved a niche and have cornered the market.

Champion was once a part of Volvo, but a 2004 divestment left the compact motor grader line to its North American manufacturing arm. Before and after its association with Volvo, Champion was a family-owned business similarly to LeeBoy. In 2006, Vision Technology Systems acquired LeeBoy, changing its name to VT LeeBoy. Along with its motor grader line, VT LeeBoy has a full line of road construction and maintenance equipment. NorAm is a relatively new player — it was founded in 1992 — but has already developed a solid reputation in the compact motor grader marketplace.

Scouting Combine

“In purchasing either a large or small motor grader, the owner/operator should consider the types of jobs to be completed and which size motor grader best fits the contractor’s applications,” explains Keith Lee of VT LeeBoy research and development. “The major considerations should include maneuverability, economical operation and initial investment.”

“Transportability is a major concern,” adds Bryan Abernathy of Champion. “Larger motor graders might require a bigger trailer than what the customer already has on hand to haul his small- and mid-size equipment. If a customer is already able to haul compact equipment, then a compact motor grader will fit right into his fleet.”

If the buyer is looking to compete primarily in small-scale jobs, such as driveway or small playground pours, a smaller unit may fit. However, if he or she is looking for the flexibility to grade the streets for a new housing development, a larger, more powerful compact motor grader may be in order.

Armed with a realistic expectation of the job size, the buyer should look for a dealer that can fine tune their needs and match them with the best machine for their fleet.

“Working with an established dealer that has a solid track record is always beneficial,” says Lee.

“You really need to set eyes on the machine,” says Abernathy. “You can’t really buy a compact motor grader off of a spec sheet. We all look pretty good on paper — by and large the rough specs, might appear similar at a glance but each manufacturer offers features that will appeal to one buyer or another. It’s a matter of trying a few machines and getting a feel for which is best for you. The better dealers may even offer to bring the grader to your yard and let you try it out.”

The buyer can expect to spend anywhere from $60,000 for a smaller grader and up to $150,000 for a more robust machine with more bells and whistles. “The mid-range list price is around $110,000, and it goes up or down a bit from there depending on size, engine and attachments,” Abernathy says.

While that may seem a significant investment, the right compact motor grader can last a lifetime. The typical compact motor grader won’t see the wear and tear that other equipment does. Since it’s a finishing machine and is so specialized, it is less likely to face chores it isn’t suited to tackle, less likely to overreach its capabilities. “Compared to a dozer or an excavator, a grader has a pretty easy life,” Abernathy explains. “An old one is as good as a new one as long as it’s been maintained.”

Game Day

When the time comes to run the compact motor grader out onto the jobsite, both machine and operator need to be ready. Compact grader owners should reference the manual for daily maintenance checks and scheduled service intervals — typically every 1,000 hours. Hoses should be checked regularly for hydraulic fluid leaks and moving parts — the compact motor grader tends to have more than other equipment types. The blade, cutting edge and slide should be inspected for wear as should the turntable and cylinder connections.

If everything checks out, the operator can hop aboard and get ready to grade. A first-timer may be taken aback initially by the array of levers. “While the standard control levers of a motor grader may seem intimidating, they are easily used by an experienced operator,” Lee explains.

Abernathy agrees: “You’ve got a steering wheel, 10 levers and many switches. On top of that, there’s more to it than just memorizing what the levers and switches do.”

There’s an element of craftsmanship to operating a motor grader. Operators go on feel as much as anything, developing a sense of using the machine with a whittler’s precision to level the worksite. “In a way, you’re either born with the ability to shape the ground using a compact motor grader or you’re not,” Abernathy says. “You can learn how to drive one, but getting the most out of the machine is a combination of natural and developed skills.”

There have been a few technological advances in the controls — joysticks that can combine the function of two or more levers, for example — that have made operating a grader a little more straightforward, but the operator remains an artisan of sorts. Better controls don’t make better operators any more than a great knife gives anyone the skill to turn a few blocks of wood into a chess set.

Still, operator comfort has become increasingly important. “[It] is considered more today with enclosed cabs, fans, heating and air conditioning,” Lee says. “Then there are radios, CD and DVD players and seats that are more ergonomically-designed.”

So ideally, the operator is both comfortable and skilled. How about safe? “The operator is pretty safe,” Abernathy says, citing built-in rollover protection among the safety-conscious design features of compact motor graders. Common sense dictates that seat belts should be worn when operating and the parking brake engaged before dismounting.

Also, the operator should take care and watch for other contractors and crew members on site. “The operator needs to be aware of the other workers on the jobsite,” Lee explains. “Visibility is enhanced in many of the newer models.”

It doesn’t all rest on the operator, though. Others on the jobsite need to keep their eyes and ears open when the grader is working. “There’s a lot of forward-and-back in grading,” Abernathy explains. “The operator is going to be paying attention primarily to the blade, focusing all the way out to the ends of the grading blade to be aware of what’s going on while fine-tuning the pitch and position as well. It’s tough to focus on the task at hand and keep an eye out for wayward coworkers.”

For the Win!

Grading a worksite requires precision and skill. While grading attachments are available for other pieces of construction equipment, the compact motor grader is specifically designed to meet the exacting demands of final site preparation. In the capable hands of the experienced operator, the compact motor grader leaves behind the ideal canvas onto which a playground, parking lot or driveway can be poured to even the most strictly engineered demands.

Like the place-kicker, the compact motor grader is a specialist that doesn’t see the wear and tear that its teammates see over the course of a nice, long career. As mentioned above, people may make fun of kickers, but ask a New England Patriots fan how fortunate the team was to have a skilled, accomplished craftsman kick the winning field goal in two Super Bowls. Have a look at a pristinely graded construction site, free of the divots and thick tire tracks of big burly equipment, and ask yourself how pretty it would be if not for the compact motor grader.

Greg Thompson is a contributing editor to Compact Equipment, based in Peninsula, Ohio.