Four tips for keeping your motor grader in good condition

While contractors often used bulldozers to carry out grading work in the past, the speed and standard of the finish that a proper motor grader offers has made them the preferred choice of professionals today. Grading is a hard job though which means your motor grader needs to be properly looked after if you want it to last, so follow these tips for good grader maintenance.

1. Check blade sharpness regularly

The blade is the section of the grader that is constantly coming into contact with different surfaces, which makes it the part most likely to become worn. The frequency with which you will need to check and replace the blades will depend on how hard the ground you are working on is, but for rough surfaces examine them after 25 working hours, while a check every 50 hours will be enough for softer ones. Failure to replace the blades before they wear down will lead to the moldboard getting damaged.

2. Make sure the tyres have enough pressure and tread

The quality of the tyres on your grader plays a crucial role in the standard of surface finish. This is because tyre pressure and tread help the machine gain traction on the ground. For that reason, the tyres on the grader should have tread depth of half an inch as the minimum, but ideally more, and must be replaced if they do not meet that standard. The level of tyre pressure has to be consistent across all of the tyres to get the best response from the grader.

3. Keep the air filters clear

When you are carrying out maintenance checks on your motor grader, make sure that the air filters have not become blocked by dirt. Blocked filters will make the machine use up more fuel, costing you more money. The grader may have a signal called ‘restricted alert’ that will inform you when they are blocked, but you can also be proactive by fitting a pre-filter to help prevent dirt getting into them in the first place.

4. Keep an eye on the controls

The area where the grader operator sits also needs to be functioning correctly, including the handles of the controls and the seat belt, for reasons of workplace safety. Properly maintaining these will also lead to better results when using the machine as – for example – if the handles for the blade are loose it will make precise grading impossible to achieve.

Remember these four important pointers when you are looking for a motor grader for sale and when you start using it, the machine should last for a very long time.