MOTOR GRADER: Facts & Figures

A motor grader, sometimes called a blade or simply a "grader", is a heavy equipment engineering vehicle used to create a finish grade for roads, airstrips, or other large, flat surfaces such as soil foundation pads for building construction. They prepare and maintain gravel roads, which can degrade into a "washboard" after rains. In paving construction, they prepare the base course for asphalt. In colder climates they may be used for snow removal, while in grasslands they may be used for creating dirt tracks where the absence of trees means there is no need of a bulldozer. In some countries they may also be used to create shallow v-shaped ditches along roadways.

Typical models have three axles. The engine and cab rest over the section between the rear two axles, while the blade for grading is suspended from the section between the hinge in front of the middle wheels and the front wheels. Steering is accomplished by the movement of the front wheels on the turning of the hinge.

Early graders were known as "pull-type" graders, horse-drawn modified carriages with a small gasoline-powered motor to drive the conveyor. Invented in 1903 by two entrepreneurs, the Russell grader was eventually pulled by a tractor. In 1928, Caterpillar, whose engines were already being used on Russell graders, bought Russell Grader Manufacturing, and in the 1930s new grader lines were developed, the forerunners of today's modern motor graders.

Major manufacturers of motor graders now also include Case, Grove, Hitachi, Ingersoll-Rand, Komatsu, New Holland, Veekmas-Oy, and Volvo.

Blade sizes range from 2.5 to 7.3 meters, and engine sizes from 125 to 500 horsepower. Some companies may choose to lease or rent motor graders, depending on the size or duration of the project. Rental prices range from around $13,000 per month ($4,300 per week) for a smaller model such as the CAT 140H, to $24,500 per month ($8,200 per week) for a larger model such as the CAT 16H. As with other heavy equipment, the rental price can in most cases count as equity towards purchase, if the contractor decides there will be enough work to justify buying the machine outright.

WHEEL LOADER: Facts & Figures

The wheel loader, sometimes referred to as a front end loader, a bucket loader, or a scoop loader, is a modified tractor with a wide, tilting bucket on hydraulic moveable arms. Loaders may also be fitted with a Its primary use is for lifting material such as wood, earth, gravel, or debris, and loading it into trucks for removal or releasing it in a pile elsewhere. They may also be used for short transport of heavy materials such as piping or bricks across a construction site.

Though loaders with rotary tracks are common, especially when working with sharp debris that could damage rubber tires, the wheeled loader is preferable for most urban engineering projects because it does not damage roads and moves more quickly from place to place.

While some wheel loaders have permanently mounted buckets, most are removable, allowing for a host of other attachments. Such attachments include forks for loading pallets or shipping containers, plows for snow removal, bale grapplers for gathering and lifting large bales of hay or straw, or heavy duty grapples for loading logs. It may also be fitted with a "clamshell" bucket for scraping or light dozing.

Larger wheel loaders are designed with articulated steering; the front and rear axles of the machine are connected by a vertical hinge and hydraulic cylinders. This means that the rear wheels do the turning while the front remain fixed, allowing for heavier loads on the front end. Placed at halfway between the front and rear axles, the vertical hinge also eliminates the need for a differential.

Prices for new loaders range anywhere from $25,000 up to $500,000 for the largest tracked loaders. Lease agreements are also available, usually directly from the manufacturers, while some companies specialize in the rental of many different manufactures. Rental prices for loaders can be anything from $1400/$4200 per week/month and up.

CRANE: Facts & Figures

The crane is a construction devise comprised of an arm, a winch, and a wire rope to create mechanical advantage and lift heavy objects. The arm may be hydraulically controlled and connected to a pivot point, or may consist of a vertical mast and a horizontal boom. Many different types of cranes exist, each tailored for a specific purpose, but they all work on the same general principles, particularly leverage.

Cranes may be thought of as the oldest of heavy-equipment machines, having been invented by the Ancient Greeks for the building of temples. Those cranes, right up until the Industrial Revolution, utilized human or animal power to turn the winch or move the crane, though sometimes they could be connected to a water or wind mill. The first mechanically powered cranes utilized steam engines in the late 18th or early 19th Centuries. Modern cranes are powered by either electric or internal combustion engines, and use hydraulics to create even more lifting power.

There are many types of cranes. The one seen most obviously along the skyline is the tower crane, which has a fixed base and is constructed on site and dismantled once a project is complete. These cranes employ a counter balance on the short end of the boom, while the long end does the lifting. Because of their height and their slender base, they must be engineered to withstand forces that would cause them to tip, and are often braced by the very structure they are building. Truck mounted mobile cranes , known as boom trucks, generally employ a telescopic crane mechanism, allowing them to minimize their size for travel to and from job sites. Floating cranes are constructed upon pontoons, and are used mainly in the construction of bridges and ports, though they are sometimes also used to move awkward loads off of ships, and in salvage operations. Some floating cranes have lift capacities of 10,000 tonnes.

Large construction companies may have several cranes among their heavy equipment. For companies which are not regularly using cranes on their projects, many industrial equipment rental stores exist. Rental prices run at about $4000 per week or $11,000 per month for a 5-ton boom truck with a 110-foot reach, while a taller Potain self-erecting crane may run upwards of $8500 per month, though rentals of these are often for a minimum of three months.

BACKHOE: Facts & Figures

A backhoe is a machine designed for excavation. It consists of a scoop or digging bucket on an articulated arm (also known as a stick or dipper); this assembly is typically mounted on the back of a tractor or front loader, enabling the operator to do many different jobs without switching to another piece of heavy equipment. However, the backhoe is not so called because of its rear-mounted scoop; rather, it is called a backhoe because of the way it draws earth back towards itself, rather than pushing it like a bulldozer.

The backhoe arm may also be used to connect to other attachments than a scoop, using an integrated toolcarrier (IT). Such attachments include augurs for drilling, hydraulic hammers for breaking up asphalt, asphalt grinders for milling road, grapples for pulling up roots and stumps, and compactors for compressing loose road material such as gravel. All of these attachments, its compact size, and its manoeuverability on wheels make the backhoe an extremely versatile and popular piece of heavy equipment machinery.

The digging bucket of a backhoe is much narrower than the bucket on the front loader, but is able, because of its articulated arm, to dig much deeper than the front bucket. Its narrow dimensions enable it to dig trenches quickly and effectively for laying pipe or cable, and preparing areas for concrete foundations, and drainage.

The first tractor equipped with a front loader and backhoe was developed in Britain by JCB in 1953. So dominant was JCB in their market that the British still refer to the machines as "JCBs"; the term backhoe is virtually unknown there.

Major manufacturers of backhoes include: Ammann-Yanmar, Case, Caterpillar, Deere & Co., Ford Motor Company, Hitachi, JCB, Komatsu, KPX, Massey Ferguson, Takeuchi, Terex, Terramite, Volvo, and John Allen & Sons.

Because of its popularity - Caterpillar alone reports having sold over 100,000 backhoe loaders since 1985—the laws of supply and demand have kept prices for backhoes very competitive. Used backhoe loaders can run anywhere from $5000 to $30,000, depending on the equipments age, capabilities, and included attachments. Rental prices for large, wheeled backhoe loaders start from around $1400 per week, or $4200 per month.

HEAVY EQUIPMENT INDUSTRY RESOURCES

Global Report: The Heavy Equipment Industry


The heavy equipment industry has been experiencing a near 6% growth rate worldwide for the past ten years. Included under the heading of heavy equipment are machines such as the backhoe, crane, wheel loader, grader, forklift, and bulldozer. This demand is fueled by the need for new construction to accommodate growth, for the refurbishing of old projects and buildings, and for increased mining activity to provide raw materials for industry. The spinoff has also meant an increase in available employment in construction jobs for heavy equipment operators and maintenance mechanics, growth for parts manufacturers and distributors, and an increase in agencies providing operator certification.

While the U.S. economy is experincing a slowdown, Europe is expected to remain stable, and Japan, the dominant net exporter of heavy machinery in the 1990s, is expected to recover. This means that opportunities for increased sales globally will continue in the years to come, and with reductions in tariffs and duty-free movement between mature markets, the heavy equipment industry has become more streamlined and competitive. Manufacturers are able to limit the number of production centres and ship according to demand.

Because construction projects depend on heavy investment of capital, and are often of limited scope, many construction companies are choosing alternatives to purchasing their heavy equipment. Many companies choose to rent their machinery for specific parts of a project from specialized construction rental companies, while others choose to lease their equipment over several projects. Some of the larger manufacturers also run leasing and rental divisions, offering used heavy equipment for sale after 1500 - 5000 hours of service. Rentals can be a double-edged sword for manufacturers; the opportunity for increased business can sometimes lead to competition between new sales and used within a single heavy equipment manufacturer.

The increased competitiveness has meant a better product for construction companies and operators alike. New technologies have meant increased safety, comfort, and reliability. Advancements include air conditioned cabins, automatic transmissions, engine monitoring systems, noise reduction, and gps tracking systems for precision surveying. Some can even be programmed to repeat tasks or operate on driverless routes. Of course, these increased features require increases in training and certification for heavy equipment operators and companies alike.