Modern Graders Offering Five Star Luxury

Step into the cab of a modern grader and you will wonder if it is a piece of heavy equipment, or a well designed office. Compare modern graders from those of twenty years ago. The outside working components have only changed marginally. But in the cab – let’s just say that twenty years ago most graders didn’t have cabs; all they had were roll bars.

The modern cab on a grader has wrap-around windows and air conditioning. It’s no longer a hot (or cold) and dusty (or muddy) job. When I say air conditioning, I mean climate control – the full system with dust exclusion filters and all. Add to this two-way radios for communication, CD players for entertainment and you start to get the picture – and you haven’t even started the motor yet.

Operating has now been simplified with some manufacturers moving from levers to joy-stick type controls. Add to this computer-aided settings for the blades, often connected to a GPS system, and suddenly the grader is a huge machine capable of completing jobs to finest measurements. It really is amazing how much change has gone into a machine as complex as a grader.

Despite all these changes, the operations of a grader are still pretty much the same. A blade is set to a specific height and angle and the grader then carves the surface to a finish dictated by engineers and plans. Learning to operate a grader can be undertaken in as little as three weeks with operators then ready to enter the work force. Interested in grader operator training? Contact ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools for more information.