2024 Cat 150 laying down gravel

[@kevinbeene1124]

It really shows when an operator takes pride in his craft.

[@graderman140m]

@@kevinbeene1124 thank you and I agree also. I thank you for watching!

[@jjarm]

OMG, I can’t believe how interesting something that I’ve seen my whole life in rural America becomes a science 😅. How fun (68 yrs). Thank you Professor!

[@gamingradeon]

very satisfying to watch you along this project. I'm sure people driving this road will be thinking "now that's a graderman that knows how to lay roads". We really really appreciate your service.

[@Adam-q2w5e]

I can't thank you enough for these resources, they really have been very helpful along the way. You didn't have to share your "secrets" but we all are very fortunate that you did. I hope our paths cross one day.

[@graderman140m]

@@Adam-q2w5e your very welcome that’s the main reason I started my channel was to share my knowledge with other operators and hopefully help them become better operators. I thank you for watching!

[@davidperry970]

Noticed that good operators have a smooth gentle touch with their machines.

[@graderman140m]

@@davidperry970 you’d be correct an experienced operator pretty much becomes one with there machine thanks for watching!

[@jamesconn7311]

Nice work Graderman !! Morning Sir from East Texas !! Quality work !!No Doubt !! Thank You !!

[@graderman140m]

@@jamesconn7311 thank you and hello from South Dakota glad you enjoyed the video thanks for watching!

[@BillRayDrums]

That grader is smooth like butter.

[@Failure_Is_An_Option]

Know how many times I've seen any municipality address a dirt road with additional material, much less that much material... Never. Almost 50 years and I've NEVER seen anybody bring out new material for a dirt road. Quite the machine you have there. Appreciate the ride along.

[@graderman140m]

@@Failure_Is_An_Option it’s honestly pretty sad how little gravel majority of municipalities will put down we have been doing this since 4 years ago and it’s paid us back big time in less maintenance costs thanks for watching!

[@treverpippin611]

I always enjoy watching your videos, good pointers & info! Thanks!

[@graderman140m]

@@treverpippin611 happy to hear that I thank you for watching

[@jamesragus1577]

You make it look easy! Good equipment helps you do that, experience is the key! Great video, enjoy your weekend!😊

[@graderman140m]

@@jamesragus1577 thanks and I’m suer I do it’s definitely not an easy task but 18yrs in the seat certainly helps glad you enjoyed the video I thanks you for watching!

[@nathanhager7727]

You do some excellent work Graderman 👍

[@graderman140m]

@@nathanhager7727 thank you I appreciate that I’ve always had the mindset to do the best possible job I can I thank you for watching!

[@jimhanifer1177]

That's real nice not having manholes or water valves or gas valves looking fantastic you can really are that greater out looks good thank you for the video 🚜🇺🇸

[@graderman140m]

@@jimhanifer1177 it definitely is Jim I’m very lucky I don’t have to deal with all that stuff in the way,your welcome for the video thanks for watching!

[@garycook8931]

What a great job!!!! Thank you

[@graderman140m]

@@garycook8931 thanks for the compliment and i thank you for watching!

[@theunchartedtrucker1113]

I always enjoy watching your great content and thanks for the video. It always makes me a little jealous on your equipment and the material that you get to use up in South Dakota versus myself here in northeast Nebraska, lol. The county I work for likes to spend as little on gravel as they can get away with, we always just spot in gravel in the low areas and that’s about it. I would maybe suggest adjusting your camera settings though unless the camera is acting up or something but the videos kinda almost make me dizzy at times. I am not sure if it has something to do with the video pixel quality or motion tracking or exactly what as I am not really a videographer. Thanks for the content.

[@graderman140m]

@@theunchartedtrucker1113 I’m happy to hear you enjoy watching the content I produce and I consider myself extremely spoiled I know others are not as fortunate as I am to have the equipment I do and the material I have to work with suer makes my job easier though and thanks for telling me about the camera on my head I did notice it making one feel dizzy I don’t know if I have a setting messed up or I’m moving my head to much I will try to make it better for next time I thank you for the comment and thanks for watching!

[@tunintunin3417]

You’re a good man. Keep up the good work

[@graderman140m]

Thanks I appreciate that I thank you for watching!

[@constructionfan86]

Nice videos,I enjoy watching them,keep ‘em coming😎💯 Oh BTW,I know someone who is a longtime lifer for a local highway department in my hometown in Maine,he’s a foreman and he primarily runs a grader and other equipment,they have a Caterpillar 120M2 for a grader

[@graderman140m]

Thanks I’m glad to hear you enjoy watching the videos I will definitely keep them coming and thanks for watching!

[@lesliekirk7036]

We need you in the uk to sort the pot holes out lol good job buddy👍🇬🇧👍🇬🇧

[@graderman140m]

I can believe that and thanks for watching!

[@scottgrote4405]

That looks like a perfect road. Great job. Would you want to come up to NW North Dakota to work for our township? 😀

[@graderman140m]

@@scottgrote4405 thanks I appreciate that and yes I was very happy how the road turned out and unfortunately I’ve got plenty of work back home here to keep me busy but if you ever find an operator I would come up and do some hands on training if you’d like thanks for watching!

[@tmaendel]

Nice work, was a little disappointed that you didn’t show the first pass. 😢

[@graderman140m]

I apologize I did film the fist part but unfortunately the file got corrupted and I couldn’t get it to work once I do a gravel project next year I will video the whole process thanks for watching!

[@ekim72]

Great vid keep 'em coming.

[@graderman140m]

@@ekim72 happy to hear that thanks for watching!

[@ericarmstrong2832]

Great work as always Mr! Interesting way to lay gravel. The way i like to do it, is have the belly dumps run left side, right side, then centre. Dumping it down at 4 inches. Doing L-R-C naturally puts a crown in the road straight out of the trucks. I then only have to work with the top inch or so of gravel. Have you ever tried it like that? Its neat to see you working with such a huge windrow but my god you gotta be careful not to lose it over the edge. Lol It generally takes 4 passes total for me to get the finished product doing it the way i described. Cheers!

[@graderman140m]

@@ericarmstrong2832 thanks and I unfortunately can’t do the way you described you do it because of how much clay is in this gravel if I have them fly dump it and they drive over it and pack it down I have huge slab chunks and it tears so that’s why I do it this way thanks for the suggestion though always enjoy hearing how others go about it thank you for watching!

[@ericarmstrong2832]

@@graderman140m ahhh gotcha! I didnt realize it has a hefty clay content but that makes sense. Around here we use 5/8 crushed limestone or trap rock. It tightens up HARD with the right amount of water and rarely turns muddy. But up here in Ontario our land is littered with rock, so pretty easy to get it. Lol

[@adriannettlefold9084]

You need a cameraman to shoot some footage from outside while you work, Mark. 😊

[@graderman140m]

@@adriannettlefold9084 I’d love to have that option unfortunately hard to find someone to do it for me. Nice to hear from you again thanks for watching!

[@adriannettlefold9084]

@graderman140m I'm pretty cheep, what's $60/hr Aus in USD? Hahaha

[@thomascarr1392]

Look into a tripod, love the vids ​@@graderman140m

[@jerryferrell517]

Ha, When I was a graderman for the county in Colorado I was lucky if I got a 27ton load per 700 feet. Boss comes out every mid-day wondering why it's taking so long. My supers didn't have a clue, all they were interest in was reporting to their Super the project got done. It was quantity over Quality. I am so glad I'm retired from politics.

[@graderman140m]

@@jerryferrell517 wow that’s definitely putting it on thin I’m very lucky to have a township board who wants to do things the right way and trust me as an operator to do the best I can with the budget I have for gravel thanks for watching!

[@andrewazorian2786]

Looked like big dad for a sec😂

[@MrMan5014]

Probably one of the first mistakes that beginners make is not equalizing their windrows!…you can’t consistently lay down material without an equal windrow…and making a few passes down each side of the windrow before laying it out will even it up quite nicely…that’s what my mentor taught me when I first started…it was literally the first thing he showed me!..it’s all about consistency!!…he called it “doing a rodeo”…

[@umpequenocomentario3137]

Há muito obrigado por colocar todos os seus vídeos com legendas assim aqui no Brasil 🇧🇷 posso assistir seus vídeos ir tá em tradução no meu idioma

[@larryallen8523]

Very nice

[@JoelBennett-vt6pq]

I’m about to start my grader job with my current employer I have no time in the seat but I know roads and how to operate top on UTS systems which is why they are going to throw me in the deep end, your video is helpful what other ones do you recommend to a beginner? A question I had is once you put the material in the centre for your crown, how then did you shape it evenly on both sides and smooth it out? How did you manage to get a 4% crown with gps? How do you know the material you layed down was 3”? Or was it just an educated guess from years of experience? This video is really confronting as it tells me I am in for a hard journey ahead there’s just so much to it I need to learn but I will not have a proper person to train me which I’ll have to learn the hard way :(.

[@graderman140m]

@@JoelBennett-vt6pq congrats on the new job unfortunately with you not having any seat time in a grader your going to have a real struggle starting out as far as how I laid all this gravel down I equalized it so it’s all the same then I start laying the material out in half inch lifts I’m doing all this by feel and visual which that just takes a lot of seat time I know I make it look pretty easy but I’ve been doing this for 16 years so it’s pretty easy for me you have to be able to picture in your head on what your building also have to know how to manage material and where to place it hope this explains a little good luck and thanks for watching!

[@JoelBennett-vt6pq]

@@graderman140m thanks mate! I think I’ll pay $2200 and do the 4 day training course which is 2 days on the seat that my country offer here in Australia which gives me my qualification… I think my work (council government job) will start me out cutting shoulders and stuff. I have a question though. We usually do 200mm lifts of uncrushed then sub base 20mm road base with 1% lime then base layer which is the same all on 200mm lifts. The lanes are about 4.7m here which in the end get spray sealed. So my question is if the trucks are tipping which they tip out the back here and it looks like a mess compared to your belly tippers should I still equalise the load into a windrow to the centre lane or out to the shoulder or will it be too much material? Remember for a 200mm lift this is a lot of material. Then after it bring it up in lifts? Or another way should I just push it out the the blade roughly at 0 to get it somewhat uniformed and just start throwing it side to side to get to my centreline and shoulder?

[@joemitchem5707]

Interesting! Our gravel is I guess what you'd call washed. No clay or dirt in it at all. The water table is only about 10' deep and they pump the sand out, screening the gravel out into one pile and the fine sand into another. The water runs back into the pond.

[@graderman140m]

That’s interesting material you get to work with but I’m suer with your water table being so high it works that material wouldn’t work at all for me thanks for the info and I thank you for watching!

[@joemitchem5707]

@@graderman140m it doesn't always work for me either. I have some roads I need to add clay to so it will pack.

[@IBRAKEFORBEDROCK]

On your final passes, are you using the slope controls or just looking at the level o gauge to get your 4%

[@thetownofsilvercreek-wrigh9187]

Yes, I was wondering too, if Graderman is using the cross slope or eye balling the level gauge on the window ?

[@IBRAKEFORBEDROCK]

@@thetownofsilvercreek-wrigh9187 I have found that cross slope automatics do not work well with a heavy load on the moldboard. Finish grading should be fine though. For rough-in I just use cross slope in manual and it gets pretty close.

[@graderman140m]

@@IBRAKEFORBEDROCK I’m using my level o gauge on my window and my digital readout on my monitor I’ve played around with the grade control I’ve had success with it but I just pretty do it myself.

[@graderman140m]

@@thetownofsilvercreek-wrigh9187 I’m using my level o gauge and looking at my digital readout on my monitor I’ve had some success with the grade control but I prefer to run it manually and do it myself.

[@dickfitzwell4920]

Sir, YOU ARE A HAND.

[@JacobGilkerson]

It looks like you're spilling over the toe a bit, making the road a bit wider. Was that intentional or did you get your windrow a little too close to the edge? I haven't had the opportunity to lay down a lot of gravel like that. My biggest fear when blading is getting that windrow too close to the edge and having it spill over.

[@graderman140m]

You are correct and that was intentional I wanted to put the gravel out there to make the road too a little bit wider and yes you do have to be careful not to push windrow over to far allowing material to go into the ditch nice eye and I thank you for watching!

[@steelerfan-uo5xo]

I do this same job in NC but I have to deal with pine straw and tree leaves contaminating my material.

[@graderman140m]

Awesome and that would definitely be frustrating to have all the stuff contaminating your material but you have to work with what you have thanks for watching!

[@bradsmells]

Awesome job looks nice. Coming from a RM in Canada that needs a bit of work. Are you running steel blades ? Any info on the different carbides? Looking for options doing dirt work 16’ mould board. Take care

[@graderman140m]

@@bradsmells thanks and sounds like you got some work ahead of you and I’m running carbide edges I’m using the sharq system on this machine my other machines I’m running double carbide edges here are a couple of links to the edges I use for road maintenance as far as doing dirt work I prefer to use a regular set of steel edges. equipmentblades.com/products/cijt873675-aci-1 equipmentblades.com/products/sh-920-461830 equipmentblades.com/products/sh-920-461870

[@maga5381]

What type of material are using? You call it gravel, but it looks looks nothing like the gravel used in my part of the country. You mentioned it has a high clay content, but shouldn't gravel have little to no dirt/clay?

[@graderman140m]

@@maga5381 the material I’m using is pit run gravel all dug out of a pit which is located close to a stream or river it’s all natural material that was put there from the glaciers it’s dug up run through a crusher to make it 3/4 inch minus and yes I said high clay content in this gravel you need clay to hold the gravel together so it sets up and gets hard like a paved road if you have clean material all rock and sand you will have a poor road with washboards and water will get in to the sub grade hope this explains it a little I know our gravel is way different then others around the country thanks for watching!

[@dirtguy6537]

Impressive grader work.

[@graderman140m]

Thank you very much! Thanks for watching!

[@doughaynes1048]

It would be nice to see a longer video .

[@Adam-q2w5e]

If you are in the seat, you have plenty of time to think about what he is saying or what you saw. He has put down more information for free, in terms of "grading" than anyone else in North America. We are very lucky for this man.

[@graderman140m]

@@doughaynes1048 I can definitely do longer videos thanks for the suggestion I try to keep them under 20 minutes just so it doesn’t get boring or overwhelming to watch I thank you for watching!

[@haroldenglish943]

​@graderman140m I usually only watch a video if it's 12 minutes or less. Occasionally a 20 minute one here or there. I don't sit in a basement all day, I work. This length of video is just fine.

[@dakotak8437]

Need to come teach our township guy how to fix roads lolol

[@graderman140m]

What area are you in I do offer training.

[@dakotak8437]

@@graderman140m Chapmanville Pennsylvania. Lolol this guy we have is a complete joke bc older ppl want him to grade the road when it's spring and muddy. And when he does the holes with light dirt without ripping it or rips the road and let's the few cars we have pack it down and the road looks like swiss cheese. Then he rips and I thing grades the roads that are perfect but leaves the ones with the holes alone. He fights with 6 different township and plowing roads leaves it in the middle for the othere township to plow and if he don't like you he plows you in your drive way

[@gamingradeon]

I was wondering, is it possible to grade the road with just two passes? In eastern europe, where I live, graders just go two times on a single road, one time forwards and one time back. Can they do just as a good job with just two passes?

[@graderman140m]

@@gamingradeon I do a lot of just two pass blading when I’m doing my regular maintenance grading but it really depends on what kind of condition the road is in really determines how many passes you have to make on the road hope this answers your question thanks for watching!

[@garyhenion9459]

Nice work

[@graderman140m]

@@garyhenion9459 thanks I thank you for watching!

[@michaelalan1546]

Hey, that looks really good man, that looks like it’s got a lot of good fines in it and great compaction. Does that come directly from a pit or do they mix in clay with that?

[@graderman140m]

@@michaelalan1546 Hey there buddy thanks for the compliment I appreciate it and yes this is all natural gravel that the dig out of a pit I’m very spoiled to have this kind of material to work with. Thanks for watching!

[@umpequenocomentario3137]

Mim tira uma dúvida eu vir o senhor fazendo a manobra ir não pisou na embreagem "modulador Não é preciso pisar para fazer as manobras ou na 150 não precisa?

[@graderman140m]

So it is optional to use your inching pedal on the M series Graders I pretty much only use it when I’m taking off under a heavy load or trying to creep up to something otherwise I don’t use the clutch hope this explains that I thank you for watching!

[@jwhitcroft]

How are you able to tell that the blade is at 4% to lay the crown?

[@graderman140m]

@@jwhitcroft I can visualize it plus I’m using my crown gauge the is mounted on my front window in the center of the machine tells me I’m at 4% hope this explains it thanks for watching!

[@robert-ob2vh]

I wish where I work would let us gravel roads that way. We're so understaffed and pressed for time graveling isn't a high priority, most guys just run around and dump a load on the bad spots that show up or cover a mile with a dusting. I'm close to the pits so I gravel whole miles but only have time to put 250-300 ton/ mile which isn't anywhere near what you just put down. I usually can do about half of my 46 miles in a year.

[@matthewking6936]

Do you work for a company or is that your grader and you do contract work? I’m thinking about getting my contractor’s license and a grader. Any insight would be appreciated.

[@graderman140m]

@@matthewking6936 I work for 4 different townships who own the grader and they hire me to operate it for them I grew up with my dad having his own business and he sold it in 2012 was really hard to make it in the area we were in because townships didn’t have the money like the townships I work for do if you can make money at it and be profitable I’d say go for it but for me it’s easier to just work for them I make more money then what I could owning my stuff hope this helps thanks for watching!

[@jalenwalshak3598]

Any pointers for someone that’s new to operating a grader

[@graderman140m]

Well there’s a few pointers I can give you watch all my videos that will help you out also I tell everyone less is more in a motor grader once you get your blade set only make very small adjustments if necessary concentrate on driving straight it’s very critical that’s what I will give for pointers if you have any questions ask away good luck.

[@jalenwalshak3598]

@@graderman140m thanks

[@graderman140m]

@@jalenwalshak3598 your welcome!

[@schneiderexc3557]

We could only dream of getting to put gravel down like that! We get 3000-6000 CY for a whole township a year, I can’t talk them into doing small sections like your doing,they want to spread the gravel everywhere so the taxpayers see it🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

[@graderman140m]

@@schneiderexc3557 I can believe that I’m pretty much only one doing gravel like this in my area makes a big difference though and wow that’s not much material for a whole township. I have neighboring townships who do that and all they do is keep spot graveling you never get ahead thanks for watching!

[@steviev841]

What do you guys use for dust suppressants?

[@graderman140m]

@@steviev841 we normally use calcium chloride for dust control we hire a company who comes and does the application for us cost about 8,000 dollars to do a whole mile.

[@rodneycody8746]

Nice

[@graderman140m]

@@rodneycody8746 thanks and I thank you for watching!

[@Jpaydirt]

you need one of those gay wings like I have LOL

[@graderman140m]

@@Jpaydirt lol Jeff you know there’s certain times I’d love to have one of those gay wings lol 😂 Some people are just the best in the world and don’t need no gay wings lol.

[@jacobo565]

Looks like south dakota

[@graderman140m]

@@jacobo565 you would be correct in SE South Dakota here thanks for watching!

[@jacobo565]

@@graderman140m i recognize the rock we use some of that to the south of you. Wish i had a pit with that down here!

[@Ironminer97]

Not a chance that each truck cost 2k. For 1 mile that's 53 trucks, which c8kes our to 2,100 per truck. Not a chance. I sell it at 400 a truck

[@graderman140m]

@@Ironminer97 I’m putting 2,100 tons per mile that 100 loads a mile every load is 400 dollars that’s 40,000 to do a whole mile at 2,100 tons a mile

[@Ironminer97]

@graderman140m the cost still doesnt add up. I do belly dump when im not heavy hauling due to drivers being gone. Your county is getting screwed because with the way we load our trucks, it wouldn't take 100 loads. I got guys that do the same thing, and it doesn't take anywhere near 40k per mile. Whoever your getting your gravel from, must only be putting 10 yards in a truck. And we run B trains

[@graderman140m]

@@Ironminer97 not suer where your at but in my area our side dumps and belly dumps haul 27 ton average single trailer I don’t have them fly dump anything so a truck load goes 70ft that comes out to 100 loads a mile to put down 3 inches of material on a 22ft road top. In my opinion we are not getting screwed it’s just what it cost to put that much material down on a road very few county’s put that many tons of gravel on a road.