What is a Motor Grader

Motor grader

A motor grader, also commonly referred to as a road grader, a blade, or a maintainer, is a construction machine with a long blade used to create a flat surface. Typical models have three axles, with the engine and cab situated above the rear axles at one end of the vehicle and a third axle at the front end of the vehicle, with the blade in between. In certain countries, for example in Finland, almost every grader is equipped with a second blade that is placed in front of the front axle. Some construction personnel refer to the entire machine as "the blade."

In civil engineering, the motor grader's purpose is to "finish grade" (refine, set precisely) the "rough grading" performed by heavy equipment or engineering vehicles such as scrapers and bulldozers.

Motor graders can produce inclined surfaces, to give cant (camber) to roads. In some countries they are used to produce drainage ditches with shallow V-shaped cross-sections on either side of highways.

 Motor graders are commonly used in the construction and maintenance of dirt roads and gravel roads. In the construction of paved roads they are used to prepare the base course to create a wide flat surface for the asphalt to be placed on. Graders are also used to set native soil foundation pads to finish grade prior to the construction of large buildings.

 

 In some locales such as Northern Europe, Canada, and places in the United States, motor graders are often used in municipal and residential snow removal. In scrubland and grassland areas of Australia and Africa, motor graders are often an essential piece of equipment on ranches, large farms, and plantations to make dirt tracks where the absence of rocks and trees means bulldozers are not required.

Capacities range from a blade width of 2.50 to 7.30 m and engines from 93–373 kW (125–500 hp). Certain motor graders can operate multiple attachments, or be used for separate tasks like underground mining.