Restored Motor Grader Works Like New

Restored Motor Grader Works Like New MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT Earth Movers 25-6-23 Randy Thompson had always wanted a motor grader. With several field roads to maintain, he had plenty of use for one around his Georgia farm but he couldn't justify the cost. Then, in 1999 he was offered a beat-up 1957 Allis Chalmers Model D grader if he'd just take it off a neighbor's property. "It was in sorry shape," he says. "It had been used to scrape manure out of poultry buildings and when the poultry operation shut down several years earlier, the grader was left in one of the buildings. Poultry manure is extremely corrosive to metal and destroys tires, too." Despite its appearance, the grader had previously been well-maintained so the gasoline engine was in good shape. Tires and wheels were shot, though, so Thompson had to trailer it home. He replaced all six wheels with new original equipment he was able to order from a supply firm in Albany, Georgia. He also found original 8.25 by 20 motor grader tires. It needed a seat and he found the original was identical to the seat John Deere used on its 40 and 420 tractors, which are easy to find. "It just bolted in place, so it was no problem at all," he adds. In fact, everything he used to restore the grader was available through catalogs and local supply stores. And that includes the decals. "I was surprised at how easy it was to find everything I needed," he says. He was also surprised by the price of the decals. "Some of the original decals were more than $100. But I wanted it to look right, so I bought them." The most difficult and time-consuming part of the restoration was cleaning and painting the old machine. He cleaned the old paint and rust off the rest of the machine by hand, mostly with a wire brush. He painted it himself, too. As restorations go, Thompson's grader was a good deal. He figures he spent less than $1,500 for paint, parts and decals. It was time consuming, though. "I probably spent between 100 and 200 hours." While he wanted the restored motor grader to look like new, he also wanted to use itùand he knew how difficult they were to steer. For this reason, he salvaged the power steering from a Deere 4400 combine and installed it on the grader. "Everything went into place easily, with no major modifications needed to the grader or the steering unit," he says. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Randy Thompson, 8794 Denham Road, Sycamore, Ga. 31790 (ph 229 831-4795; E-mail: dianet@surfsouth.com).

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