What a Motor Grader Does and Where It Works
The motor grader, its jobs on roads and sites, and what this familiarisation course can and cannot do for you.
8 min
Activities: 0 of 2
A long machine with a blade in the middle
A motor grader, often just called a grader, is a long wheeled machine that cuts, moves and levels material with a blade. Unlike a dozer, whose blade is at the front, the grader's blade hangs between the front and rear axles, under a long frame. Because the blade is carried between two sets of wheels, it can cut to a very accurate level, which is why graders are used to finish surfaces.
The blade can be turned, tilted, raised at either end and slid to the side. This lets the grader shape a road with a crown in the middle, cut a ditch at the side, trim a bank or spread a thin, even layer of gravel. The frame bends at a joint in front of the cab, called the articulation, which helps the grader turn and hold its line.
The machine in this course's 3D explorer has a blade of about 3.7 m (12 ft), a common size. Sizes vary by model: always learn your own machine from its operator's manual.
Where graders work
In mines and quarries, graders keep the haul roads smooth, crowned and drained, so that heavy haul trucks can run safely. A rough haul road damages trucks and causes accidents.
Filling in
You work on a road project run by Brenlow Engineering and have finished this course. The grader operator is on leave, and a supervisor asks you to "take the grader and smooth out the bumps on the haul road" before the next trucks arrive. You have never been trained or assessed on a grader.
Where is the blade of a motor grader?