The Classic Machinery Network

Thanks for that Tracshovel.

Hello all , the best wishes for 2010 , i have a old litlle brochure of a Wakefield model 130 , i think of 1967 that i will post , i hope it will help .

Gretings , Roel .

thanks Roel

Thanks Roel,

Always interesting when more info pops up on the old machines. Francis Pierre writes in his book "History of Road building" that British Jeffery Diamond took on the licence from Galion of the USA to build these machines from the mid 1950's - hence the similar design looks to the Galion range. Obviously they appear to use locally sourced components such as the Leyland 6 pot engine.

The "Leaning wheel" feature on most all decent graders was to counteract side slip forces when blading and or sloping of cuttings, or ditching. This goes right back to the early towed machines with hand controls, the fact it assisted when steering was secondary.

Hi, Namyar.
(Say, it seems to me in hindsight that I've seen that name somewhere before.)

The lean wheel feature started off, as you mentioned, to counteract the sideways loadings of an angled blade on drawn graders. How-wevver, when graders got to be self-propelled with tandem drive and NO differential in the drive, those leaning front wheels took on a whole new meaning 'cos it took a LOT of 'bite' on the steer to overcome the straight-ahead thrust of that locked up tandem drive. I once operated a DowNunder-built Cat 12E 17K series slope-cab grader that was fitted with a rear ripper and had had the front scarifier totally 'un-fitted'. Take it out on wet grass off the roadworks and all it was interested in doing was going STRAIGHT ahead. The leaning front wheels were also not a LOT of use for counteracting a loaded angled blade without the scarifier's weight - if you get my drift.

For mine, 6x6x6 was just as good, maybe better and 6x6x2 with a 'wobbly' back end was way better. The best 6x6x6 grader that I ever operated was an Aveling Barford - model unknown - weighing 20 tons and powered by a 6V53 'screamer'. It had little thumb-operated lever switches on each blade control lever that controlled the front steering without taking your hands off the blade control levers - GREAT stuff.

The 6 X 6 Aveling Barford grader with electric steer would have been the ASG021 Coalsite Grader, at 21 tons. Similar to the ASG018, at 18 tons, but the heavy one had a weight on the front frame, unless a heavy bulldozer was fitted in front.

I have find some photos from my archiv which i get send: