Stories from the Job Site

One of the most important machines in the fleet of counties in the northwest United States, especially as winter turns into spring and summer, is the motor grader. When snow is still many feet deep, but roads need to be cleared, the counties turn to their motor graders to push through.

When the Fremont Country (Idaho) Commissioner expressed frustration with their current brand of motor grader in snow removal applications, a Deere team was ready to show off our new 872G.

The Fremont County Commissioner operated the motor grader simulator during an open house at Scott Machinery. He told Product Consultant Mark Johnson that given the bad experience they'd had with their current brand of graders, the county wasn't willing to purchase a new motor grader without having a chance to put it through its paces first-hand.

Mark activated a large team of Deere and dealer employees to pull together a demo in the snow. They had to work quickly though. It was getting late in the snow season for a snowplow demonstration, and many of the counties were already putting together their budgets to purchase motor graders.

"Often, when one county awards a bid for a grader, other counties will piggy back off that first bid to buy their graders, because it's less work for them," said Johnson. "In Idaho, where I live, [a competitor] sold eight graders off that first county bid a few years ago. That's why it's imperative for us to be that first grader."

Grader Engineering Manager Mike Kennedy provided one of engineering graders already in Colorado for cold-weather and altitude testing. Program Manager Marty Ruhter contacted Henke Snow Plow Manufacturing, who agreed to provide the snow wing and front lift group for the demo machine. Engineer Tim Kane acted as the contact person between Deere, Henke, Scott Machinery and Honnen Equipment (which now owns Scott Machinery).

Scott and Honnen personnel set up all the demos in Colorado and Idaho and offered their personnel and shops to manage the demos and transport the grader between the two states.

"The demos went well, beyond what we could have hoped," said Johnson. "We heard a lot of 'my [motor grader] can't do that!'"  

Mark followed the grader on its demo in Kilgore, Idaho, as the operator was pushing an existing windrow of snow with the side wing. The snow was piled anywhere from six to 10 feet deep, and the grader was traveling anywhere from 13-16 miles per hour. When the operator finally stopped, he told Mark that he had been doing the same thing the day before with his non-John Deere grader, and the snow piles would just kick his grader sideways, it wouldn't stay hooked to the road and stack the snow.

Honnen Salesman Joe Davis demoed the same grader to Rio Blanco County in Colorado. One of the roads they opened up was to a lodge up around 11,000 feet. The snow was anywhere from three to seven feet deep, and was hard packed from snowmobile use all winter. The competitor's grader could not open the road and had to follow the Deere all the way to the lodge. After Joe talked to the leaders and operators of Rio Blanco County, Joe called Mark.

"He told me, 'I finally heard the words I have been waiting to hear from these guys. The Deere has more power and can push more snow," said Johnson.

Most of the bids are pending on these motor graders, but the Deere team is confident that we proved our graders can perform well in the toughest of snow-plowing situations.

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