Grader Attachments Make Curb and Sidewalk Construction Easier, Faster and Better
Grader attachments turn Bobcat loaders into high-performance grading machines.
Today’s concrete curb and sidewalk construction business is plenty competitive, says Jim Wilson, who operates Wilson Curb Construction, Bend, Ore., a company his father started 38 years ago.
“You have to stay ahead of everyone at all times or you get beat,” he says.
For the past decade he’s been relying on Bobcat® equipment—loaders and grader attachments—to give him a competitive edge. Currently he uses four grader attachments to transform four Bobcat loaders into highperformance grading machines. Four other Bobcat loaders haul and spread base material.
Two of the grader units are assigned to the sidewalk crews and two others grade base rock for the curb construction teams. On a typical day, the grader attachments, each with about 3,000-4,000 hours of reliable service, will grade about 1,000 linear ft. of base for 5-ft.-wide sidewalks and up to 2,000 linear ft. of curb base.
Goodbye Crawler Tractor
For nearly 30 years, Wilson and his father had used small crawler tractors to do the work. However, a jobsite demonstration converted Wilson from a skeptic to a believer in the ability of the grader attachment to save time and make money.
“I didn’t think it could push as much material as a small crawler,” he says. “I thought it would work for the sidewalk crews because they do finer work, grading off only about 1-2 in. of material. It worked real fine for that. Then I tried the grader attachment for preparing curbs where we remove more material. It worked really well there, too. I immediately sold the crawler because the Bobcat grader was faster, did a better job and was easier to transport.”
The Bobcat unit was also more comfortable to operate.
“There’s just no comparison,” Wilson says. “The Bobcat grader doesn’t bounce around. With the tires way out in front and the loader’s drive wheels behind, it’s like a road grader. The crawler always left a bumpy surface. The Bobcat grader leaves it nice and smooth. The smoother the grade you pour concrete on, the better the end product. What’s more, because of the faster ground speed, the Bobcat loader and grader can do the job in half the time.”
Wilson reports few breakdowns over the years with any of the grader attachments. In part, that reflects simple, but regular maintenance—greasing six zerk fittings once a week. Also, because the graders are used with loose rock material, rather than cutting into hard dirt, he has not had to replace any cutting edges on the moldboard.
In addition to the graders and buckets, two other Bobcat attachments help keep Wilson and his crews in front of the competition.
One is the hydraulic breaker which he bought to make concrete removal a faster, easier job.
“This way our employees don’t suffer the abuse they would operating a jack-hammer,” he says. The other valuable tool is the Bobcat vibratory roller, equipped with a 48-in.-wide smooth drum. Usually four passes with the roller, two in each direction, produce the required degree of compaction, he reports.
Wilson has been pleased with the performance of his Bobcat equipment ever since buying his first 743. He still has the loader. “During that time, the only repairs have been to replace four glow plugs and one starter,” he says. “My Bobcat equipment has performed extremely well for many years.”