Motor Grader Upgrades Seek to Boost Efficiency, Reduce Downtime

John Deere’s GP-series motor graders have been around for several years. When the company first unveiled its 620 G/GP and 622G/GP motor graders, the company said it designed the products for cities, townships, and contractors that prefer lighter and more fuel-efficient graders on the job. In total, John Deere’s motor grader lineup includes eight models, including the 872G, ranging from 215HP to 300HP.

Now, the company is making automation upgrades to the motor graders to provide improved productivity and jobsite efficiency.

One of those is the factory-installed Premium Circle feature John Deere announced in 2020, which the company will include on all of its SmartGrade motor graders, and as an option on its G- and GP-Series models. John Deere solutions marketing manager Grant Van Tine said lower maintenance and repair costs, along with reduced downtime, were benefits of the feature that would appeal to governments.

The Premium Circle option replaces wear inserts with a sealed bearing that only requires a few minutes to grease every 500 hours.

“One of the big things for governments is budgets are tight and uptime is critical, so being able to reduce costs and unplanned downtime for repairs is a huge benefit,” Van Tine said.

Auto-Gain and Blade Stow are two technological additions to the GP models. With Auto-Gain, the machine automatically adjusts the gain setting for cross slope based on operating conditions. Ensuring accurate blade movement in all operating conditions could improve operator productivity.

Blade Stow adds a configurable setting with the machine presets. With the touch of a button, the operator can automatically stow the blade.

Another enhancement involves the Auto-Shift feature, and the technology now offers the ability to remember previous high gear selections and the optimization of shift points for high loads.

Machine damage avoidance is an optional feature on the GP motor graders that protects the grader from damage by preventing the blade from contacting the tires, cab steps, or saddle.