Also do you know what one of those things cost new? and also what the price is to rebuild? Do you work for them? What originally went wrong on that machine to lead to the need to be rebuilt, or is that just standard wear?
I have no idea about pricing on that machine but I'd guess 800 thousand to 1.2 million; based on cost of motor alone at maybe 500 thousand. Rebuild, 400 - 600 thousand, just a wild guess, i.e. cheaper than buying a new one.
I would expect that some major components were worn to the point of needing a complete rebuild and the rest of the machine was worn enough that since they had to disassemble most of the machine anyway they might as well do the rest of it and
recondition all connection points, surfaces, linkages and support equipment such as controls, electronic, electrical and otherwise with more modern gear, new wiring, etc., operator cab, seat, lights, new surround sound dvd audio/laptop/tv/internet
, plus all the guidance and remote sensing gear (if any) related
to the grading and landforming process. I don't know much about these machines but I do have an appreciation for the level of work they can accomplish, i.e. massive precision earth moving
and of course grading, making precise earthforms.
From a permaculture perspective this is a remarkable tool to have at your disposal
to accomplish large scale terraforming projects.
Whereas a bulldozer can move huge quantities of
hard and densely packed material the motor grader can create the finished product, flat surfaces, berms, swales, cavities, precision-formed with regard to slope, contour, level, flatness, compaction, materials aggregate and layering to a high degree of accuracy. Site preparation, earthworks (coffer dam, backfilling operations, layering and compaction, when evenness of distribution of materials is important, are operations this machine excels at, alone and in combination with bulldozers, track hoes, low loaders (belly pan), track loaders and roller compactors.
With water becoming a precious resource, catchments of all sorts, large scale to distributed, will become important as water impoundment and purification becomes increasingly necessary for municipal, agricultural and aquacultural uses.
I found this gallery while browsing PBase. The rest of the authors photographs are also interesting. I posted a link to a great railroading gallery in this PM forum a while back.
LL
