Background on common topics and the questions we hear most often. If yours isn't here, just write to us.
Repair step by step, use the material that's already there, and save on costs.
A heavily used gravel track that keeps reaching its limits: potholes, unevenness, and repair needs that keep coming back. No sooner is one stretch fixed than the next job is waiting. Time, material and money keep flowing into the same track. We have a solution for exactly this kind of problem track.
Here, we can put the existing traffic to work for compaction: we prepare the damaged spots, fill in suitable material, and even out the settling that follows with further maintenance passes.
For this, we generally run the VGrader with a suitably set draft control hydraulics (EHR), to spread the material evenly and specifically build up wheel tracks that have been driven flat.
Simply filling a pothole with loose material is often not enough. Fine sediment or mud can settle at the bottom, weakening the bond with the material added on top. The V12's spring-mounted tines can break up these deposits within their working depth and roughen up the base of the damaged spot. The VGrader then spreads the processed, mixed track material into the hollow.
We start, for example, at 8 in the morning. The first maintenance pass fills the prepared hollows. Vehicles and machines passing over afterwards press the initially loose material together, contributing to compaction.
A pothole that was originally around ten centimetres deep can, after filling and the traffic load that follows, be left with a remaining hollow of, say, three to four centimetres. These figures are for illustration; the actual settling depends on the material, moisture and load.
On a further maintenance pass, say at midday, the remaining hollows are evened out again with suitable material. Traffic then contributes to compaction once more. This process is repeated as needed — possibly over several days.
That way, the damaged spot is gradually filled in and compacted over several passes, until the pothole has completely disappeared. Depending on depth and traffic load, several maintenance passes are needed for this. After a few days, the road is fully restored — the original potholes are no longer visible.
Even small remaining dips can collect water. That can encourage the ground to soften again and new potholes to form. That's why we keep reworking the spots until we reach an even, sufficiently stable surface with proper water drainage.
The VGrader's fast way of working makes these recurring maintenance passes economical: short jobs, making the best use of existing material, and evening out settling in a targeted way as it occurs.
Our principle: prepare, fill, compact and follow up under control — for gravel tracks that stay usable, for good.
The VGrader also works without active control support. But with a suitably set draft control hydraulics, its potential can be used even better: building up wheel tracks that have been driven flat, spreading material evenly, and taking load off the skids.
Many tractors already come with suitable functions for this. Anyone who uses their tractor mainly for transport, grassland care or municipal work may have barely needed these so far. That's understandable — this technology originated in arable farming.
In the past, horses or other draught animals pulled the plough. The tractor brought more pulling power — but that power also had to be transmitted to the ground. A hard-working plough could quickly push the drive wheels to their traction limit.
Harry Ferguson's key insight was to treat the tractor and the implement as a system working together. The three-point linkage with controlled hydraulics made it possible to use the implement's forces and weight for traction while responding to changing working resistance at the same time.
Ferguson filed his fundamental patent in 1925. In 1936, the system went into production with the Ferguson-Brown. Over the following decades, draft control hydraulics spread across manufacturers. The early mechanical-hydraulic solutions later developed into electronic systems — today's EHR.
The hitch hydraulics can do more than just raise or lower an implement. Depending on the equipment, it can also respond to changing pulling forces and readjust the implement's position.
Put simply, when ploughing: if the working resistance increases, the hydraulics can raise the plough slightly. If it decreases, it can lower it again. With mixed control, both pulling force and hitch position are taken into account together.
Which functions are available and how they're operated depends on the tractor model. On older machines, the setting is often made via mechanical levers; on newer ones, via dials, controls or a display.
For our way of working, we set up the right control mode so the hydraulics gently support some of the VGrader's weight. It should keep working the track effectively, while taking some of the load off its skids.
This supports even material distribution. Wheel tracks that have been driven flat can be specifically built back up with material, instead of the grader mostly just resting on top of them. Depending on the track and the setting, a thin material layer of, say, one to two centimetres can be applied.
When the tractor drives through a dip or over a rise, its position changes. With pure position control, these movements can transfer to the grader through the three-point linkage.
A suitably tuned draft or mixed control can reduce these effects by having the hitch respond to changing loads. The goal is a VGrader that works smoothly, with even material distribution. However, a standard EHR does not provide full decoupling or automatic levelling.
In float position, the implement can follow the ground and rests on it with its full weight. On the VGrader, the skids then carry a large part of the load. That can work for certain maintenance tasks. But for targeted material build-up on flattened wheel tracks, gentle support from the hitch offers additional possibilities.
If the grader is simply raised slightly out of float position and held in a fixed hitch position, tractor movements can again affect the working surface more strongly. That's why the right control function matters — not just the height of the hitch.
If part of the implement's weight is carried by the hitch, the load on the skids drops. That can reduce their wear. How big the benefit is depends on the track material, the setting and the type of use.
So the draft control hydraulics support two goals at once: controlled material application and economical use of wear parts.
The right setting is tuned to the tractor, the grader and the track. A blanket figure like "20 or 30 percent" can't be applied to every machine: depending on the manufacturer, the scales describe different functions, and not necessarily the share of weight being carried.
With a short briefing and a test run, the right setting can be worked out. After that, using the draft control hydraulics quickly becomes a familiar part of track maintenance.
Our principle: use what the tractor offers, take targeted load off the VGrader, and build up existing material evenly.
Yes. For local authorities, municipal yards and businesses, we offer flexible ways to try out or finance the VGrader — tailored to your needs. Just get in touch, and we'll find the right solution together.
No. The VGrader is deliberately kept simple — even without prior experience, you'll be operating it confidently in a short time.
Yes, gladly. Write to us via the contact page, and we'll arrange a date together.
