Gradall Forklift Parts - Throughout the time when WWII caused a shortage of workers, the famous Gradall excavator was established in the 1940s as the idea of two brothers Ray and Koop Ferwerda. The brothers faced the problems of a depleted labor force because of the war. As partners in their Cleveland, Ohio construction business known as Ferwerda-Werba-Ferwerda they lacked the existing workers to carry out the delicate tasks of grading and finishing on their highway projects. The Ferwerda brothers opted to build a machine which will save their company by making the slope grading work more efficient, less manual and easier.
Their first design prototype was a device with two beams set on a rotating platform that was affixed over a second-hand truck. A telescopic cylinder moved the beams forward and backward which enabled the fixed blade at the end of the beams to push or pull dirt. Soon improving the very first design, the brothers built a triangular boom to be able to add more strength. Also, they added a tilt cylinder that let the boom rotate 45 degrees in either direction. A cylinder was positioned at the rear of the boom, powering a long push rod to allow the machine to be outfitted with either a blade or a bucket attachment.
1992 marked a crucial year for Gradall with their introduction of XL Series hydraulics, the most amazing change in the company's excavators since their creation. These top-of-the-line hydraulics systems allowed Gradall excavators to provide high productivity and comparable power on a realistic level to conventional excavators. The XL Series ended the initial Gradall equipment power drawn from gear pumps and low pressure hydraulics. These traditional systems efficiently handled finishing work and grading but had a hard time competing for high productivity work.
The new XL Series Gradall excavators proved a significant increase in their lifting and digging ability. These models were manufactured with a piston pump, high-pressure hydraulics system which showed huge improvements in boom and bucket breakout forces. The XL Series hydraulics system was even developed along with a load-sensing capability. Conventional excavators make use of an operator in order to choose a working-mode; where the Gradall system could automatically adjust the hydraulic power intended for the job at hand. This makes the operator's general work easier and even saves fuel at the same time.
As soon as the new XL Series hydraulics reached the market, Gradall was thrust into the vastly competitive industrial equipment market which are meant to tackle pavement removal, excavating, demolition and several industrial tasks. The introduction of the new telescoping boom helped to further enhance the excavator's marketability. The telescoping boom gives the excavator the ability to better position attachments and to work in low overhead areas.
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