Gradall Forklift Parts - All through the time when WWII created a scarcity of workers, the well-known Gradall excavator was born in the 1940s as the creation of two brothers Ray and Koop Ferwerda. The brothers faced the problems of a depleted workforce because of the war. As partners in their Cleveland, Ohio construction company referred to as Ferwerda-Werba-Ferwerda they lacked the existing workers to be able to carry out the delicate job of finishing and grading on their highway projects. The Ferwerda brothers chose to build an equipment that will save their business by making the slope grading job easier, more efficient and less manual.
The very first excavator prototype consisted of a machine with two industrial beams on a rotating platform fixed to a used truck. There was a telescopic cylinder which was used to move the beams backward and forward. This enabled the fixed blade at the far end of the beams to pull or push the dirt. Shortly improving the first design, the brothers made a triangular boom to be able to add more strength. In addition, they added a tilt cylinder that let the boom rotate 45 degrees in either direction. A cylinder was positioned at the back of the boom, powering a long push rod to allow the equipment to be outfitted with either a bucket or a blade attachment.
1992 marked a significant year for Gradall with their introduction of XL Series hydraulics, the most dramatic change in the company's excavators since their invention. These top-of-the-line hydraulics systems enabled Gradall excavators to deliver high productivity and comparable power on a realistic level to conventional excavators. The XL Series put an end to the initial Gradall equipment power drawn from low pressure hydraulics and gear pumps. These traditional systems efficiently handled finishing work and grading but had a difficult 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 together with a piston pump, high-pressure hydraulics system which showed great improvements in boom and bucket breakout forces. The XL Series hydraulics system was also developed together with a load-sensing capability. Traditional excavators use an operator to choose a working-mode; where the Gradall system can automatically adjust the hydraulic power for the work at hand. This makes the operator's general job easier and likewise conserves fuel simultaneously.
When their XL Series hydraulics became available, Gradall was essentially thrust into the highly competitive market of equipment designed to deal with excavation, demolition, pavement removal as well as various industrial work. Marketability was further enhanced with their telescoping boom because of its exclusive ability to work in low overhead areas and to better position attachments.
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