County Tables Decision On New Graders

The Kimball County Board of Commissioners looked over bids for the purchase of a new motor grader at their meeting the morning of December 18.

The first bid was for a CAT M2 Motor Grader. The Grader would allow a trade in of a current grader for $34,000 with a $5,700 parts credit leaving the total cost of the machine at $191,143. The grader also has a 5,000 hour/5 year total machine warranty.

The second bid was for a John Deere 770G Motor Grader with a list price of $215,892. The John Deere bid would allow for a $47,000 trade-in. However, with the purchase of a 5,000 hour/5 year warranty and additional Grade Pro EH controls the price would sit at $190,392.00.

According to Murphy Tractor and Equipment Sales Representative Joel Lashley, who spoke on behalf of the John Deere bid, the difference between the current graders used by the county and the model contained in the bid is that of ease of operation.

“Instead of having everything up on the rack there are switches on your armrest, no joysticks. You still have a steering wheel, but it’s just ease of operation. Instead of having your hands up all day, they’re resting on an arm rest,” Lashley said.

Larry Burbach of NMC CAT in Gering, representing the CAT bid, took the approach of pointing out that the CAT model would carry a lower maintenance cost than the Deere model over time.

“Our spindles are oil immersed. Oil is the best way to lubricate anything with friction, better than grease. They end up kind of being a life time spindle. The Deere machine-- they have a fixed spindle, and they have to tear it down once a year, two years, pull the bearings out and repack it full of grease and put them on. You never have to do that with a CAT machine,” Burbach said.

After hearing pitches from both sales representatives, the Board of Commissioners decided to table a decision until their next meeting.