Komatsu GD655-6 motor graders increase productivity, reduce owning and operating expenses

Montague County, Texas is home to nearly 20,000 residents. The county seat of Bowie is a little more than an hour’s drive from downtown Fort Worth, and there are several routes one can take to get there.

If the roadway is located within Montague County, it’s likely maintained by county employees, who handle everything from grading to ditch cleaning for the nearly 220 miles of pavement and gravel that include about 25 farm-to-market roads and other byways. Additional responsibilities include tree trimming, brush clearing and more. The county is divided into four precincts with crews to handle each.

“Twenty to 30 miles are paved, and the rest is gravel,” said Mike Mayfield, Commissioner, Precinct 2. “We’re responsible for keeping all of them in good shape. That takes nearly constant maintenance, especially on gravel surfaces. We haul rock, blade it down and smooth out the roads. If residents call with an issue involving a road or ditch, we respond to that as well.”

Approximately a year ago, Montague County Precinct 2 began using two new Komatsu GD655-6 motor graders to spread rock on roads and shoulders as well as to clean ditches. The GD655-6 has the longest wheel base in its class for fine grading. It is highly maneuverable with a 25-degree articulation angle, which allows the grader to maintain a tight-turning radius of 24 feet, 3 inches.

Mayfield and other Precinct 2 personnel visited Kirby-Smith Machinery’s Fort Worth location to demonstrate one of the 39,505-pound machines.

“I liked it right away,” recalled Crew Foreman Wesley Link, who also operates equipment. “The visibility is better than the competitive graders that we replaced. You have a full view of the blade when feathering rock or cutting into ditches, so we’re more productive. You can get done in fewer passes.”

Link added that the GD655-6 dual-mode transmission – which Komatsu specifically designed for its motor grader – makes a huge difference as well. It delivers high ground speeds and tractive effort, while providing superior control at low speed and the anti-stall features of a torque-converter transmission.

No stall outs

“Even at lower RPMs you get the full functionality and quickness of the hydraulic system,” shared Link. “That gives us better fuel economy and when working at slower speeds, it keeps moving without stalling. With the competitive brand, we had to throttle up to get the hydraulics to work, and at idle the motor would, or almost would, stall out.”

Operator Jay Clement likes that the 218-horsepower GD655-6 motor graders have relatively high road speeds, so he can move from the maintenance yard to the project site faster. The machines have eight forward and four reverse gears. Top speed is about 28 miles per hour.

“We drive them to and from wherever we are working, so having a machine that can get there faster means we can get to the project and finish it quicker than before,” said Clement. “They are also comfortable, with plenty of room in the cab.”

Mayfield likes that the GD655-6s have steering wheels. In comparison, Montague County’s previous graders were operated with joysticks.

“The joysticks were nice, but they were expensive to maintain,” Mayfield pointed out. “It seemed like they always had some kind of issue, too. The combination of a steering wheel and antler-style controls in the Komatsu motor graders reduces our overall owning costs.”

For now, Kirby-Smith Machinery is taking care of scheduled services under the Komatsu CARE program.

“Typically, we do all the maintenance ourselves, so the fact that Kirby handles it for three years or 2,000 hours is a great value. It saves us time and money and frees up a person to do something else. Kirby-Smith tracks the machines and then comes out and does the work at a handy time. One time at our yard in Bowie, they completed the service and left before we even knew they were there.”

Top-notch after-sale service

Montague County purchased the GD655-6s from Kirby-Smith Machinery with the help of Governmental Sales Representative James McDonnell. He continues to drop by and check on Mayfield and his crew.

“A lot of times when reps from other companies sold us equipment, we never heard from them again, or they only came around when we contacted the dealer about buying something,” said Mayfield. “James invests his time in our satisfaction. He wants to know how the machines are running and if we have any questions or issues that need to be addressed. He and Kirby-Smith are excellent to work with.”

Learn more about Motor-Graders here!

Learn more about the Komatsu CARE Program!