Off-Highway Vehicle Trail and Road Grading Equipment

ATV Power Requirements

Pulling these graders is tough on ATV's, especially when rocks or roots are encountered. We noticed a direct correlation between happiness and horsepower when it comes to trail grading. More horsepower means fewer overheated engines, less cussing, more work getting done.

For the South Carolina evaluations, The Shop Industrial brought a 500-cc Polaris Sportsman to test their grader (Figure 14).

Figure 14-The trail rake and Ultra Light Terrain Grader
worked great on campground roads and parking lots.

At the East Fort Rock OHV areas on the Deschutes National Forest, 500-cc Polaris machines are also used. They are four stroke, four-wheel drive, and liquid cooled. The vehicles are always operated in low 4-by-4 range. The graders perform best at slow speeds, 5 to 7 mph (8 to 11 k/hr)-they cut better and bounce less. Appendix A includes an equipment checklist, and Appendix B shows the trail-grooming procedures for the East Fort Rock OHV trails.