Motor Scrapers Upcoming Auctions

About Motor Scrapers

Motor scrapers, also called “wheel tractor-scrapers” or “belly scrapers,” slice off layers of earth as part of the grading or leveling process at a construction jobsite. During the cut, the material is collected in the bowl for transport, and can be unloaded and spread out during the fill part of the cycle. Unlike unpowered pull scrapers or pan scrapers, which must be dragged by a vehicle such as a tractor, motor scrapers are self-powered vehicles that incorporate the scraper mechanism into their design.

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Caterpillar 631K Motor Scraper

Entities that employ motor scrapers include construction companies, earthmoving contractors, and mining operations, as well as farmers and ranchers. In some cases, motor scrapers are specialized for a particular task, such as Caterpillar’s coal bowl scrapers, which are optimized to move loose fuel from storage to furnace at coal-fired power plants.

Motor Scraper Types

Modern motor scrapers use either one or two engines; tandem-engine variants often have engines situated toward the back and the front, and motivate the scraper with a push-pull operation.

These machines come in two main varieties. Open-bowl scrapers use an apron and a cutting edge to control the flow of material into the bowl from the bottom up. This type of scraper unloads by opening the apron and pushing the material out with a hydraulic ejector. Open bowl scrapers are good at quickly roughing out bulky and hard materials.

An elevating scraper, or paddle wheel scraper, uses an elevator or belt to fill its bowl with softer material from the top down and then reverses its paddle wheel’s direction to unload the bowl during the fill part of the cycle. This also has the effect of mixing the material. An elevating scraper can finish to grade very precisely.

Two tandem-engine scrapers can link up one after the other for greater productivity. A related support machine is a push cat, which is a dozer that helps to move a motor scraper forward to completely fill its bowl. Motor scrapers from Caterpillar have 23 to 73 cubic yards (18 to 56 cubic meters) of heaped capacity, and they can travel at 33 mph (53 km/h) or more while carrying a load.

Trends In Motor Scrapers

As with other heavy earthmoving machines, new generations of motor scrapers offer improvements in operator comfort, safety, visibility, and control. Instrument placement and “at-a-glance” intuitive control systems keep the operator aware as he frequently has to check the status of the bowl.

Manufacturers such as Cat have also enhanced motor scrapers with tighter turn radii and cleaner emissions, along with technologies such as traction control and grade control. Finally, telematics systems have revolutionized fleet management for companies large and small.

Find The Right Motor Scraper

Manufacturers of motor scrapers past and present include Caterpillar, Deere, Dresser, Fiatallis, International, Terex, and Wabco, among others. Common models on the new and used motor scraper market include the Cat 613, 621, 623, 627, and 631, as well as the Terex TS14.