A pre-trip motor grader inspection is structured as four physical zones (body/walk-around, under-hood, cab/canopy, and engine-drivetrain) plus a damage-sketch page, producing 60+ discrete check items before the machine is released for the shift [S1].
The same four-zone logic is reused at monthly cadence: 11 engine items, 9 hydraulic items, 8 transmission items, and 5 brake/steering items per the HVI monthly checklist published 2025-05 [S4]. Sitemate and Cat Inspect digitize the workflow on tablet or mobile so yes/no flags, photos, and corrective-action notes become searchable records rather than paper [S3][S5].
Body and walk-around: 18 structural checks before mount-up
The Douglas County ORS-24 pre-trip form opens with 18 walk-around points that any operator can verify in under 10 minutes: cracked/loose/broken screws, bolts, and rivets; ragged or sharp edges; latches oiled and functional; surface rust only (not extensive); radiator and grill shroud; engine enclosure and hood stack; fuel tank; crankcase guard and battery box; front frame; rear frame; pre-cleaner bowl; hydraulic oil tank; articulation area; tandem housing; undercarriage free of cracks and excessive rust; exposed wiring; springs; wheels and tires; lug nuts; tire pressure (recorded in p.s.i.); scrape blade for cracks and broken welds [S1]. The form forces a mark-or-blank convention: a check means the item meets county standards, blank means it needs attention or is less than ideal, which keeps sign-off auditable.
Sitemate's editable template captures the same structural pass as yes/no checkboxes with a free-form notes column, so a torn weld on the circle-drive gear is not just a tick but a flagged corrective action with photos attached [S5]. Cat Inspect's mobile app extends the same idea with picture capture and rating scales per line item, then syncs to a web portal for follow-up [S3].
Under-hood and powertrain: oil, coolant, circle drive, AWD motors
Douglas County ORS-24 mandates a specific powertrain sub-list under "Engine Compartment and Drivetrain": circle drive, front wheel spindle bearings, all-wheel-drive motors, engine oil, coolant, welds, and the scrape-blade (cracks, broken welds, missing bolts) [S1]. All-wheel-drive (AWD) motors and the hydraulic motor driving the circle deserve a stethoscope check: any grinding at low idle usually points to early bearing failure, not gear wear.
At monthly cadence the same systems are inspected for condition, not just level: engine oil for contamination and metal particles, primary and secondary air-filter elements, fuel filter and water separator (drained to clear water phase), fuel lines for cracks and abrasion, coolant concentration, radiator and oil-cooler debris, fan-belt tension and alignment, engine mounts, and exhaust leaks [S4]. Transmission and drivetrain add: transmission oil level and color, seal and gasket leaks, forward/reverse/neutral control function, differential and tandem-housing oil, axle seals, drive shafts and U-joints, and tandem chain adjustment. The shift from "is it full?" to "does the sample show metal?" is the real value of the monthly pass.
Hydraulic system: hoses, cylinder scoring, pump noise
Monthly hydraulic inspection per HVI runs through nine line items: oil level plus cloudiness or discoloration; tank, cap, and breather function; all hoses for leaks, cracks, wear, or abrasion; cylinders for leaks, scoring, or damage; rod seals and wiper seals; pump operation (unusual noise, vibration, heating); filter condition; control-valve response; and quick-coupler damage or contamination [S4]. Cloudy oil is the first indicator of aeration or water ingress, both of which destroy a hydraulic motor within a shift.
The walk-around form requires hydraulic-oil-tank visual confirmation only, not a sample, so any cloudiness or water line that surfaces during the daily check should escalate to the monthly hydraulic-item list and trigger an oil lab draw [S1][S4]. Pump-heating under no load is a separate failure mode from heating under load, and the HVI checklist's wording ("unusual noise, vibration, heating") is the operator cue to log the symptom, the engine rpm, and the implement position when it appears.
Cab, controls, and electrical: gauges, lights, mirrors, floor
The cab/canopy section in ORS-24 covers door hinges, air reservoir, steps and ladder, clearance and marker lights, tail lights, brake lights, glass and mirrors, and inside the cab: foreign objects on the floorboard, gauges, rust on the floor, and interior wall condition [S1]. Air-brake reservoirs are a special case: any audible drain or visible condensation during the pre-trip walk typically flags a low-pressure cutoff problem that will shut the machine down at start-up.
Interior gauges are the operator's interface to a half-dozen systems: engine oil pressure, coolant temperature, transmission temperature, hydraulic temperature, fuel level, and air-brake pressure. A gauge that pegs low or reads zero at idle is a no-go, not a write-up, because the machine cannot be released without a verified brake-pressure reading and verified oil pressure at governed rpm. Sitemate's digital form carries the same cab block as a yes/no set with a notes column, which is where operators record intermittent gauge drops that the paper form would lose [S5].
Documentation, damage codes, and the 5-page IEDA form
Douglas County's two-page ORS-24 ends with a body-sketch diagram using seven damage codes: A scratch/scrape, B broken, C cracked, D dented, E loose, F flat, G missing; the operator draws a line to the faulty part and writes a brief description [S1]. Hour meter at start and fuel level at start (¼, ½, ¾, full) are mandatory header fields, so each shift produces a comparable fuel-burn delta against hour-meter delta.
The IEDA Group's 5-page motor grader inspection form expands the same idea to fleet-level records: year, date, make, model, inspector, serial number, hour meter reading, location, and total hours are all keyed to the same asset [S2]. Cat Inspect pushes the same data into a web portal where inspection history, photos, and follow-up actions stay attached to the asset's serial number [S3]. For a related look at how graders are signed off once the checklist clears, see Motor Grader Testing and Commissioning: Five-Stage Procedure with Concrete Pass/Fail.
What the checklist explicitly does NOT cover, and when to escalate
None of the four public checklists reviewed specify a minimum tire-pressure value, a maximum allowable hydraulic-hose abrasion depth, a brake-lining thickness threshold, or a steel-sample lab protocol. Douglas County ORS-24 only records "Tires at proper pressure (p.s.i.)" as a field to fill, leaving the actual pressure target to the OEM service manual. IEDA's 5-page form captures total hours but does not define hour-meter-based service intervals [S2]. Sitemate's template is a yes/no capture tool, not a measurement standard [S5].
Operators and inspectors should escalate to a service technician or a motor grader OEM whenever any of the following show up on the checklist: metal particles in the engine oil sample, cloudy hydraulic oil, a circle-drive grind at idle, brake-air reservoir audible drain, a cracked scrape-blade weld, or any "E" (loose) or "C" (cracked) code on the undercarriage or articulation area. For buyers writing a procurement spec that ties into this inspection cadence, the Industrial Fastener Procurement: 2026 Spec-First Buyer's Map reference covers the bolt-grade side of the same walk-around points. The remaining open signal is OEM-by-OEM publication of the numerical pass thresholds behind each yes/no checkbox.
Component reference pages worth checking: ac motor.