Abstract: A padding machine (10, 100) which is capable of separating materials in a spoils bank beside a trench into coarser materials, which are redeposited in the spoils bank behind the machine, and finer materials which are conveyed to the trench for padding the pipeline. The machine includes a conveyor with a conveyor chain which moves around the perimeter of the machine. Material caught by the scraper blade (28) is conveyed by the conveyor chain along a belly pan (70) and thereafter over a plurality of grizzly bars (72). Coarser material which will not pass through the grizzly bars is conveyed by the conveyor chain (56) to the rearward end of the machine and dumped off the rearward end of the machine back to the ground. The finer materials passing through the grizzly bars are again separated by a vibrator unit (76, 104). The depth of the scraper blade can be adjusted by pivoting the entire frame about the wheels (34) at the rearward end of the frame by a hydraulic cylinder (48) pivoting the towing arm (38).