Heavy Hauling Trailer Pics

Just got back from an extended trip west. Had a cpl days of work to doo at Olingers Heavy Hauling in Kansas City, Missouri. We needed to doo some cannibleizing of some equipment that we had in storage there so that we can now ship it to the scrap yard.

They regularly haul some really large loads. Milt said that one of their guys' just got back from taking a 160K# transformer to a mine in Yellowknife. With another to take again soon.

They were puting together a brand new trailer that is expandable in width. Not sure how wide it goes, but it was prolly in the 11' to 12' wide position when I shot these pics and it had plenty more settings available yet. This is a "heavy haul" trailer, but not real heavy. I forget what he said the rating was for it, but nothing like thier other stuff...

This trailer had a small motor on the rear to run a hydraulic pack that would steer the rear gangs, and instead of a driver, it ran simply off of the turn signal to move L/C/R.







Also had a 13 axle shown here that is only a cpl yrs old and looks to be brand new.
Shown torn down/stacked up for running empty - yet still weighs well over 80K empty.



There is actually another gang of 3 axles directly behind the further-most set of 3 axles that can see in the pic. They also share the weight via help from the hydro unit and air bags even tho they seem so far removed from the load.



They also had a 10 axle next bay over. All of these trailers were rear driver-less, and apparently all ran off the turn signal.

IMO this would be a very interesting - yet possibly a very stressfull business to be in. But then we have stress in much more mundane carreers.

My rig is a little less than impressive:



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Think Snow Eh!
Ox

Nice photos Ox, not trying to oneup but when the local GM plant shut down I saw the trailers used to haul the dies away. I couldnt count all the wheels, must have had 8 boggies. Even the temporary hoisting system they used to load the thing was massive. Wish I could have gotten a photo of them, never seen anything like them before.

Charles

Yes - these are by no means the heaviest trailers out there. He said that they werk back and forth with such an outfit that has the bigger stuff, but not this type. So one hauls the other guys loads that are not part of their niche'.

I think the 13 axle is rated to 240K load?


I have seen the ones that you refer to on the road before. But had not seen these "in between" models before.

Also mentioned that their chumm has some trailers that are "dual lane" trailers and by that - means that they use two lanes of the road. Not sure I have ever seen one of those in any app other than hauling a house possibly...


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox

Your rig is mighty fine Ox !
I only have a Toy 4X4 mini pck-up
Diesel ?

Yeah - it's a diesel.

Got what seems to have been some semi-summer fuel in Kansas and Colorado this last week. Ran funny one night when leaving Kansas, but also had a cam sensor going out at the same time. I replaced the sensor New Yrs morning at the motel. (Had one in the truck) I still think that it was cavitating for fuel if I got going too fast tho.

But the next morning in South Fork (on Col fuel and a half dose of inti-gel) it was -13C and although I could git the truck to start with help from a can of smelling salts, it wouldn't stay running. Had to wait untill noon. It fired up, but put up a hissy fit for a while. Had to keep dribbling ether in the intake for a while.

I have started my truck at -30 in N Ontario w/o gelling issues and with no added anti-gel either. I guess they use a bit thinner winter fuel at The Soo than they doo in Col and Kansas? By my milage I have to say that they still had winter fuel. (2mpg less than summer fuel)

A new lift pump may have helped push it through the filter tho. ???


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox

Here's the last complete steam turbine cylinder leaving our works before the new-world order kicked in and we were limited to maintenance work only. I believe it was about 330k#

Have a look on the net for vids and pics of A.L.E. or Abnormal Load Engineering Ltd.
Here`s one to get you started.
YouTube - Cottam Power Station to West Burton B Alternator U1 ALE

What follows is an email from a buddy where I used to work; I will try to send a couple of pictures, but I always have trouble with that part. I have a total of nine pictures, I am thinking that I am only posting the first five..........

Subject: Near Ashville, North Carolina

For the past few weeks, a "super heavy" load has been making its way from Hardeeville SC, enroute to Boiling Springs, NC. It is a large electric generator destined for a clean coal power plant. The generator weighs in at 1.98 million pounds and isn't something you just jump on an interstate freeway with and truck it on down the road. In order to support such a load without destroying every inch of road you travel, the weight has to be widely distributed. You also have to travel back roads, so that day to day commerce isn't completely disrupted along your route. After all...your top speed on level ground is less than 20 mph and this drops to as little as 1.5 mph on grades and slopes. Rush hour traffic, traffic on an interstate would soon be solidly backed up to the state lines in both directions.

I finally had time to catch up with the load on Friday, as it moved along a stretch of country road near the NC state line, but was unable to get near enough to shoot photos. Luckily, one of the crew let me know it would be on the move again early Sunday morning when they would be making a detour around an interstate overpass that was not rated for anything near the weight of the load.

Here is the rig I'm talking about: The trailer, as rigged, is 300 ft long all by itself. There are 36 rows of axles, each with 8 tires. (288 total) These can be augmented with up to another additional 80 wheels on hinged outriggers, for a total of 368 potential flats. Add in 5 each 10 wheel heavy duty road tractors (2 pulling and 3 pushing) and that flat tire potential rises to 418. The outriggers are not deployed in these photos, so the total tire count, for the moment, is 338.

The load then had to negotiate the 90���� turn seen in the photo. This had to be done while keeping all 338 tires solidly on paved surfaces. Note that each axle is steerable, so it's only a little less exacting than a tap dancing centipede, but an on board computer system has things well in hand. It doesn't fully control the action since there is a "driver" in the chain of command. Here the action as begun and the lead tractors are making their initial turn.

As things advance, dozens of power crews are on hand to clear overhead wires and there are hundreds of other support crews and dozens of support trucks waiting to fall in line behind the convoy.

Notice that each large truck has a box firmly anchored over the rear wheels. Those are 18,500 pound weights which give the truck the needed traction this load requires to get it moving.
Looking closely at the rear section of the trailer, you'll see it is sitting at about an angle of 45���� to the rest of the load. Once the main load was aligned as they wanted, the rear section crabbed and adjusted until it was in line and ready to travel. It was a strange action to watch but it worked perfectly.


Here is a shot of one of the two "Drivers". The computer might tell the all wheels how much to turn, but this guy tells the computer when to do it and how much at a time. He's apparently pretty durable since the dawn temperature was a chilling 25���� as he began his ride.

Here you can see how the immense weight was distributed across the trailer sections as well as the hinge points for the support bridge. Both ends are supported in this fashion, making the whole rig a lot more flexible than it might first appear. Those outriggers I mentioned are clearly visible along the outer edge of the trailer.


The main bridge beams suspend the huge generator about 18 inches above the roadbed. When the job is completed, the round pins near the bottom edge can be removed and the beams can be stacked for their return trip home. Even up close they almost look too small to be holding that much weight up in the air. Standing near this beam is a little spooky. All kinds of pops and groans can be heard, even when it isn't on the move.

It was a fun way to begin a new day. Everyone I met was friendly, including those doing some downright cold and dirty work. Even the local cops seemed to be in fine spirits as they dealt with more traffic than that small community has probably ever seen. I just wanted to share some of the sights with you guys.

Mark McGrath said:

Have a look on the net for vids and pics of A.L.E. or Abnormal Load Engineering Ltd.
Here`s one to get you started.
YouTube - Cottam Power Station to West Burton B Alternator U1 ALE

Click to expand...

It's the same folk, with the same Faun transporters. Used to be GEC, specialising in the movement of Generators, transformers and turbines. Then Alstom, then got sold off when Alstom was technically bankrupt. Thanks to the French government protecting French jobs, Alstom still exists

Hope these last 4 pics ends up next to the first 5.

Chiller modules heading for the port of Jacksonville, then on to Dubai. I did all the valve automation work for the company next door who built these skids. They chill water that is pumped through all the high rises in Dubai for air conditioning. There were several of these built and at least at the time they were the worlds largest chiller modules.

Amazing the way they used all those spreaders to equilize the loads. I bet the
crane operators really earned their pay that day.

Who made the telescoping boom cranes?

There was a local heavy load back in about 2005. It was a 250,000# electric generator that came over from Germany. It had to be transported about 40 miles from the rail to the town. IIRC, it was about an 18 axle set-up. Cost was $50,000 minimum. That bought you 5 days from the time they left their yard in Houston until they returned to Houston. Additional days were $7,500. This included no rigging, hauling only.

One interesting idea they used was crush pads to equalize loads. The way the load was suspended on the trailer with spreader beams there were about 8 contact points. These contact points were cushioned by about 6" square pads of plywood, stacked to about 2" tall. The plywood compressed, with one pad I saw being crushed to less than 3/4" thick.

Anything over 120,000# in Kansas must be routed by the Department of Transportation. They charge $20. to route heavy loads, regardless of the work involved. The department's position is cheap fees reduce the incentive for people to bootleg the heavy loads.

Hi Guys n Gals

There is some great tackle in the previous pictures, I like the way the trailer is articulated twice behind the tractor unit to spread the weight in the chiller pictures.

This was after things had got a bit wrong for ALE when removing something from the closed part of the local Stocksbridge Steelworks. I don't know if something broke, or if it just tipped over on the awful adverse camber at this point and the failures were the result. They had got about a hundred feet from the gate.

Steve

jim rozen said:

Amazing the way they used all those spreaders to equilize the loads. I bet the
crane operators really earned their pay that day.

Who made the telescoping boom cranes?

Click to expand...

If I remember right they tried lifting it with two cranes at first and couldn't get it to balance correctly so they had to call in the third. This was over 5 years ago but I think the cranes were Liehberr.

I'll find some better pictures, because I know I have some, but if you look down into this doc, the local USACE newsletter, you will see at least a few shots of the motor vessel Mississippi IV being moved to the new Corps tour facility. Its 219 feet long and weighs 1450 tons.

http://www.mvk.usace.army.mil/offices/pa/watersedge/02 - Winter 2008.pdf

They used those motorized dollies with the independant wheel sets. The operator literally walked down the street carrying a big control pendant. It was quite a site. Had to pull out a bunch of power poles and move lines for it to make it down the street.

There are pics of folks transporting ships down the streets of Sault Saint Marie, Michigan/Ontario before the locks were built.

They had a lot less to work with.


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox

Leibherr, that makes sense.

The only reason I asked is that for a several years I worked nights making
wire rope sheaves out of nylon, which were sold to a variety of crane manufacturers.

I always like to stop and look at the end of the booms, to see if any of them sport
what might be my handiwork.

Tonight Challenger Motor Freight is going to try to bring a convoy of six beer vats bound for Molson-Coors in Toronto past the house. Not the biggest or heaviest, but a challenge nonetheless. Each vat is 25' in dia and 150' long. Weight is aroung 95K each. These vats arrived at the port of Hamilton around the 4th of Nov. from Germany and were supposed to come through here a month ago. There have been many delays just to get rolling, and this morning (day 2) they had only got about as far as they planned yesterday morning. They had hoped to make it to the brewery by tuesday, but it's not looking good right now. They are only allowed to be on the road from 9 pm. to 6 am. to reduce disruptions.

I just took a drive down near their stopping place (about 8 miles) and I have never seen so many utility service trucks in my life! The convoy was just getting rolling around an hour ago and there is a 10 man crew with 3 trucks 1/2 mile south of here getting ready to prep an intersection for moving the lights and the phone lines. I hope they remember mine! I'm guessing the route to be about 50 miles and about 2/3's to be suburban to urban roads. I can't belive how many lines they have to move for tonights leg and we are in the bondocks! Discovery is supposed to be doing a segment or episode about the move in the near future. Seeing the massive expense of the whole project makes me wonder why the fabricator didn't just lease some space in the area and build it here. The brewery is a bit more that a mile from the airport and there is large amounts of emty space(former aircraft plants) suitable for the project. No wonder the beer is so bloody expensive!I will try to get some sort of pics, but will prolly be when they park for the day in the morning when it's light out.

In Ontario there is a single company that sells all of the beer. It is a privately owned outfit called Brewers Retail and has been around since 1927. It is owned by the 2 largest brewers in Canada, Molson-Coors and Labbats. These 2 control the licensing for all of the big brands so getting a Bud or a Miller is not a problem, but the smaller independent brewers have to apply to brewers retail for shelf space in "their" store. If they are not worthy, the only option is to sell direct from the brewery, as they are allowed to sell their own product from there. IIRC, they can't even sell to the bars, as all licenced establishments must buy through brewers retail. There have been various antitrust actions over the years about this, but vices seem to have different sets of rules.

Mark Rand said:

Here's the last complete steam turbine cylinder leaving our works before the new-world order kicked in and we were limited to maintenance work only. I believe it was about 330k#

Click to expand...

Mark,

I used to work for Alstom US on the gas turbine side of things. They do have some impressively massive equipment out there. Other than inside the plants, I never got the chance to see any of it on the move though.

This is the rotor for a GT26 Gas Turbine out in Spain. Just shy of 2 meters diameter at the turbine wheel in the center.



Ethan