[hoosier-lightning]

Just got home from Mishawaka, IN. We replaced a Transformer that exploded a couple months ago. We loaded the unit onto a rail car 2 weeks ago in Roanoke, IN. It arrived last week in Edwardsburg, MI. Where we loaded it onto a 500 Ton Capacity Goldhofer Trailer. It has a total of 14 axles, each one having 8 tires, spreading the weight of the 245 Ton Transformer over a total of 112 tires. It is self leveling, self prepelled and is driven/leveled by hydraulics.

Once it(transformer) is totally assembled, it will weigh more than 375 Tons. The trailer weighs approximately 72 Ton and is actually three seperate sections that are connected. More sections can be added to the front, rear or the sides for longer, wider and heavier pieces.

The 14 mile haul from Edwardsburg to the Sub-Station in Mishawaka took 6 hours. Here are some photos from the job.

 

[hoosier-lightning]

See if any of you recognize the guy in the grey shirt?

http://www.southbendtribune.com/stories/2004/06/28/local.20040628-sbt-MICH-A1-Tribune_Photo_KATE_Z.sto

 

[hoosier-lightning]

Here are a couple more.

 

[superduty455]

HL, always enjoy those shots you bring to us. That has to be an awesome sight to see.

The trailer you mention, is that self driven then? I take it it moves fairly slow. Do all the wheels turn or just x amoount on the front and rear portions?

Looks like all of the city was helping get through the streets.
Thanks for the pics!
Chris

 

[hoosier-lightning]

Chris,
The drive section is the piece you see the operators sitting on. And yes it is self prepelled by hydraulics. It can travel up to 10 MPH, but the normal speed while loaded is about 5 MPH. I have only worked around this type of trailer a couple of times now and I am still amazed as to what it can do. It made our job so much easier than the trailer we usually use.

The company we rented the center section(red) from hauled it in from Minnisota, your home state. For the life of me I can't remember the name! But the 2 white sections came out of Montana, Rigging International. And the 2 operators shown sitting on the control section are from there also.

We are trying to get our company to invest in this exact setup, but it is tough to squeeze 1 million dollars out of our owners. But they are considering it.

 

[hoosier-lightning]

Oh and yes, most of the wheels do turn for steering. They are all tied together with steering rods. And they have different places to put the rods to configure the steering, depending on how long the set up is(how many sections you are long).

 

[Gray-headed Art]

What? You mean it's not a White Lightning?

Art

 

[JLWahl]

Where's Optimus? I didn't see him in the pics.

He wasn't defeated by Megatron, was he?!?

 

[sh1035]

Wow I thought picking up the new wife and getting her over the threshold on my wedding night was hard.....you got me beat

Love those pics keep them coming!

 

[hoosier-lightning]

What? You mean it's not a White Lightning?

Art

No, but this trailer is very rare. There are only 2 of these in the country. And both are owned by the same company. It is 12 foot wide. There are alot more of the 10 foot wide ones, so if you see a 10 footer, leave it hanging. But if it is 12 foot wide, buy that sucker!

Was gonna stop by PM, but we worked long hours and it was also the weekend.

 

[ANDRE]

Wowsa, 14-wheel steering.....very cool

Andre

 

[Guest]

Do I recognize the person in the gray shirt??

Why yes I do!!!! Isn't that Humble, Loveable Shoeshine Boy??

 

[MGroothuis]

:thumbsup: I too enjoy the shot from these jobs. Purdy cool schtuff!

 

[Rauncy]

I can't wait to see the slot car track that thing goes to!!!

 

[Mark Hosaflook]

Shane


Great pics and thanks for setting up the juice in my area again.

Dumb question time. It looks like the transformer would have easily fit on two of the trailers if it had been centered. Is the extra trailer length used as some sort of counter weight? It seems only the axles under the direct weight would be load bearing and the others are kinda useless?

In the one pic, when they are turning the corner, you can kinda tell that the weight is causing some camber in the middle. Thank God those guys are on one end to help keep it from flipping up. LOL

Very cool!

 

[PWSchuh]

Shane

Dumb question time. It looks like the transformer would have easily fit on two of the trailers if it had been centered. Is the extra trailer length used as some sort of counter weight? It seems only the axles under the direct weight would

Markhos, I'm pretty sure the trailers are designed to share the load when they are hooked together so that not just the ones right under the transformer are carrying the load.

 

[Mark Hosaflook]

I don't see how those axles on both of the very ends share any load weight. In fact, in many pictures those axles almost look like they are (or want to) leave the ground from the weight in the middle.

 

[Cal]

112 tires!!! I'd hate to be the guy that has to rotate those tires and can you imagine having to change a flat on some of those "inside" tires

 

[hoosier-lightning]

Shane


Great pics and thanks for setting up the juice in my area again.

Dumb question time. It looks like the transformer would have easily fit on two of the trailers if it had been centered. Is the extra trailer length used as some sort of counter weight? It seems only the axles under the direct weight would be load bearing and the others are kinda useless?

In the one pic, when they are turning the corner, you can kinda tell that the weight is causing some camber in the middle. Thank God those guys are on one end to help keep it from flipping up. LOL

Very cool!

Markhos,
It would fit on 2 of the trailer sections, but to permit something like this to go over State and County roads you have to have so many axles to spread the weight. Even if the last few axles are not carrying much weight. I agree with you that the weight is mainly on the 6 sets of axles under the load, but some of that weight gets transfered out to the rest of the trailer. And we placed shims between the sections of the trailers to help push the weight out. But when you go over uneven ground the weight gets shifted mainly right under the transformer. But you are still riding on 48 tires and you are 12 feet wide, as there are 6 axles directly under the transformer. Each axle has 2 seperate assemblys that have 4 tires each and each assembly is good for 45 Tons, making the 6 axles good for 540 Ton, even though the trailer itself is rated at 500 Ton.

I also think the another reason for having 3 sections is to make it less stressfull in turning. The tractor and trailer we usually haul with, when you turn corners, the tires roll practically off the rims under all that weight. We often leave groves in the road where the rims are draging.

By the way, the rental of this trailer for this job was 50 Grand! Not including our cost to load it onto the railcar, slide it over to our trailer and the big Goldhofer trailer and to slide it off over the concrete pad and jack it down into position, the railroad fee to get it to Michigan, the cable guys to raise wires, the phone guys to raise wires, the electric guys to raise the wires, the railroad guy to communicate with railroad traffic so we could cross 2 sets of tracks, the Police to shut down traffic and escort, the guys to move traffic signals, the electricians to wire it up. Alot of money here and the unit was like 1 Million by itself!

 

[hoosier-lightning]

Another thing about that trailer. It is self leveling by hydraulics. So the load is put on the trailer in a triangle, meaning that one end of the load allows the hydraulic fluid to flow from side to side through the valves. While the other end is stable from side to side, valves closed. But it can be adjusted by the operator himself or the computer does it automatically. This keeps it from wanting to fall over.

The operator(driver) at some points during the haul had to lean the transformer to miss traffic signals and railroad signals. He also did it when turning.