Playing Trucks With The Big Boys.

I love what I do. 

Many days I feel like a kid out playing  trucks in the sandbox.

It is fascinating to see all of the different kinds of trucks the other kids have.  Every once in a while I get to see one that is especially unusual or different.

Specialized carriers each have a different niche in the trucking industry.

Recently I pulled into one of my favorite secret parking spots to sleep for the night, and I saw a big truck parked along the edge of the lot, with guys climbing all over it working on something.

I took a couple of pictures and went to bed, wondering what was going on.

In the morning when I got up I found out.

  

One of the fields of specialized trucking is called “Heavy Haul” and I met a  crew that was assembling a Heavy Haul Rig in order to move a large crane truck from Illinois to Texas.

This was a crew from Ocean Work Cranes, an aerial lift platform company that specializes in wind tower blade and turbine repair, in the USA, Canada and Mexico.

The Crew Foreman, Craig took some time to talk to me, the other guys, Richard, Wade, Ceo and Lucas,  were all to busy working to talk.

They had to put the rig together and then load the crane onto it.

The crane they were hauling weighed 100,000 lbs and has a boom capable of extending 400 feet in the air. The specialized trailer they used spreads that weight out over a longer distance and distributes it between more axles so as to keep the load legal and allow it to move on the highway without damaging the road surface.

 

I parked my truck in front of it for perspective.  As you can see there is plenty of their truck sticking out at both ends.

And from the other side my truck almost disappears.

It kind of makes a regular tractor trailer rig look kind of insignificant in comparison, doesn’t it?

My Truck                   The Big Boys Truck

2015 Peterbilt             2015 Peterbilt

70 Ft long                   150 Feet Long

13. 6” Tall                    14’ 7” tall

18 Wheels                   50 Wheels

5 Axles                        13 Axles

44,000 lb capacity         250,000 lb capacity

10 forward gears            36 forward gears

 

A big Thank You to Craig and his team, from Ocean Work Cranes for letting me come out and  play trucks with the big boys for a day.