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Wide load

Weldman

Decommissioned
Staff member
447
1,686
93
Location
Miles City, Montana
Nothing against an 8.3, but this kind of work (and that heavy a crankshaft/flywheel) is exactly why I wanted a full size, long haul "big rig" 855. This is the first time I actually worked it in the neighborhood of it's designed load. It seemed to love it. Puffed just a touch of black smoke when I leaned on it and never ran/idled smoother. I'm running 200 psi on the rail, 10 lbs of boost and set the governor to defuel at 2400. Not that I was anywhere near those numbers pulling this up the ramp. I haven't hit the road yet. Just spent 5 or 6 hours pulling it up in 1-2 ft increments as we laid down ramps to raise the trailer enough to minimize high centering at the crown of the ramp. Still dug a couple channels in the black top with my cargo chains (that wrap the frame rails) but mostly cleared it. It would drag it through the concrete and black top but I was afraid I'd crack a weld on the trailer or something stupid so I tried to be as easy as I could. But I was on this ramp for 8 days and ready to gtfoffit. It was like a mini drydock really, trying to raise a damaged hull without collapsing it.
No replacement for displacement.
 

hethead

Active member
147
216
43
Location
Seattle, WA.
Truck/trailer worked great. I scaled at 65k so the trailer/load came out to about 45k towed on the pintle (I have a lightweight wooden bed on my M820 chassis). It's about a 20k tongue weight so you obviously know it's back there. 250 ran great with a little boost and rail pressure bump. I got it in OD once just to say I did. I plumbed up a trailer brake control which I found really handy. I pulled the intermediate and front shafts (after dragging everything up the boatramp) for this 100 mile trip to prevent any axle binding. Then put em back in at the destination to keep from getting stuck in the field. 11' 6" wide, 13' 6" high, 85' feet overall length. Terrible rainy weather but had to get this done before the holidays.
 

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hethead

Active member
147
216
43
Location
Seattle, WA.
Truck/trailer worked great. I scaled at 65k so the trailer/load came out to about 45k towed on the pintle (I have a lightweight wooden bed on my M820 chassis). It's about a 20k tongue weight so you obviously know it's back there. 250 ran great with a little boost and rail pressure bump. I got it in OD once just to say I did. I plumbed up a trailer brake control which I found really handy. I pulled the intermediate and front shafts (after dragging everything up the boatramp) for this 100 mile trip to prevent any axle binding. Then put em back in at the destination to keep from getting stuck in the field. 11' 6" wide, 13' 6" high, 85' feet overall length. Terrible rainy weather but had to get this done before the holidays.
If I post any videos to youtube, I'll put links here. My wife got some pretty good footage of me going through town past the bars and down the interstate, etc.
 

hethead

Active member
147
216
43
Location
Seattle, WA.
If I post any videos to youtube, I'll put links here. My wife got some pretty good footage of me going through town past the bars and down the interstate, etc.
The 5 ton handled the trailer great in the frosty wet field with just the intermediate shaft installed. There wasn't a lot of weight on the front axle so I didn't bother. The 395s left great tread marks in the surface with no wheel slip. Really happy with the set up. I would never haul with this much on the pintle and 8' between the pintle and the rear tandom center point) regularly but it actually handled it really well. I'll have a fifth wheel on the truck/trailer (and the tandem set back further) when I relaunch this monster someday but I needed a 16' flatbed even more at this point.
317483340_863187688219230_1818433509015868116_n.jpg
 

hethead

Active member
147
216
43
Location
Seattle, WA.
Amazing I never would have thought it could be done on the pintle like that.
What is on your hood in that last photo?
A very quick and dirty (a few hours) turbo install that I'm really glad I did before this load. Just 10 lbs of boost to keep the EGTs cool when I give her more fuel.

Edit: I wouldn't recommend doing this in general. That's a 45k trailer with absolutely rearset trailer tandem on a pintle hitch, so thats a lot of tongue weight, obviously. Steering was light but I didn't need to weigh it down for a one time local (100 mile) move. It required a lot more focus in the rain than I would want to deal with regularly. With my truck tandem set back, it would be pretty easy though, IMO.

The hitch itself, is rated to 100k with 20k tongue weight (I was right there on tongue weight). The non ideal part is the 8' lever from my tandems pivot point to the hitch. Thats a long lever with 10 tons on it.
 

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hethead

Active member
147
216
43
Location
Seattle, WA.
I am impressed you did all that to get the job done. Nice work. Sounds good too.
Thanks Man. I boxed myself in with that landing craft and didn't have much choice. Hull got too weak to lift out in slings (plus it'd cost me a fortune in boatyard fees to fix it there) and it was way too leaky to leave in the water for another winter of storms. So the trailer was the only way I could come up with to get it out on my terms. It's been a great shop and now it'll be a great shop on land for awhile. I didn't get the 5 ton and log trailer with this plan in mind, but they sure worked together great to get the job done for me.
 

hethead

Active member
147
216
43
Location
Seattle, WA.
I am having trouble figuring out what landing craft that is or was. LCM 3? 6?
It was built in ‘74 in Minnesota to haul a dozer around the Great Lakes building roads. Then a Puget Sound freighter, then an Alaskan fish tender w/crane, then I built a wood shop on it about 12 years ago. I think it was a custom build for a construction company.
 
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