How often do you tow half a ship with your HET ?

[tommys2patrick]

Like you say, regardless of what it weighs, still an impressive site to see such a small truck (relatively) pulling such a gigantic object. On the other end of the spectrum, I wonder how well the brakes work? I would imagine the assembly area must be dead flat. Just watching one of these HET's move an Abrams is pretty impressive. Did they ever try using the HET's main winches to move the load rather than the engine?

 

[tommys2patrick]

As the length of cable on the winch drum is somewhat limited I imagine they decided to just pull it with the truck, as it looks like they moved the bow quite a ways to give cranes and the new steel room to maneuver.

 

[wanderingwillys]

Yep the syncro lift runway is totally flat - the brought they ship back in one piece then built rigid stands for the stern, cut it and then rolled the bow forward - the extension module was build separately off to the side and then crawled into place with a set of movers like "The King Machine" has pictured - then hoisted to the correct elevation and mated to the bow temporarily to get the truck heights set - then the trucks were joined and the bow and extension can be slid where ever forward and aft along the centerline of the stern...