GIANT ROAD TRANSPORTER

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28599, 30 May 1958, Page 7

GIANT ROAD TRANSPORTER

Loads Up To 80 Tons "Ths Press" Special AUCKLAND, May 29. '' A mamfnoth road transporter. ' the biggest ever built in New J Zealand, will take the road in a • fortnight for its trials. Designed J primarily to carry a 76-ton paper * glazing roller from Auckland to 1 the New Zealand Forest Products paper mill at Kinleith. it 1 will be used to carry many other J loads of up to 80 tons. The unit, comprising a 150 b.h.p. diesel tractor, a 7-ton sub-trailer. I a 13-ton low-loader, and a 150 i b.h.p. diesel pusher tractor, will be about 105 feet long when com- I plete. The sub-trailer and the i low-loader are being built by the i Tapper Transport Engineering i Company for George Dale and Son for £ll,OOO. The complete rig will be worth £23.000. At the back of the low-loader are 24 wheels in blocks of four. Each block is independently hydraulically suspended. Hydraulic valves will control each unit to keep the platform level on any road surface. Each unit can be raised or lowered nine inches. A separate hydraulic steering system will control the units from the after-cabin. Sixty Wheels Other statistics of the giant are: 32-ton tare; 60 wheels including the pusher; 6000 square inches of braking shoes— enough for more than 30 big cars; probable maximum speed 10 miles an hour; about two miles to the gallon of fuel; total gross load with roller. 104 The rig was started only after all arrangements had been made for the trip to Kinleith. which will take three days’ driving over about a fortnight. The overhead railway bridge near Manurewa will have to be strengthened, a job for Sundays when no trains run, and one near Tirau will have to be lifted clear to allow the 17ft 3in load underneath. With the rig will be two pilot trucks, a lorry with heavy planks to strengthen the road over culverts, Post and Telegraph and local power board trucks with men to cut lines that would foul the load. Heaviest pull of the trip will be up the Bombay Hills and will take about three hours.