Went on a short ride this morning to see a huge freaking generator.

[Oneslowz28]

Got a call around 7:30 this morning from my buddy. He bought a new (to him) bike yesterday, a 06 GSXR 1000. This is his third bike this years. So he asked me if I wanted to come on a ride with him and I could ride his R6. With nothing to do I said sure. So I drive over to his place and we leave.

What we were going to see was this huge power generator that's passing through town. Its a 300 foot long, 30 foot wide rolling rig carrying a generator for power plant on the SC / NC boarder. It has 36 axles with 10 tires each. Thats 360 tires. It crawls along at a 5mph pace and weighs over two million pounds and can only travel so many miles per week before the "road permit" expires, then it has to wait another week before it can move again. It is so heavy that they have special insurance to cover any cracks, dips, or ruts it may cause in any road on its over 300 mile trip from the Charleston harbor. We rode over where it crossed the road and I can say that I felt no difference. It stays under 24 hour armed security by local law enforcement. Traffic was pretty bad this morning so we decided not to pull off to the side of the road. I am going to go back tomorrow and take some pics of it. They stopped here in Aiken to change the tires and wait for the new permits to come through.

So from there we rode for about 60 miles to the lake and turned around and came home. Was a good ride/

Here is the generator and the rig (not my photos. I grabbed these from flickr.)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3498/3966657885_2f24a9a838.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3438/3966655713_09de7e4f25.jpg

[Mark_Hardware]

They pulled one kinda like that here last year, or the year before, only it was a giant transformer. then the rig pulling it broke down.

[slaveofconvention]

I wouldn't want that rubber bill lol

[mDust]

I wouldn't want to be the squirrel or other furry critter that was caught off guard by the front tires...

Anyway, looks like the generator only weighs a half million pounds...the trailer it's nestled into is the other 1.5 million. Engineering...pff! haha

[Luke122]

Hehe.. we get TONS of big rigs like that on highway 2 between Calgary and Edmonton, most of them bound for the northern area of the province.

Most of them are oilfield projects, I actually worked for a steel fireproofing company, and we had tons of huge stuff come through. :D

[billygoat333]

I wouldn't want to be the squirrel or other furry critter that was caught off guard by the front tires...

Anyway, looks like the generator only weighs a half million pounds...the trailer it's nestled into is the other 1.5 million. Engineering...pff! haha

I feel sorry for a squirrel or other furry critter that would be caught off guard by a machine moving @ 5mph... lol. Oh well, darwinism @ its best!

that thing is pretty effin huge.

[x88x]

Wow :eek: I guess it never occurred to me how they would transport stuff that big over roads..hmm. What was pulling it? The second photo shows a couple trucks behind it, but surely that's not it. Did you see them changing the tires? I'd be really interested to find out how they go about doing that...almost seems like they would have to pull out the entire axle somehow.

[slaveofconvention]

It's take one hell of a jack to lift it, that's for sure heh - I can see them needing a couple of full size cranes at the least...

[Oneslowz28]

I didnt catch the tire changing and the only thing I could see hooked to the front was a normal big rig. I imagine it is geard down so low that it could pull anything.

[mDust]

I didnt catch the tire changing and the only thing I could see hooked to the front was a normal big rig. I imagine it is geard down so low that it could pull anything.The driver probably has the pedal to the metal and the speedometer barely registers 5mph...that is some low, low gearing.

Oh well, darwinism @ its best!Yep, I've seen it happen in my parking lot...maybe the vehicle is just moving so slowly that the animal thinks 'hey, is that thing headed right for me?..nah! hey, what's this on the ground?' :dead:

[Mark_Hardware]

It's take one hell of a jack to lift it, that's for sure heh - I can see them needing a couple of full size cranes at the least...

not necessarily. I fthey need to change a tire all they have to do is lift the one tire up a little. A regular air jack would do it, as the suspension in the trailer would take most of the movement.

[Oneslowz28]

You know, now that I think about it, it wouldn't take much to get it moving. I have been to air shows were a team people move a 747 with just a rope and their legs, and have seen men on tv pull locomotives with their teeth. They have that strong man competition every year in the Bahamas and guy move heavy stuff all the time. Once you get the wheels rolling inertia will take most of the load off. I imagine the engine in that truck puts out 1500+ ftlbs of torque which is multiplied a great deal by gearing. I bet it does not even grunt at moving that load.

I would also imagine that the rig has built in hydrolic jacks that lift up each axle independently.

[Drum Thumper]

I imagine the engine in that truck puts out 1500+ ftlbs of torque which is multiplied a great deal by gearing. I bet it does not even grunt at moving that load.


And I would hate to foot that fuel bill.

[Luke122]

I imagine the engine in that truck puts out 1500+ ftlbs of torque


Probably more like 1800-2000. :D

[Oneslowz28]

And I would hate to foot that fuel bill.

I wonder if the driver gets paid by the hour or mile?

[x88x]

I wonder if the driver gets paid by the hour or mile?

Heheh, how about by the gallon :P

[Luke122]

I wonder if the driver gets paid by the hour or mile?

Typically they get paid by the mile, though in this case, they might make an exception. My parents company pays their drivers by the mile + a cargo rate (so they get paid for delivering the cargo, + mileage both ways). They are down to 1 driver right now.. and need 5 more!

I'm considering going driving now..

[Oneslowz28]

Yea I know the typical driver gets paid by the mile I was just wondering if this guy got paid by the mile. Its only a 300 mile trip and takes over a month to make.

[Luke122]

Yeah.. that would suck getting paid by the mile for a trip that short, and taking a month. No thanks. :D

[Airbozo]

All of my uncles and a couple of my cousin's drive trucks for a living. Most of the time they get paid by the mile so it makes sense to get the load to the destination asap (avoiding the scales whenever possible so they don't check your log book), but anytime they have to pull a special use permit (wide loads, explosives, hazardous materials, etc), they get paid by the load plus extra depending on the cargo. I would imagine the driver is getting paid by the hour plus extra for the load...

[Mark_Hardware]

I drove a truck over-the-road for a few years.... still work for the company, just not driving