Extremely Heavy Mining Truck | Mega Transports | Free Documentary

[Music] the biggest the heaviest oh it's stuck on the track the most and the most expensive goods on earth everything people can move on land on water and in the air record-breaking stunning global they are mega transports [Music] if a transporter needs to be transported if 176 wheels aren't enough to carry its weight if the load weighs twice as much as the transporter and only one thing counts if it could be bigger that would make it bigger then it must be the mother of all mega transports the setting canada the cargo an ultra class dump truck the heroes tough men with delicate fingers gotta be really really sensitive on the clutch and the brake and eagle eyes this mega transport will require everything from man and machine fort mckay in the province of alberta large machines at work in a small industrial park here mega transports are in their comfort zone in the midst of this no-man's land the multi-national company mahmoud has built our business for special transports for there is treasure in this region natural gas to extract it heavy machines are necessary mammoth brings them from one refinery to another or uses cranes to hoist them out of mines day in day out but today is not like any other today is the day at 4 30 a.m supervisor nelson moore briefs his seven-man team about the job and the men get to work the whole team has been looking forward to the upcoming mega transport for the last few weeks the challenge is it must be finished today but the weather has conspired against the men the rain overnight making everything wet for us so we'll be working in the mud all day instead of a nice dry ground hauling in the mud costs extra time time that the men do not have today at least sun is forecast for the rest of the day hopefully that doesn't change and we get it by noon otherwise it's just a mess with traffic if we have to go two months later nelson wants to avoid running the mega transport during rush hour at all costs and this is the reason today's load it has spent the last two months 800 meters away undergoing maintenance at a company called finning the service manager there kevin unger knows it inside and out for he personally oversaw every aspect of its maintenance in the last eight weeks here goes our shop this is not an aircraft hangar although it sounds as if several dozen jet engines are running simultaneously this is kevin's workshop this is where finning takes apart huge construction machines one bolt at a time and rebuilds them heavy heavy-duty cranes excavators and the biggest machine in the mining industry the dump truck this is mahmoud's mega transport cargo for today so at this shop here we do mainly uh repair repairs of uh mining equipment uh and also complete rebuilds uh this frame uh here is a 797 frame where we completely tear it right down and completely build it back up to a running machine takes roughly about thirty seven hundred four thousand man hours every fifty thousand operating hours that is about every five years the huge dump trucks must come for thorough servicing once the frame is completely stripped it's right down to nothing on it we then recondition it we actually cut holes in the frame we magniflex it we we ndt it and then once it's all repaired and fixed we assemble the frame back once all the hoses and harnesses and the valves are put back into the frame then we actually start putting bigger components in so the engine will go in once the engine goes in the radiator the radiator will go in and then we start building the truck from there it'll go up on stands for safety reasons we do try and do most of the work we can right down here on the ground the frame alone weighs 210 000 kilograms with all its parts the dump truck weighs about 300 tons and this is only the basic model this is a 793 customer repair we'll show you a bigger one this is a little sister this is the angry big brother the 797 the biggest dump truck cat has ever built the workhorse of the north american mining industry the record-breaking size of its wheels is matched only by that of its price six to eight million dollars this is the very truck that mahmood is supposed to deliver today to its operation site an oil sands surface mine so this is a 797 will haul 400 tons the engine in this one here we just repowered it to the new style c175 engine and with roughly 4 000 horsepower if it could be bigger that would make it bigger boys and their toys come on it's all about timing and how long it takes to move this amount of dirt to here so it can be processed it doesn't matter if it's if it's hard rock mining like in what we see in bc or if it's oil sands it's how how fast can we get this pile of dirt to the plant and so either they have to have a lot more trucks or they have bigger trucks hauling more dirt and so they find that bigger trucks homework here in canada's wilderness everything is big not only the sky and the trucks under the ground in alberta there are enormous deposits of oil sands heavy oil and bitumen from these resources the canadian province produces about half a million barrels or 80 million liters of crude oil a day two-thirds of the output goes to the united states to get to these resources billions of tons of sand stone and gravel must be moved every day the more the better [Music] thus each trip with a dump truck means more money earned and every break in the action is money lost the dump trucks are therefore used around the clock the 797 that has just come out of maintenance is supposed to be hauling rocks again tonight for this to happen it must somehow get to its place of work [Music] it manages the 800 meters through the industrial park to mahmoud central office on its own power for the rest of the way to the mine on the highway the 797 must be transported on a trailer after about three kilometers the mega transport must turn at a traffic light [Music] then it's straight ahead to the mine so why doesn't the dump truck make the seven kilometer journey on its own wheels [Music] there's no roads here that you could take this on the road on the highway just it's too big and it's too heavy because of the footprint of how the tires are here all of that weights on actually a small patch of ground and the roads here aren't designed for that and it's better in the wintertime when everything's frozen but right now everything is soft so this would leave quite the groove in the pavement if we're trying to drive it in the summertime with the truck's 300 tons distributed over only four wheels the road would not be able to withstand the weight like an elephant standing on four juice boxes the pressure on the four small patches of the ground would immediately burst the asphalt thus transport companies must either reduce the weight of the load or distribute it usually the dump trucks are dismantled with the bed frame and wheels transported in seven individual trips and then reassembled at the end but mamut does it differently it is the only company in the world that offers the so-called one-piece solution and only this trailer makes it possible the company's showpiece 22 axles each with eight wheels each axle hydraulically controlled and steered to save the customer time and money it carries dump trucks on its back in one piece even the 797 the idea is to distribute its 300 tons across the 32 meter long trailer but not even this length suffices to bear the dump truck's load not for nothing does the cat 797 belong to the ultra class the all-star league of dump trucks supervisor nelson moore's men have already been working on the trailer for three hours bolting loading riveting their goal to make one trailer out of two we bolt the two together and put a front header on and another panel on so that we can handle the extra weight andy will be my trailer operator today and then we've got three truck drivers and three pilot car drivers four pilot car drivers whether it's an excavator a crane or an auger mammoth has a special trailer for each transport the biggest one is necessary for the monster dump truck two of them actually and in point of fact that means four for the 32 meter long 22 axle trailer actually has two parts thus four trailers will be used for this mega transport to make sure that everything runs smoothly that the weight really is distributed equally and that the trailer can even be steered a special trailer operator is required for three years now nelson has relied on andy holbick and he is only 29 years once my old really makes it to the trailers good to go oil's got it uh engine's got gas uh it's running good and that all my valves are correct for my trailer otherwise we have issues especially with the steering so what happens is that steers the two steering cylinders in the front of the trailer which then in turn moves all the tie rods and when the front header moves with the oil it does the exact opposite effect to the rear cylinders or i can split the trailer in the middle and then paul just runs the front of the trailer he steers the front half and then i steer the back half with this pad it is just about impossible for one person to steer the 32 meter trailer around corners if for example the tractor drives in reverse the first part of the trailer responds normally but the second part responds like a separate trailer meaning it does the opposite of the first andy divides the trailer into two halves in this way he can help steer the back part by hand thus maneuvering around obstacles the trailers hydraulics are another important factor in making the transport work without causing all kinds of damage youngster andy takes over at the valves good i'm just checking my valving making sure that um making sure that it's set up so that each point there's four points of the trailer they're all independent so that you have balance otherwise a lot of ways or a way to lose load would be to have your trailer in two point so the front would all be one suspension so when the oil drops the way the oil moves is its resistance right so if you were to go over a slope the oil would move out of those cylinders because there's more resistance there and it would move to the other side of the trailer and if it was in two point it would just keep going because it would get heavier and heavier and then you'd lose your load the hydronics keep all four parts of the trailer level at all times for example if one side drives over a bump or tire goes flat then that side would sink down with a 300 ton load only a few centimeters of unevenness can suffice to make everything lurch and even tip over andy would prefer not to think about what could happen in such a scenario while he checks each of the 352 tyres for air pressure 800 meters away at finning the big moment has come the dump truck on which dozens of individuals have been working on for two months is finally ready to be handed over this is always quite an event for the employees all of them come to the launch [Music] 12 horsepower are used for the ignition that's how much the starter has all by itself the driver has to be extra careful while backing through the gate he can't see what's going on behind the truck at all and even worse he wouldn't even notice if he ran over his colleague the 797 is supposed to be back hauling rocks tonight after that it will be in use around the clock 24 hours a day seven days a week only a moving dump truck is a good dump truck until it is time for the next complete overhaul from kevin unger it's cool though because we built that right like a big tonka toy i don't know if you had tonka koi's when you're uh when you're kids that's all it is a rather expensive toy and heavy and thirsty and big here on the lot the 797's true size can finally be appreciated the ultra caterpillar 9.75 meters wide 7.7 meters high and 15.08 meters long the tank holds 3785 liters of fuel it must be refilled every 12 hours its six wheels are four meters high one alone costs forty two thousand dollars and weighs twenty tons the 797 can load about 400 tons more than its own weight [Music] it could transport 200 midsize station wagons only today it is not the mega transporter but rather the mega transport cargo somehow the mahmoud workers have to get it into the mine [Music] it is noon the first step has only just been taken andy has checked all the tires and valves and now he can join the two trailers together 625 tons on the hitch this monster will get it moving the western star 6900 extreme duty with 600 horsepower it seems feeble in comparison with the 797 but it's 16 gear manual transmission makes the truck a sensitive workhorse when an experienced jockey rides it a man like paul brophy he and andy have to join the individual trailer pieces together to make one big trailer while paul drives the truck and the first trailer andy manually steers the back sections in the opposite direction this is the only way to control the 2.2 million dollar trailer the hardest part in order to be joined the trailers have to be lined up at exactly the same point right next to one another and exactly parallel [Music] all right paul i'm going to take a little bit off and just go straight from there we'll uh get another set of eyes up front before we get too close yeah i'm here oh okay if paul and andy don't line up the second trailer exactly parallel with the first they'll have to start all over again one centimeter of distance at the front can mean a whole meter at the back they're looking good so far paul you've got about a four inch gap at the back here and you got six lines to go like when buying and assembling a bike a bookshelf or a grill trouble starts right away when the holes are pre-drilled but the last screw doesn't fit because the hole is one centimeter off the situation every day people know from the hardware store now threatens to stymie the two experts in xxl dimensions for even with a 32 meter trailer every millimeter counts in the end here too the last bolt might not fit yeah you're still looking good paul you got about three lines to go just gonna start touching on the front all right hold that pull for six uh it's touching now there kev all right i might have to take a little bit off well we might get it okay go ahead profie we got five feet something is not right what do you need andy the trailers are lined up to the same point and everything looks good at the front but as feared the trailer is the tiniest bit of skew so at the back holes and bolts don't match up anymore the mega trailer won't come together like that taking direction from nelson paul and andy must now make adjustments one millimeter at a time [Music] pretty precise yeah you can have a little gap what we'll do is we're going to put them together we'll get the bolts as tight as we can we'll back the trailer up and i'll just steer this one them together a bit and it should tighten them up and then we can get the bolts fairly tight there it's a lot of work for seven kilometers right still this method is cheaper and faster than transporting the dump truck in individual pieces and paul gets it right after a few attempts you've got to be really really sensitive on the clutch and the brake so it's yeah precise as long as the trailer sections are moving the men can't bolt them together the danger of being crushed is too big we'll try a bolt there okay don't move we got hands in here okay put the top end or both tops in or whatever you can fill that looks really good guys we'll start at the front and work our way back and that way we can follow the camera of the trailer it may look easy but it's dangerous often enough there have been terrible accidents at such moments yeah the teamwork is incredibly important here because in here you could lose a finger pretty easy if you're not talking to the operator and communicating with somebody everything goes fine today no crushed fingers but the operation took longer than planned the men are already one hour behind schedule and the true challenges are still far ahead although one lies right around the corner [Music] as far as challenging goes would be pulling this truck that first corner here is pretty tight but it will be some time before the men finish bolting the mega trailer together and how is the 797 ultra dump truck ever supposed to get on top of it for the solution to this problem the team now pulls the trailer away from the lot the 797 cannot simply drive onto the back that would be like 600 elephants jumping on the last row of wheels at once that would be quite a sight but it's not an option not even with the utmost care and a long ramp would it work mahmoud engineers have thought of something better a solution unique around the world the mobile jacker platform a frame that can lift itself even with a dump truck's weight on top only not very high but it doesn't have to go high this is how it works jack in each corner obviously builds a hip pile it's only got four inches of stroke at a time so like this we put a piece of plywood on the outside and the frame comes down um it all sits flush and sits on the flywheel so it hangs just above then you pull the center blocks out and then you drive the jack down and it lifts the outsides up then we peel the outsides out and then we're back to the flat again and then it should rinse and repeat and then we come down four inches at a time you'll see kind of enough as simple as it is brilliant but tedious so that they do not collapse underneath the dump truck the jacks in the corners can only extend 10 centimeters andy and his colleagues build a kind of support tower levels of which can be added or subtracted at will [Music] at first it is high so that the trailer can drive out from underneath [Music] then it is lowered bit by bit so that the dump truck can drive onto it once the 797 is secure the platform is raised back up piece by piece the trailer slides underneath and the miracle platform is lowered again that's the plan a plan that nelson the supervisor now puts into action he gets the 797 from the finning lot where the dump truck stands ready with the key in the ignition and the motor running stealing this eight meter high monster and getting away with it unseen would be difficult even in canada no special license is necessary to drive the biggest cat dump truck whoever is qualified to drive normal construction machines may also drive in the ultra class the very first thing nelson does is extremely important opening and closing the 14 meter long bed better safe than sorry nelson does not know that the 797 has just been driven out of the dry hangar i don't know how long the truck's been sitting outside so if it's out there for a couple rainstorms you could have a lot of water in this with a volume of 213 cubic meters every small steering motion would mean an enormous shift in weight it's like a big car steers as easy as the car does and that's it that's how nelson likes to think of it but with a 42 meter turning radius restricted vision and no feeling of contact with the road moving this gigantic toy is nothing like driving an suv to the supermarket i think for a short term i can't i couldn't handle it for long term you know everybody thinks it's a big way to go to be pretty boring after a short term [Music] some people love it a lot of the people that's all they ever want to do is interestingly most companies have women drive the dump trucks because they are gentler on the gears and the hydraulics understandable at a retail price of up to 8 million euros worst part is getting used to how far over that way it is after all the other external mirror is more than nine meters away no wonder the transport company has to join two trailers side by side in order to transport this monster the 797 is quite fast even fully loaded it can reach a high speed of 67 kilometers per hour but that's not the only thing that impresses everyone else on the road you'll be nervous when i drive by a little bit there jump anyway once in motion the 797 needs special breaks to slow down a total of 25 brake discs each with a diameter of 1.06 meters break the mega dump truck hydraulically so that no tour buses get caught under the wheels for example 2pm on the mahmoud lot the workers have spent the last several hours bolting the 32 meter trailers together this 325 ton mega trailer is slated to bring the 797 dump truck to the mine today but for that it needs the jack up platform meanwhile andy and his colleagues have unloaded it it is lying flat on the ground nelson only has to drive onto it over two long ramps this is also only possible with teamwork from the camp nelson cannot see at all where he needs to steer everything two to three meters in front of his wheels is in a blind spot if andy has nelson drive one centimeter too far to the left right front or back it translates later into a weight difference on the trailer sections of several tons and that could cause the whole trailer to tip over the hardest part balancing the rear axle on the platform with 4 000 horsepower rear-wheel drive if you don't kind of finesse it up there it'll just spin the mouse open underneath the truck you know [Music] that's what locks the rear ends it's a traction control system you push that button and it locks the rear end with lots of feeling visual judgment timing and teamwork the 797 is in perfect position in only a few minutes and not a moment too soon park break is on actually the mega transport should have been on its way to the mine long ago but the work in the morning took longer than planned the men whose job it is to remove the traffic lights along the way are already waiting good day sir it sounds like you're in your office chilling out or something yeah 3 30 4 o'clock we shouldn't be too far out of line a two-hour delay in the transport business here in canada's mining country no big deal still the 797 is not yet on the trailer first the platform has to be raised up bit by bit and then brought back down onto the trailer so paul the driver has to maneuver the trailer 32 meters long and 9 meters wide under the 9.4 meter wide platform a difficult reverse parking maneuver times 10 so to speak with only a few centimeters of leeway i gotta hit the mark so yeah sometimes see that's the mark he's gonna put that mark on the trailer on the frame i can't see where he's putting the mark right somebody else will be back there's radio and tell me what to do you know right or left and hopefully we can get it first time i hope i hope all right what can go wrong huh nothing can go wrong you know in that mood remember nothing could go wrong okay i gotta back up meanwhile nelson the supervisor has taken charge of the advance party in one of the pilot pickups check the path our our route for today's move just to make sure we got no obstructions or any new highway signs they put up or construction signs or any obstacles that will give us any stress today although the mega transport takes up almost the entire width of the road the route is not closed down for highway 63 is the lifeline of the region it connects the mines with the towns and the commercial areas the men themselves are responsible for safety and normal traffic continues to flow once we get on the road the challenging part is the other traffic for the most part just keeping them safe basically because not only do we have to move our load safe we have to keep the public safe whether we are stopping them so that we can safely pass them or just moving them over and slowing them down so we can safely pass another challenge an intersection with traffic lights the 9 meter high transport cannot possibly pass beneath them nelson has to make sure that the light is turned aside at just the right moment otherwise the mega transport would block the whole highway the height of these ones we keep track of everything in our area the height of these is only 6.2 meters like and today with the hull truck on we're at 9.75 meters high so we'll get the light turners out because they own the lights and it's their job to spin them so basically they just pull the two pins that are holding and they'll stick a big bar in here and then they'll open it up because we were so wide and so high i think it's a set number right now per light but if we make him wait because whether it's on our part or the client's part that we had to wait for the the equipment yeah then he charges by the a little more the transport has to get moving now and not only for financial reasons it is already 4 pm in 1 hour rush hour begins for the mine workers at all costs paul and andy must now secure the load and get the mega transport on the road driving on an open highway during rush hour would be too dangerous almost all the mines and refineries in the area work around the clock in a three-shift system the day shift ends right between five and six that means the highway fills up suddenly in both directions paul does not have time for many attempts at his difficult parking maneuver and in fact he gets it on the very first try the trailer is under the platform now the team only has to lower the platform onto the trailer and finally secure the load 4 30 in the afternoon in alberta everything is lashed down and he briefs the team one last time everyone must know what they are supposed to do and when and where they should do it the 29 year old is responsible for making sure the trailer is up to the job's extreme demands uh yeah i just want to get this thing there so we can take it off right it's been a long day well i'm not quite it'll be 12 hours and a half an hour so and then we stick it on low it'll probably be a 15-16 hour day it'd be a good day i'm not complaining about the paycheck next week but right now i'm not too stoked yeah so yeah we're gonna get this thing through the gate now and then uh yeah after 12 hours of preparation the mega transport finally leaves the lot paul pulls the load of more than 600 tons with his 600 horsepower diesel engine it's like having 14 mid-range airplanes attached to his trailer hitch [Music] the drivers in the two trucks pushing from the back give a little help to get started [Music] they'll push again later when the route goes uphill and they can help break if needed right now paul needs them above all as extra eyes except for something big and yellow he can barely see anything in his rear view mirror nelson forms the vanguard in the pickup everyone on the team whether in the front or in the back communicates via walkie-talkie the mega transport merges onto highway 63 shortly before 5 pm [Music] and paul steps on the accelerator right away he blasts down the highway with a mega transport at over 40 kilometers per hour with 600 tons of steel on his back you got to pay attention all the time it's like just a lot behind you right but they have good pilots they keep an eye for me so they watch all around all the time so that's good gotta trust them guys because i can't see everything right so you have to really trust those guys to watch for you what is more poor must have faith above all that the men will stop the traffic coming from ahead and behind or at least try many drivers disregard the warning lights and stop signs and simply keep on driving nelson has had some crazy experiences some days they couldn't be any better they'll just pull over and keep moving and then the odd days you'll get people especially with something like this is big and grandiose they'll stop and they want to take pictures and videos not remembering that there's people coming up behind them at you know 50 and 60 miles an hour that's where it gets scary because you know whether people are distracted or not coming down the highway they're not watching a lot of traffic on the driver's side and four yeah i see them right now you got a good line on them paul and i wouldn't go any more to your swamper or else you'll kind of be hanging off the pavement speak of the devil an entire caravan has ignored the signs on the route and has entered the highway some get out of their cars take pictures others just keep driving paul must make room keep as far to the right as possible but not too far if he hits the gravel on the side of the road it could endanger the whole load a dicey situation but paul stays calm it's almost impossible to believe but the trucking pro has been in situations like this on canada's highways in which a car has tried to pass from behind after a hundred meters the caravan has gone by and the first danger is surpassed but the next is already waiting the mega transport has to turn right at this traffic light but despite the blockade cars are still careening down the road and regardless of all planning the traffic light is still hanging over the lane and is thus in paul's way the traffic light service is there but it has not turned the poles to the side in time this mere 30-second delay is enough paul must break quickly with 600 tons on his back thus blocking the whole highway to manage the situation nelson quickly takes care of the traffic light and plays traffic cop he regulates the traffic like a pro until everything is safe only then can the mega transport get back on the move [Music] paul also makes the right turn with the utmost precision here in canada's mining region special transport drivers and trailer operators like paul and andy earn good money five thousand dollars a week is not rare it seems like a dream job and yet many beginners quit very quickly [Music] lots of kids want to come to work here but the experience is the hard part for them if you think you're coming to work here to be a truck driver some of them do but it's a lot of in our region a lot of labor intensive work most of the workers in the area come from all over canada and the united states they work eight or nine months here around the clock and then they treat themselves to several months of off time [Music] the cost of this extremely laborious and only seven kilometer long mega transport varies and is an industry secret but one thing is certain in the end it is considerably cheaper for the mine operator and owner than taking the 797 apart and transporting it in seven individual trips thanks to the one-piece solution the truck will be working away again tonight yeah it went great no issues everything went smooth except aside for waiting for curfew yesterday after 16 hours nelson's men have finished the job the mega dump truck is back in the mine for the workers though the day is not yet done the ultra-class dump truck still has to be taken off the platform [Music] it is the same tedious procedure used during loading only backwards raise the platform lower the platform and then the 797 can finally enter the mine nelson the supervisor is satisfied his men have worked well together as a team all day and have brought the mega transport safely to the mine the only thing that dampens his mood are the numerous gawkers they never seem to get used to it and it's actually a hindrance for us because everybody's paying attention to what they're doing on their phone and taking pictures or jumping out of their vehicles and taking videos and it becomes a hindrance because there's still traffic they forget there's still traffic coming behind them that we didn't have any big obstacles today we didn't have any mud or anything to deal with so we had a great day from now on the 797 will be working around the clock 24 hours a day seven days a week nelson and his team want to get home quickly now for the next mega transport is tomorrow morning at eight on the highways of alberta [Music] you

Channel: Free Documentary

Views: 5,860,855

Keywords: Free Documentary, Documentaries, Full documentary, free documentaries, full documentaries, mega transport, mega transports, epic transport, heavy transport, most epic transport, mining truck, mining truck documentary, biggest mining truck, dump truck, heavy mining truck, heavy dump truck, extremely heavy dump truck, heavy machinery, heavy machines, heavy machines documentary

Id: XoAlAYJzONo

Length: 48min 50sec (2930 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 24 2020