on this episode of heavy metal monsters the gigantic Asian Hercules races to move an oil reek in Singapore if we miss the tide we might puncher the hull they're going to delay the whole operation we might have disaster here and the mighty tesmec trencher faces Terror on the Frozen North dakotan Plane 100,000 lb machine can slide at any time on them hillsides wa it starts a living thing that's kind of scary that crap rocks Extreme Machines in extreme [Music] conditions tackle the toughest jobs on the planet this is heavy metal monsters Singapore this is the world's biggest oil rig manufacturer we dominate around 60% of the World Market the rigs built here are sent to the Far Corners of the world to satisfy our insatiable demand for oil these massive drilling machines are built in separate sections then welded together each finished piece must be fitted precisely into place it's like a dixa puzzle you have to be 100% perfect to lock into that position each section weighs up to 3,000 tons and they have to be lifted for that you need a floating monster crane Asian Hercules 2 a giant of the [Music] Seas height 393 ft lift capacity 3500 tons engines 7800 horsepower diesel generators even though it's such a big crane this is very Nimble you can turn on the [Music] spa today the crew of the Asian Hercules faces a mammoth challenge the bow of a multi-million dollar oil rig must be transported to the other side of the harbor dropped exactly onto these support blocks and welded to the main Hall but this section weighs 3,000 tons Captain Mir mmud is the Man In Charge well it's hell of a big live it's a big challenge actually 7 a.m. Captain mmud gathers his team when you work watch your fingers and you connect your shackles look for your friends so but the biggest problem for the the crew is timing the operation to coincide with high tide live and go if they miss their window it could be catastropic if we miss the tide then we grounded so you might puncher the hull so you might have a disaster here the first challenge is to couple the rig section to the Asian Hercules crane to lift these enormous loads takes Mega ropes each length is around 4,400 m almost 4.4 km in one length below deck three giant diesel generators Supply power to massive winches carefully controlled from the bridge despite the Crane's power this 3,000 T lift will test Asian Hercules to the max basically on the limits lifting manager thet tuza first attaches two giant slings to the CR brain's hook each sling carries four cables which connect to the rig's eight anchor points every Liv is a challenge for us every aspect we have to check to ensure this is a safe LIF the heavy duty slings help distribute the massive weight we need to getting a special cable to live up this weight because Normal sling is not enough for this capacity BOS and Louie is in charge of attaching the cables to the rig but the cables are Tangled they've been left in a gap just 2 m wide and they're stuck chief engineer Mr chandron is worried they're going to miss their window if we miss the tide we have to wait for another 6 hours they're going to delay the whole operation every hour is cost money the clock is ticking if they mtime this lift Asian Hercules could be grounded in the falling water 2 miles outside eping North Dakota the piece of the empty North dakotan plane has been shattered the reason oil 7.4 billion barrels of it buried in 25 ,000 square miles of porous Rock money one minute you're dead broke and desperate to find a job and you don't know what you're going to do 3 weeks later 70 hours a week you're just praying to God for a day off you got all the money in your bank account to transport the oil L and bro construction is building an 80m pipeline through ground frozen solid by temperatures as low as 20° below zero digging through this frozen tundra takes a truly awesome machine this is the tesmec 1075 trencher weight 44 tons digging depth 7 ft digging width 40 in the 325 horsepower diesel engine gives the enormous earth mover the grunt to shift 2700 tons of dirt every hour this trencher this particular trencher is heavy enough that it can you can go down 7 and 1/2 ft and and dig all day long if you need to tm's amazing it replaces three tracos all in one go that means that we can dig our trenches in super fast time to bring the pipeline in on time these guys have to lay a mile of pipe every day 500 a.m. Dawn is still an hour away project superintendent Donnie has to make sure the entire 50-man crew keeps to schedule and stays alive in these treacherous conditions these oil guys are on me hard we got to meet our dead lines we got to get the oil in the PIP and get going okay guys we really got to take this serious that's all there is to it let's do it and go they've got just 10 hours to lay 125 sections of steel pipe before before it gets too dark to work the ground is covered with up to 2 ft of snow so the three cat da8 dozers start by clearing a path for the trencher the next step is for the excavators to loosen the ground but this is the steepest terrain the crew has faced in more than 70 Mi of Pipeline and the Frozen Turf is causing massive problems for the big machines you get on hillsides and if you're not paying attention it'll take off and start sliding just like a sleigh you'd be amazed at how little of a hillside you have to be on and you're going for a ride it'll take off as the excavator sets to work on the slope the metal track slips on the icy ground if they don't get the 38 ton excavator under control it could be the end of the line for the oil [Music] yeah Singapore Harbor the gigantic floating crane Asian Hercules is preparing to lift a 3,000 ton section of oil [Applause] rig but the 11-in thick lifting cables have become entangled in the crowded Shipyard each 170t long cable weighs over 20 tons but any twists or Kinks can cause them to fail we have to ensure that the cable does not twist any twist then the wire might be damaged once the wire damaged definitely we cannot get out the leaf the crew has to move the rig at high tide or risk a grounding they race to attach the giant two-ton shackles move out hey hey up eventually BOS and Louie manages to free the cables and they are quickly hoisted up into [Music] position now the shackles must be attached to the eight anchor points on the rig but time is running out finally the crane and rig are connected the deck is cleared and the lift is on okay guys are you ready on the bridge Captain mmud Begins pretensioning the gigantic cables all right good Bey on 70% Asian Hercules takes the strain but the massive weight of the rig tips the crane forward it's dangerously unstable so to balance the deck ballast tanks at the back take in 6,000 tons of sea waterer if we do not balance the tanks she will just sink all the whole CR will just topple forward the ballast helps stabilize the crane but with the lifting window closing fast the crew needs to move before the tide leaves them high and dry how many fire uh go go Epi North Dakota the mighty tesmec trencher is churning through 40 tons of Frozen Earth per minute let's wrong ready for the next section of pipeline to be laid but up ahead the 38 ton excavator is sliding dangerously on the icy slopes the excavator hangs on but the ice takes its toll The Frozen Ground has sheared the solid steel bucket this bucket starting to crack out this side's worse same on this side and he needs to get his new teeth another day of this and that whole bucket be ruined cuz it'll break in half we don't get it fixed right away it's a major blow they have to take it out of action and weld to [Music] repair without the excavators help the trencher is moving slower than scheduled it's really hard on the machine so pretty soon all heck Breaks Loose after 4 hours they've laid only a/4 mile of pipe half their target trencher operator Lincoln's working flat out to make up for lost time but he's hit a problem that crap rocks and it's a big one hey Robert I need you to come down here and and fish out a bunch of rocks in front of the trener all right I'm on my way link a heavy excavator capable of Shifting loads up to 6,000 lb comes in to move the boulder the excavator and the trencher kind of work hand in hand when he hits rocks that are too big I got to dive in there and get it out for him so that we can keep on trucking but even with the Hard Rock G the trencher is not out of trouble you broke a tooth yeah snapped a fews the ditch you'll probably have to spin it and find it and get the welders over here to welder back on so all right stop me where you need to all righty the trencher needs a weld too but there's not enough welders to fix all the broken teeth and man the pipeline this could stall the entire project what the hell are you doing up here is that your supposed to be welding in the pipeline I'm not going to get moving if you're over here blowing smoke at [Music] me Singapore Harbor the gigantic floating crane Asian Hercules is about to lift the 3,000 ton oil rig section all right Lou let's start the Lea in by inch the huge chunk of metal Rises into the air even with 6,000 tons of ballast on board to counteract the weight the front of the crane sits just inches above the water when you start the LIF you can't stop so the the clock starts sticking and we have to race against time I'm captain mmud steers the crane out into the harbor a minute later an Asian Hercules would have been grounded in the falling water we were to the extreme of the tidal constraint I think we only 10 or 20 mm above the seabed just watch out for any fast CRA Chasing The Tide The Crew prepares to run a 3M Gauntlet across one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world one on our St side we have to monitor the passing vessels fast boat fast tuug boat creat swell it will create some problem for us it will cause the weight or the blocks to sway from left to right the huge weight of the bow section is pushing Asian Hercules to the Limit with the front of the crane so close to the water a swell now could swamp the deck and push the crane under edging towards the opposite dock these are nail-biting moments Captain Mahmud cites the Giant floating dock that holds the main section of the rig now he must swing the final piece of the puzzle into place but it's suddenly clear that the rig is on a collision course with the towers of the floating dock we have to go over the tower how much you want how much you need the only solution is to lift the rig over but the higher it gets the more unstable it becomes Epi North Dakota the tesmec 1075 trencher needs a new tooth after chowing down on Hard Rock to get the job done fastest they bring in head welder Aaron where' she broke C grind it [Music] off well sometimes I feel like a dentist fixing lots of teeth on that tranger 2: p.m. with Aaron away the welding team sealing the pipes have only managed to finish a quarter of a mile we got to get going got people here what the hell boss man Donnie is not happy about Aaron's extracurricular activ activities what the hell are you doing up here I thought you're supposed to be welding in the pipeline well somebody needs to make a phone call and find out what's more important we got to get going you got to get back to pipelining you got to get the hell out of here I'm not going to get moving if you're here blowing smoke at me Aaron's very feisty we just butt heads like Rams but while they argue the day's Target is slipping further Out Of Reach eping North Dakota the tesmec 1075 trencher is battling against hard Frozen Earth and now a broken tooth has taken it out of action as soon as head welder Aaron finishes the fix operator Lincoln surges ahead to make up the lost time we have serious amounts of pipe to lay our heads against the gun every day the welders laning pipe need every hand on the job including Aaron right on the well just to keep up with the [Music] pace as the sun sets Lincoln and the trencher power past the all important mile Mark we already got it thank you guys done by the time the welding team catches up darkness is already falling but now the pipe is within 7 Mi of the Finish Line amig we're done the end of this epic project is finally in sight thank you for Singapore Harbor the crew of the Asian Hercules have made it across the shipping lanes but now the towers of of the floating dock are dangerously close to the suspended rig on the bridge Captain Mahmud uses the power of the floating crane to Hoist the massive section up and over block stop hanging more than 65 ft in the air any sudden movements could spell disaster Al uh full to P half speed we have to go inching very slowly Asian Hercules lowers the giant section into place but with just a foot to go the crew on top of the rig hits a [Music] snag the new section is catching on pipes sticking out from the existing structure but the crane is at full stretch you cannot come ahead anymore already touching so they might need to cut the pipes must be cut and [Music] quickly the super fast crew cut and run and Asian Hercules lowers the 3,000 ton section into position thank you very much guys thank you very much the team effort Everybody Plays A Part isan hak 2 did a good job we are very [Music] happy with the huge structure now complete the sections are welded together soon this giant rig will be ready for business on this episode of heavy metal monsters it's definitely dangerous around here and I enjoy it the Colossal walking drag line is pumping iron high in the Rockies dummies don't survive very long stupid [Music] herds and the turbocharged allterrain snowcat is racing to repair a Mountaintop radar station to slow down a little bit so we don't tear up the snow C there is a storm coming in tonight so we do need to get out of here I am rather concerned about it Extreme Machines in extreme [Music] conditions tackle the toughest jobs on the planet the this is heavy metal monsters merer Colorado more than a mile up in the Rocky Mountains lies the kala mine to provide Power for thousands of Colorado homes and businesses this colossal open pit mine has to deliver more than 2 .3 million tons of coal per year the whole world depends on electricity and without coal you have no electricity hitting those targets demands truly extraordinary machines and they don't come much more extraordinary than the Maran 8050 walking drag [Music] line weight 3100 tons [Music] G boom length 325 ft bucket capacity 62 cubic [Music] yards too big to move on wheels or tracks the drag line walks on 58t Long steel shoes the mining process begins with a big bang 75 tons of ammonium nitrate explosive shatters the layer of sandstone covering the 15t thick coal seam then it's time for Tracy Mack and the mighty walking drag line to go to work are you in the clear everybody's in the clear you can go to swinging 10 for Tracy swings the Mighty Machine 325 ft long boom arm and the bucket chews 82 ton mouthfuls from the layer of dirt known as overburden I get to operate the the biggest toy in the sandbox and it's really cool man this takes too much time to keep up with the pace of production another operates in tandem with the drag line yes sir go ahead Don Hobbs operates the busiris 495b mobile shovel 614 coming at you with its 6600 volt electrical power supply it's not on the same scale but it's still a Mean Machine it's a monstrosity of a machine that bucket holds 80 tons of dirt 25 you mine backing up another 30t I love operating that shovel it's a challenge every day but at an altitude of 7,000 ft the air is dry and the mine won't allow the big diggers to operate if they start kicking up too much dust if there is a situation where the dust is overwhelming us we will shut down a shutdown costs the Mind thousands of dollars but with low visibility lives are at stake and they might have no choice Grand Junction Colorado one week before Christmas thousands of holiday Travelers are pouring through the city's airport it's a busier time of year for us over 40,000 on average per month travel through our airport but during the holiday season we see double that but the Colorado winter is closing in if we get a lot of snow then it can impact flights in the mountains to the east of the city the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration radar station tracks the constantly changing weather patterns feeding data to the airport below this is a very important that this weather radar operate uh 365 days a year 20 24 hours a day the radar is so critical it's served by a team of dedicated technicians technical Chief Chris cornin has noticed something disturbing we have an alarm on the radar we're indicating some faults which will take the radar down hard it's up to Chris to get to the radar station and manually repair the problem let's uh head up there and take a look at it let's grab our survival gear Parts radios let's just get going the radar station is 10,000 ft up on the snowy Grand Mesa and more than 15 mi from the nearest paved Road No Ordinary vehicle can reach it but the snowcat 2000 XL is no ordinary vehicle weight 8,000 lb engine3 30 horsepower Cummings Diesel speed 20 mph four giant rubber tracks give the snow cat less ground pressure per square inch than a walking man Chris and his team need to reach the radar before the storm makes the mountain Journey impossible and they're running out of daylight from the garage here it's a 50 M trip out across the Mesa and a lot of different kinds of terrain in order to get to the radar s so we really have to rely on them pretty heavily they're expecting about another 12 in of snow so it's important for us to get up and and get the system up and running let's get moving here guys the ultimate allterrain vehicle the snowcat was originally designed by specialist engineering firm Tucker for managing ski slopes but the 200000 XL variant used by Noah has been specially adapted for military and search and rescue operations the snow cat's got uh tracks uh about uh 2 and 1/2 to 3 ft wide and uh it just floats over the top of the snow fairly easily two of the repair crew ride snowmobiles they might be lighter but they can't match the 2000 XL snowcats low ground pressure or its ability to pull loads up to 10,000 lb last year when I had gotten the one of the snowmobiles stuck in the powder I had gotten off the uh snowmobile thinking I would be able to pull it out and um it was like jumping into water I sunk in up to my shoulders the repair team can't afford to get stuck if they're going to fix the radar in time to help thousands of air Travelers but there's trouble on the road ahead we've got a lot of drifting in here any moment you may just turn suddenly and uh you get thrown off the [Music] machine kalaw mine Colorado the mighty walking drag line has to clear 80,000 tons of dirt to uncover the mine's 15 ft thick coal seam but the big diggers won't work unless the operators know the dust is under control unless this water truck shows up soon we're going to have to stop about time you show up get us some water I'll fix this up right the water truck arrives in time to damp down the dust and the massive diggers get back to work as far as the mud and the dust there's a real fine line between not enough water and too much water for Hall truck drivers like Connie archeleta the extra moisture is bad news it's definitely dangerous around here the biggest problem with those big puddles like that that are deep um we have the wheel Motors on both sides of the tires they're electric electricity and water do not mix even shallow water can cause serious problems for the 320 ton Hall trucks which take away the coal revealed by Tracy drag line we have a lot of spring thaw the frost is starting to come through making it treacherous driving for the trucks the potential of trucks sliding into each other during the Tha is pretty significant water slick roads are devastating to Hall trucks um you can roll one over you never want to do damage to your equipment the entire mine depends on these four story high Behemoth trucks if they can't drive the hard work done by Tracy and the walking drag line will count for [Music] nothing Grand Junction Colorado the Noah engineering team is depending on the 2000xl snowcats incredible allterrain Mobility to get them to a vital weather radar our station so they can make repairs before the incoming storm hits let's go load up darkness is fast approaching and we need to kind of get moving here because it gets dark up here fairly early it gets dark around 430 we've got a lot of drifting in here so it's like a roller coaster ride Chris is racing against the clock but putting the pedal to the metal puts the snowcat at serious risk you kind of have to pay attention to the terrain that you're driving across will get uh drifts uh 12 to 15 feet high the thick snow can hide a multitude of dangers where there may be uh some Boulder just hiding under the snow ready to take out a track or something and got to slow down a little bit in order to make it over them so we don't tear up the snow cat as Chris navigates the deep drifts the snow cat's vulnerable underbelly col collides with a hidden Boulder any damage to the bearings or Hydraulics could stop the team in their tracks check the bearings if you can check the bearings on that side I want to have a look at that drive shaft you under here okay this is the halfway point in the journey now they must make the critical decision whether to see it through to its end if we have any leaks any hot bearings anything then we need to we know at this point we're halfway there we got to turn around and go back unless the snow cat can get moving it's going to be a cold Christmas in Grand [Music] Junction CAO mine Colorado the mighty walking drag line has to clear 80,000 tons of rubble by Sundown to uncover the mine's coal seam but operator Tracy has noticed a problem yeah I'm kind of dragging the ropes over here can you come cut the edge for me yes sir I'll be right there the ropes are the 3.2 in thick steel cables which control the 30t wide bucket arm the problem with the ropes dragging on the edge of the spoil where I'm digging is it wears the ropes out and you get premature failure the only way to stop the rope's dragging is to clear Earth from around the base of the drag line with a bulldozer it extends the life when we can cut that edge with the Dozer and keep from dragging the ropes in the rock or the dirt just do the best you can and they'll smooth her out with the bucket this job demands inch perfect control of the Dozer on a steep gradient at the edge of a 50t precipice the consequences of getting it wrong are serious with premature failure in the ropes there's extreme danger the Rope or chain could break and actually come back into the cab of the drag line the man at the Dozer controls is someone Tracy can trust his son Jason I want you yeah that's perfect right there the drag Line's up and running but the smaller busiris 495b shovel that was helping out has been pushed hard when operator Don comes back from his lunch break he gets an unpleasant surprise holy freaking cow what are you doing in my office while the maintenance team work the busiris won't run does this mean I'm going to get to dig today it's going to make my shovel better no we're going to be working on this most of the afternoon and into the night today they've shut my shovel down that's putting a lot of pressure on the drag line the drag Line's really going to have to bust butt to cover for what I don't get done with Don shovel out of the game hitting today's quota is a tall order for Tracy and the drag [Music] line Grand Junction Colorado Chris corvin's team of technicians are stuck halfway through their 15m cross country Journey Across The Grand Mesa Plateau to fix a problem in a vital weather r yeah we need to check uh check this yolk here even though we're in a hurry uh it's still safety issue that we always check this kind of stuff are we good on the bearings on the other side yeah all [Music] right no leaks bearings are good time is ticking away the crew just has to trust that the snow cat will hold together we need to uh push on here pretty fast after another 2 hours driving the radar station appears in the distance but now there's only 3 hours of daylight left to get the job done and get back down the mountain and the storm from the West is just 6 hours away and now that we're here we need to really get moving on this Chris's crew wastes no time running a full diagnostic check on the radar systems to pin down the problem we don't have a lot of time to get this done uh you know anytime it's down it's down and nobody gets the radar so let's try cycling the power on it just see what happens if that fixes it then we get lucky if not we may end up having to spend a little bit of time here but let's give it a try this problem turns out to be a software issue after some computer Wizardry the radar is working again Grand Junction airport can stay in business the alarm has cleared and we are headed back okay thank you but now the three-man crew is stuck 10,000 ft up on the Grand Mesa with just 1 hour of daylight left and a 3-hour journey ahead the Sun is going down so we do need to get out of here as Darkness Falls the temperature plummets it's getting tougher and tougher to actually see the snow drifts I am rather concerned about it if they stay in the radar station they'll be stuck there until the coming storm ends but spending a night on the open mountain side is not an option at night after the sun goes down uh in the winter time it could easily get - 20 -30° below [Music] zero kalaw mine Colorado the Titanic walking drag line has shifted 40,000 tons of dirt but that's only half the day's quota and the big machine is feeling the strain that don't look right the left drag hitch pin is sticking out there ways on the outside I'll set the bucket down maybe you can go out look at it on the way if a pin holding the giant bucket in place works loose the consequences could be catastrophic so Tracy calls in an engineer to assess the damage that keeper shot on the outside there it's not good news the twoot long pins in good shape but the bolt that holds it in place the keeper is shot and replacing it is a big job we got a keeper gone on one of our pins on a drag here H can you P her back on for us 10 for on my way with the deadline looming welder press Mariam is on the scene in minutes get us back in the dirt I'll get you back in the [Music] dirt come check it out I think I've got it to where you won't tear it up again yeah that'll work for now finally the drag Laine is back working at full speed in spite of dust and meltwater the workers of the cola mine have beaten their towering daily quota Grand Junction Colorado thanks to the snowcat the Noah engineering crew has fixed the radar and they're heading home but they still have a tough journey ahead of them then we have a long hourong drive back to uh back to the office yet not to mention if we have to deal with any problems on the way it'd be nice to have daylight to do that it wouldn't be uh a whole lot of fun being caught out here at night so just as the sun sets Chris almost runs into an unexpected Ed obstacle right in this area is where we had a tree fall across uh earlier this year and we had to winch it back out of the way in order to get through but he's not going to need the winch this time this problem is seasonal under cover of Darkness a determined reveler is helping himself to a Christmas tree from the mountain side that guy is really into the Christmas spirit I guess we'll see what happens with the path clear Chris heads for home one guy has his tree for Christmas but thanks to the snow CF the holiday Travelers of Grand Junction have a working Airport
