mrsmackpaul

Drama Llama I love it Happy trails Milo Paul

Joey bat flue ended up been not as big a drama as we were told it would be I dunno the whole worlds lost the plot or I'm just to old Anyway when it all goes pare shaped we still have dogs Miss Molly reckons the central heating I finally got going is all the go for her ageing back legs Paul

Bob I can tell you they most definitely did have the E9 over there It just happened to coincide with a family holiday to NZ that the 50 years of Mack in NZ was on, pure coincidence, I swear it was I was stunned that even though Kiwi Macks look almost the same as Australian ones they are definitely custom built for NewZealand Well worth jumping on the kero kite for a look one day if you get a chance Paul

A couple more piccies from the trailers working days Back a boiler section in under boiler number 2 on B station This is one of two B models still working in the 90s building these power stations Looks like it has a Lincoln welder on the back Dragging boiler sections in Loy Yang has some of the biggest boilers in the world This is because they burn low grade brown coal, there's enough proven coal to supply Loy Yang for 570 years but left greens have convinced the poxy governments to pull the pin in about 10 - 15 years time Bloody greenies Paul

Here's a photo I found of Loy Yang power station getting built The blue B model was one of two I remember been used on the two trailers shifting the precipitators in sections Doubt it is one of the trailers on the back but I dunno Paul

Well done, the chassis rails are a big job apparently, I have never done them I gather it's a gal cab, given the age, hopefully rust is pretty limited Great work Paul

Mecho I was thinking yesterday as U was toodling along in my old bucket of bolts Just how impressive this really is, a truck nearly 45 years young, the float 55 years young, doing a job no one else would even do Apparently a lot of people have looked at shifting this trailer but it is all to hard The people I shifted for I have known since they were children, of known the lady that I delivered it for, for even longer, she was our vet on our dairy farm All of them good people, we aren't rich, we aren't flash, we are just the average Joe trying to get along in life The couple approached me last November about this, "So do you think yah can do it" My answer, "sure, piece of cake" No idea if I could but thought, why not ? But a truck nearly 45 years old doing a difficult job that no one else would even attempt That to me is pretty impressive She's a good old bucket of bolts that proves that these Macks in my slightly biased and uneducated opinion are the very best of the best ever made, hands down without a doubt, they really are that good Paul

No can looky in Australia Paul

Oh and the video's all got a bit mucked up Seeyah Paul

That second bridge is a lifting bridge to fit paddle steamers under on the Murray river The trailer is going to have a house put on it This area floods every so often (10 - 20 years or so) and as such the local governments are making it hard for people to build houses So this will allow a house to be there that can be towed out of the way in floods Over the coming weeks I'll get the house on the trailer, get the trailer roughly were they want it and that's the end of my involvement Paul

A bit here and there all adds up Paul

Dunno how much of this dribble you wanna see So I back it in, Mal jumps on the Traxcavator I unchain the load and chain it onto the Traxcavator Mal has his grandchildren as helpers We then drag the trailer back so George can put wheels and axles on it over the coming week For me, doing this stuff is fantastic fun, could of done with out the flat tyre though But helping out good people with good mate Mal, life really doesn't get much better Will report more in a week or so Happy days everyone Paul

Next was crossing state borders Another bridge, fairly tight, mqybe 8 inches each side then rolled thru town thru the back door and back onto a main HWY in Australia before turning left, a really really sharp left Pilot vehicles blocke the HWY and 3 or 5 point turn was done Then a very tight drive And breath in some more Some helpers arrived in all shapes and sizes So we shift stuff about to make things a bit easier to get in Then continue on things are getting really really tight and all I have to do is back it maybe a few hundred feet, no room to swing so it takes a few goes then this happens Mrs Mack finds a set of diamond harrows lying in the grass BUGGER ME So I now have a flat tyre Not to worry, we quickly change the flat

Well woke up all bright eyed and bushy tailed Headed on over to kick Mrs Mack in the guts Rolled out onto the road to await the pilot vehicles Put air into the float tyres and checked lights and flags and normal stuff The pilots arrived, we had a quick yack, then launched it Then 30 km of gravel and dirt Then stopped to check chains etc for hitting the main road And into it Pauly boy, roal that coal !! Some more secluded back roads but all bitumen Then a very very, hang on capital letters VERY NARROW BRIDGE ultra tight, tight as fishes ass, pilot vehicles and Mal were bloody brilliant "Back up, 2 inches to the left" "Pull right" "STOP" "Back up again" Anyway you get the drift The armco railing was squealing and kissing the load at times but we made it Mal snapped this as I was exiting the bridge, Mal reckons there was a bit going on amd he was a tad busy to take happy snaps Damage to the load

Perfect now, but the bloods running to my head, to much standing upside down lol Paul

They look good, but are they upside down ? The reason I ask is every trailer or truck I have owned the lid opens down not up Gives a hand bench to sit stuff on while searching thru the box and you don't hit your head, the light shines in there for searching about Don't get me wrong, those are sharp looking boxes and I maybe wrong but it appears these hinge up opening Paul

Hippy when I first saw the trailer I mentioned to the bloke Im shifting it for, "I know this trailer" "I reckon it was from when we built Loy Yang power station" The bloke buying said it was a Telecom trailer for shifting something Anyway the blokes farm its on rolled past as we were loading and it is one of the trailers I thought it was for building Loy Yang power station, apparently it collected a bridge on the way up to the Riverina and stuffed the bridge and damaged the trailer Anyway we loaded the trailer, the loader on the farm can lift a corner at a time This trailer really is massive The beams are huge and theres 4 of them There's a lot of pudding on the ass end of the float, the tyres have a wee bulge But it's on So we hooked the loader on lifted a as much as it could, lift to the limit with crowd all the way back, the crowd forward, the lift a bit more, then crowd back The front tyres were a tad bulging Then back the float under a bit until a beam was catching on the float by about 6 inches Then out with jacks and blocks of wood Jacked up until it was clear, then sat that trailer on blocks just above the front of the axles Then winched it and pulled it forward of the blocks of wood Then more winching, then winching and pushing from the back until the front of the trailer was near the rear of the goose neck Then I unlocked the goose neck and left it attached to the prime mover, trailer brakes on ans pulled forward until the goose neck was stretched out flat, then winched about 3 or 4 feet more until the Mack started vibrating abd jumping about and the winch stopped So Mal took the loader around the back to give it a shove while I winched We pushed the Mack and float but the trailer in the back wouldn't budge I studied hard what was happening and noticed the king had put a sizable dent in the goose neck with weight of it, so we lift the front of the trailer and chucked a couple of 4 x 4 bits of wood under the grease plate and winched it on Then folded the goose neck up and locked it in Chained it down and pulled the back axles off the trailer so the front axle can pulled to give us clearance Called to see if the pilot vehicles can come today, 7.00 am the next morning Thats fine Chucked the other axles on top Dunno how heavy it is but its bloody heavy So with the tyres off we are just over 5 meters not saying how much over but from hub to hub we are about 17 feet Guessing its 55 - 60 feet long and weight is at a guess, between 15 - 20 ton or 33,000 lbs - 44000 lbs, our ton is different than a U.S. ton Anyway Mrs Mack is tucked up away for the night Shift it about 60 mile in the morning Paul

That I don't know I feel it was a off highway trailer built for transporting big things around a construction site Maybe as components were built up on some industrial construction site and then shifted into place The blokes farm it is on feels it was built by Telecom (Australias telecommunications company) for shifting towers or big exchanges once they were built I think we are just guessing at the moment Paul

Will take all advise and ideas Swishman Tah muchly, I'll report back tomorrow night Paul

Yes Mech, the trucks look similar at first glance but after a few moments thats about all our trucks have in common with American trucks 600, 320 coolpower with a 12 speed and 44s in the rear It's a lot lighter duty than my truck, chassis rails are shallower and so on But is still a good performer From many moons ago Paul

Nah Joey Don't ready to much into, we trade insults with our best mates all the time, it's like showing them how much they mean to us Paul

Thats a big bunk, I haven't seen one that big on a Australian Scania Paul