Recently in Construction equipment Category

'Hold on Bert..I think you've put a bit too much in the back mate....!" I have 'Brother G' to thank for this (which has come via 'The Boss'  What happens when a Cat dumper decides to do the splits...I thinki it's a 797 which a quite a BIG one..and that's as much as I know on the matter now click through here for more

You might well be wondering what this bloke is looking up at...and Biglorryblog can tell you. It's the massive boom of the wonderful Putzmeister 70Z concrete pump which is the biggest in the world and it needs a thumping great Kenworth five-axle tractor to haul it too! And thanks to Tony Pain at Daf Trucks here's a link to the Putzmeister website where you can see it in action. Prepare to be impressed...Biglorryblog was! And click through for more details.

http://www.putzmeister.com/about/video_library/index.cfm?v=5

Now arrange these words into a well-known sentence " Chew, off, than, you, more, can, bitten..."  These two pictures were sent to me by Jerry Burley--they've obviously been doing the rounds on the internet so why not Biglorryblog too? And click through for one more..

Tim Cotton has responded to the recent blog which showed a Welti Furrer truck (I think the original post was from martin Phippard). Anyroadup he's sent me this picture and says: "Brian, I saw the recent reference to Welti Furrer in BLB. Here's one of their Mercs at Hillhead in 2007. It came to deliver a huge crusher along with another similar outfit from RISI, also of Switzerland. Tim."

Likes like a Powerliner 2 8x4 tractor with the high-roof Eurocab up front...

Going uphill the truck hooks into the main grid and gets a boost uphill and coming down it hooks into the grid and through regen braking puts electricity back into the grid. Check the tone of the turbos when the grid kicks in.

Get me a crocodile sandwich... And make it snappy! And we'll be seeing more of this little fella in a short while. Yes this could only be another 'Only in Africa' story from Biglorryblog's 'Good Man in Africa' Jerry Burley who says: "Brian, you may wonder how oil companies around the globe decide just where to build pads when drilling for ye olde black golde."

JB continues: "Some say seismic is used, others allegedly use a naked witch with divining rods at midnight or similar, fiendishly clever, modern means. Well, we've come up with our own cunning, cutting-edge plan to save millions that we recon will work just fine."

Now here's a fne looking machine! Biglorryblog's 'Good man in Africa' Jerry Burley is back after a break and says: "I noticed with interest a mention of one of these recently on a BLBlog post. We have recently disposed of one such unit ourselves, which as you may be able to see from the plate spent a (difficult) period in Southern (New) Sudan before returning to the relative order of Uganda."

Apparently, says Jerry, the Eager Beaver has "Very low capacity in terms of lift (well under 2 tonnes I think they were rated at) but quite handy off road for small loads and could even pull a small trailer between work sites and of course bits are still relatively easy to find - even in Africa! Regards, J" Now click through here for a couple more shots of it.

I've just spent the last couple of days driving Astra articulated dump trucks in Italy - which as you can imagine was rather good fun. These Iveco-powered 40-tonners blast through the countryside with all the subtelty of a nuclear bomb! Anyway, more about that later.

What I want to know is the identity of these curious 4x4 trucks I spotted in the quarry. The badge on the front says 'Trekking'. Any ideas? Fiats maybe?

Browsing my way through YouTube I came acros this rather interesting clip of a big Liebherr mining truck--which was exactly what i was looking for as I seem torecall the Liebherr is the biggest dumptruck in the world. For all those Cat lovers I believe the Cat is the biggest diesel-powered dumper, the Liebherr being diesel-electric. And if you dosagree by all means post a comment! Anyway watching the above clip I thought 'this all seems quite tame...' until I realised something wasn't quite right---the wheels weren't turning but it was still going down the road at quite a lick! In fact following a downpour this dumper was actually sliding down the track in the Hunter Valley....

How about this for a biggun? Biglorryblog's 'Good Man in Africa' Jerry Burley is obviously in a happy mood... "Brian, Good News, Good News!" he tells me. "My camera is back where un-wrongfully belongs ie with me. Happy days are here again as Allard is back from Dubai, indirectly, and the cheque book has been surgically removed from him. And in said fotoapparat, lurking amongst his Mombasa beach photos - which are better suited to other types of website - were a few gems you may enjoy." And off we go for a selection of shots from the Dubai Construction Machinery and Truck Auction...

"Pictures rather than rhetoric it is this time, " adds JB. "Of interest embedded amongst all the other yellow kit was this Komatsu grader, the world's largest dozer I have been led to believe, catalogue details as follows:-1998 Komatsu D575A-2 Crawler Tractor S/N 10035c/w 8mx4m blade, 4-bbl MS ripper, A/C ROPS cab, 885mm tracks, 140 Ton operating weight, 1150Hp, Indicated H/M: 7800hrs with complete service records available. How's that for a toy? And look at the size of the blade for God's sake - its 14ft wide! I understand it has to be broken up into several components to move it and clearly would require a crane to re-assemble it at the other end. Excellent photo of the WWA staff clinging on to it indicating how big it was!"

"Meanwhile I quote Allard who says: '60 big dozers starting up together and rumbling past the auction dais gives you a small insight into Armageddon'. It made a not-inconsiderable USD700k. Pricing was generally "mixed", as was the quality of what was on offer. A good year 2000 D10 making USD80k, followed five minutes by a similar age/condition D8... Which does 180k? Hello? It can only be the offensive size of a D10, the cost of running the thing with its big Cat motor and the difficulty of moving it."

And as for the trucks, how about a 1994 heavy haul Powerliner tractor, well used, for USD 40,000! Did they cost that new in '94? Probably not much more. And they found stiff bidding and welcome new owners."

And here's some more Powerliners to go with...love the big tyres JB...

Cabs look immaculate--but in the desert heat and no salt on the roads (errr...what roads?) they should do I guess...

Meanwhile JB says: "You will forgive me for the Autocar sale board photo, not just to show this is actually what it made but also to demonstrate the efficiency of their electronic auction system."

And here it is... And if I recall correctly Andrew Cooper won the coffee too for the closest guess to the final going price! Now click through here for a passing parade of diggers and excavators! And some C500 Kenworths!

Jerry Burley has sent me this latest status report from his man at the Dubai Truck, Plant and (various other bits of) Machinery auctions in Dubai....JB tells me: "Salaams Biglorryblog, from Allard that is (I spent yesterday in stinking hot Kampala unloading yellow kit and a C500.....any interest?), currently floating around the Dubai Auctions like 'Little Lord Fauntleroy' on a magic carpet, spending money he doesn't have and wearing out my camera!"

"Anyway, yesterday, the now-globally famous, thanks to BLB, GMC-Autocar (the only one I can remember ever seeing and I've certainly never seen one in Africa) went under the hammer in support of the Great BLB African Christmas Coffee Competition! Makes it sound sooooo glam, doesn't it darling?"

"Under intense phone and live bidding, between one chap with a tea towel on his barnet and his guide dog's shadow it seems, it made the startling sum of USD4500, so not sure who winds up with the packets of heart pumper. We put USD2500 on it as a reserve, as I only wanted the thing as a yard shunter, so this is a bit more than we anticipated/hoped."

"Quote Allard in his flowing antipodean brogue: 'Not sure what species was previously living in the cab, cobber, but it certainly chewed it up.' [Do they REALLY say 'Cobber' Jerry? I thought it was only Chips Rafferty in the films...BLB]. "Probably a Greater Spotty Beaver would be my educated guess........or whatever the colloquial equivalent may be."

Jerry continues: "A couple of photos are included of it just before it went through, plus one 'live' from the heat of battle when it was causing such a surge of punter interest, under the stony gaze of the auctioneer. It started, stopped and went round at least one corner - what more do you need for 4.5k I guess? So, the Autocar stays in the Middle East, and Allard moved on to fight another auction battle with the bidding blind school, winning one that I hope you will enjoy hearing about next week. Regards Jerry."

Meanwhile click through here for an update on Middle East Autocar prices from an Australian reader!

Word reaches me that those fine folk at Cotswold Roller Hire are replacing their 10-year old Andover Trailers step frame semi with a bespoke-built tri-axle semi-sloping step-frame low-loader trailer with beavertail. In seems the company opted for the semi-sloping design to make loading and unloading its fleet of road rollers that little bit easier, while the new SFSL40 trailer also benefis from a low profile neck with 1m wide hydraulic power toe ramps offering a hydraulic fold- forward function, to minimise aerodynamic drag and maximise fuel economy.

Neville Thomas, managing director of Evesham-based Cotswold Roller Hire, tells Biglorryblog: "In recent years we've been using the neck space on our trailers much more often when carrying a full load, and the semi-sloping design lends itself to loading these heavy machines, particularly up onto the neck. It replaces an AT trailer originally delivered in June 1998, during which time it's clocked up in excess of 600,000 km, delivering self- propelled rollers across the UK. It's been such a reliable workhorse that we're reluctant to retire it from the fleet, so we've asked Andover to overhaul it and return it to service in another of our depots," he adds.

Jerry Burley, Biglorryblog's new-found mate in Uganda and the bloke from BMS Minerals has really come up with an absolute corker of a story this time--how to build a bush runway!  

Jerry starts off: "It's funny how countries sometimes develop specific 'cultures' with equipment, the same as with food, drink, dress style etc. In East Africa, and most particularly Uganda, we really only have two sizes of tipper truck in use; little four-tonne, single axle Toyota Dyna-sized vehicles and the bigger, 10 metre cubed, double diff format. Virtually no 8-tonners (such as Bedford's MK/ML or equivalent) and no 30-tonne six or eight wheel variants in private hands (some big roads projects occasionally use 8x4's or double diff horse and tipping trailer 40/60 tonne units).  There is no shortage though of the 20-tonners, mostly second hand Isuzu's (although there is a FUSO or two lurking around in there somewhere and Tata are making inroads with budget priced, brand new 14 tonne units), in 330 or V10 (Japanese-spec)  designation. We use a lot of hired Jap double diff tippers in our business, including some a few months back on the little job featured in these photos."

We received a call from a major client that they wanted a bush airfield building in Butiaba in the remote north-west of the country, able to cope with anything up to a C130 Hercules (if necessary), and anyway a Cessna 208 Caravan as a minimum, so it had to be 1300 metres long and with a surface 150mm deep of properly-compacted gravel.

"Next we've got to fence it fully to keep kids, cattle, antelope, and the odd hippo out, include plane and car parking areas, cement stabilise the gravel where the plane lands and turns on the strip, plus build an additional 1km of surfaced access road from the 'main' road. Etc. You get the not very thrilling picture. ..." Well it sounds anything but mundane to Biglorryblog Jerry!"

Jerry adds: "Oh yes, there was a small caveat thrown in---'Oh, and by the way, you have 4 weeks to complete all works and hand over,  before our project needs to use it...............'---there's always a catch!"

Now click through here to see how it all ended up.... 

Question: how do you dig a hole when there are cables or pipes in the ground and you don't want to hit them? Well speaking as one who has dug through a power cable (in my short-lived career as a fence erector) Biglorryblog is rather taken by ADP Group's www.adpgroupltd.co.uk air-based digging solutions which should make excavation work that much more precise.  

Its Vector HDD vacuum excavators and the hand-held AIR-SPADE^R provide complementary techniques for tackling a wide range of ground conditions, from porous and semi-porous substrates, to impervious soils and clay.  And according to ADP they both provide: "substantially safer - and in many applications, faster - ground excavation compared with conventional excavators and hand-dig methods: pick axes, shovels, mechanical buckets. And by using a high pressure air-stream to dislodge and dissipate materials, they pose zero risk of damage or fracture to buried services, such as electricity cables, gas mains, drainage pipes, fibre-optics, etc."

New for 2009, it the latest 35hp Vector HDD650, an even lighter weight addition to the Vector range of compact trailer-, skid-, or truck-mounted vacuum excavators for digging and disposal of spoil. It has an adjustable 16" HG vacuum pull, 650 cfm airflow, and 4000 psi water jet for loosening hard compaction and conveying spoil, and is light enough to be towed by a Land Rover or mounted on a 3.5-tonne truck.

And this is what it looks like when it's 'dug' a hole...neat eh? The ergonomic, hand-held AIR-SPADE^R 2000 uses a stream of pressurised air to penetrate and dislodge most types of soil, leaving non-porous objects, most importantly, buried utilities, unharmed.

ADP boss Adrian Page tells me: "Although vacuum excavation and compressed air spades are relatively new concepts to the UK, the earliest versions were developed in the US some 50 years ago where they are the accepted method for digging slip trenches, trial pits and other small-to-medium volume soil excavations. Over the past 3 years, we have been expanding our safe-dig range, increasing sales and hire, and working hard to raise awareness of the generic benefits of air-based digging within the UK utilities and construction industries."

Now click through here for the techie-stuff....