Hauling Cat D8T

RonG said: I used to load over the side using the snowbanks for "ramps".It can be a hoot no matter how you handle it with the snowballs clinging to your track pads etc.Just be sure that you are tied down good with chains and binders plus binders from the track pads to the lowbed.Ron G Click to expand... We did the same with the 3T D7s and the 2U D8s. Couple of 4' blocks with one end on a 12 X 12 block at each track to make a ramp and up you went turning it 90 degrees once it flopped down on the lowboy to go down the road. The old lowbow did not have ramps on either end. Can't remember ever tieing them down in them days either when moving locally.

nowing75 said: Oxbow can I ask what weights you have on the tractor. Problem with our truck is the neck is to short to put enough weight on the steer axel. Click to expand... The picture is a little deceiving from the angle that it was taken at, but we have two holes in the neck of the lowboy for the kingpin and use the front one. The center of the fifth wheel is directly over the front drive axle, and with the tag down (depending on how much air is in the tag air bags, I can adjust as needed) we can get 12,300 lbs. or so on the steer axle. I have about another 6" or so of fifth wheel slide going forward, but the clearance between the back of the tractor and the lowboy gets a bit close, and the steer gets too heavy for my liking. This outfit weighs about 41,000 lbs. empty, and with the D8T we were 137,000 lbs. +/- gross if I remember correctly. I didn't scale this load particular load out, but from experience I should have been about 12,300 on steering, 11,000 on tag, 49,000 on drives, and about 65,000 on the trailer. I did have to get a special permit for Montana (where the photo was taken) but I can haul this under my annual permit in Idaho on the majority of highways and the interstate. The old tractor is pretty well set up for this with an 18 speed, 46K 2 speed rear ends (4.11/5.29) and Hendrickson pad suspension, and handles the load pretty well.

Scrub Puller said: Yair . . . (Big grin) Those tractors loaded *** backwards look strange to my eyes Oxbow. Nice rig BTW . . . all of it's nice. Cheers. Click to expand... State law here in Alabama requires the blade to be facing the rear. It's a nice DOT fine if you put the blade forward.

Yair , , , Gotcha CM1995 . . . different stroke for different folks. (grins) Cheers.

CM1995 said: State law here in Alabama requires the blade to be facing the rear. It's a nice DOT fine if you put the blade forward. Click to expand... Interesting CM, for the safety reason I assume?

Interesting CM, for safety reason I assume? Click to expand... I would imagine so, maybe the same "safety" reasons as applied to the lame brain who managed to bring a mill chimney down on his head. That was in AL too ........ https://www.heavyequipmentforums.com/showthread.php?55824-What-could-possibly-happen

Oxbow said: Interesting CM, for the safety reason I assume? Click to expand... After posting I thought to myself that this was a dumb question; why else would the DOT require this. One would think that that would be a national law though, and up until CM mentioned this I had not heard of it.

Yair . . . "Safety" is a relative concept . . . is it any safer to hit the back of the blade or the front of it? As mentioned up thread I always thought it best to get the blade up nice and high on the goose neck. One of the issues we always had when roading scrapers in traffic was folks becoming mesmerised and driving into the side of the machine . . . quite apart from the fact the driver was on the wrong side. I always suggested to our police escorts the machines should run in the closest to the centre lane when on a divided highway but I never could convince them. Cheers.

"Safety" is a relative concept . . . is it any safer to hit the back of the blade or the front of it? Click to expand... It all depends which direction you're coming from at the time Scrub ......

In the U.K. it is legal to put 2 D8's -D9's what ever on a trailer with the blades facing any direction as long as both the tractors go from point A to point B, the axle loading limits would need to be correct also the road speed might be set low on the permit, its also not un-common for tractor scraper outfits to be moved in 1 hit like a D8K and 463. tctractors

Scrub Puller said: Yair . . . "Safety" is a relative concept . . . is it any safer to hit the back of the blade or the front of it? Click to expand... Scrub I think the powers that be think it's safer to slide down the push arm instead of being snagged by an end bit.:beatsme In reality, no matter how the dozer is positioned, a passenger car colliding with a rig transporting an 8 isn't going to fair well..

This of course assumes that the impact is coming from the opposing direction of traffic. I someone hits you from the rear.... well hopefully they aren't going quite as fast as oncoming traffic would be.

old-iron-habit said: Quite often we had to load a certain way to make the correct axle weight work out. Click to expand... That's what I was thinking.

CM1995 said: State law here in Alabama requires the blade to be facing the rear. It's a nice DOT fine if you put the blade forward. Click to expand... Wow. Wish I'd have read more before posting. Law requiring you to put it on a trailer a certain way???? Legislature was WAY over the top on that one!

Scrub Puller said: Yair . . . (Big grin) Those tractors loaded *** backwards look strange to my eyes Oxbow. Nice rig BTW . . . all of it's nice. Cheers. Click to expand... We generally haul with blade forward on fix neck single drop . Not always but most of the time . Blade forward in my case puts more weight on the truck drives and just seems to work better . Not to mention my neighbors appreciate not having there mail box knocked over . https://www.heavyequipmentforums.co...l-truck-(Semi)&p=506261&viewfull=1#post506261 Agree with Scrub , that is a nice rig Oxbow , I like it !:thumbsup Most contractors in my area load the same way with a drop deck detachable trailer . With the blade to the rear of the trailer you get some use out of the rear view mirrors .

Oxbow said: This of course assumes that the impact is coming from the opposing direction of traffic. I someone hits you from the rear.... well hopefully they aren't going quite as fast as oncoming traffic would be. Click to expand... Oxbow I think it's the gov't assuming they know more than the people that do it everyday.

It's amazing how different things can be state to state. In PA we can haul our D8's in one piece, but if we ship them to Maryland, Delaware, or Virginia, the blade has to come off. When the blade stays on, they are usually rear facing and we have blade guards on them as well, ya know, just in case.

JimBruce42 said: It's amazing how different things can be state to state. In PA we can haul our D8's in one piece, but if we ship them to Maryland, Delaware, or Virginia, the blade has to come off. When the blade stays on, they are usually rear facing and we have blade guards on them as well, ya know, just in case. View attachment 145562 Click to expand... Hmmm, blade guards, I have never heard nor seen such a thing until now. Nice outfit JimBruce!

Yair . . . You gotta protect 'em Oxbow , you don't want that blade getting dinged up. (wry grin) Are you serious JimBruce42?. . . I would love to see a close up picture. Cheers.

Yair . . . . Well there you go, Google truly is your friend. Cheers.