Hauling Cat D8T

Scrub Puller said: Yair , , , Gotcha CM1995 . . . different stroke for different folks. (grins) Cheers. Click to expand... Its just called logic and the always missing element of common sense. A forward facing blade could hook many things on a narrow road, trees, bridges, cars, big trucks and even rip the machine off the trailer, it is by definition an OVERSIZE LOAD. In this state we always loaded big dozers facing to the rear, it maybe a law here as well.

Nige said: And now I've had chance to think about it all that they achieve is to make an already wide load maybe 18-24" wider IMHO. I personally don't see the sense in that TBH. I'm sure that between all who post on HEF, let alone those who've just posted on this thread, must have moved hundreds of dozers over the years. Let me ask the collective a question. Have anyone here actually experience of another vehicle colliding with a tractor blade while hauling it on the highway..? I know I haven't. Click to expand... Not me but my good friend saw a D8 do flips on I-5 many years ago by Mccord, he never saw what caused it. I guess it landed right side up and had a track off.

50 or 60 years ago near here a lowboy was hauling a TD24 or 25 with the blade forward. His pilot car couldn't stop another vehicle at a bridge so he hugged the steel superstructure to make room. Yep, the dozer ended up sitting in the other lane pointed the other direction. The other vehicle made it through before it happened so he was fine, but the bridge ended up getting replaced with a nice wide concrete one. I've seen pictures of the dozer sitting on the torn up bridge. I never load them blade forward. Keeps the bugs off the front glass and I don't have to stuff a rag in the exhaust, too.

JaredV said: 50 or 60 years ago near here a lowboy was hauling a TD24 or 25 with the blade forward. His pilot car couldn't stop another vehicle at a bridge so he hugged the steel superstructure to make room. Yep, the dozer ended up sitting in the other lane pointed the other direction. The other vehicle made it through before it happened so he was fine, but the bridge ended up getting replaced with a nice wide concrete one. I've seen pictures of the dozer sitting on the torn up bridge. I never load them blade forward. Keeps the bugs off the front glass and I don't have to stuff a rag in the exhaust, too. Click to expand... similar deal on Highway 410 at Little Naches River bridge, a different outcome. The lowboy and dozer and bridge all ended up in the river as the dozer yanked the bridge off the footing.

I hauled em blade to the front for 30+ years, but we always loaded over the back. And, the blade sitting on the neck kept it above the cars which was great buzzing thru the freeways in LA. And, the pilot car was your eyes in the rear.

Pops52 said: I hauled em blade to the front for 30+ years, but we always loaded over the back. And, the blade sitting on the neck kept it above the cars which was great buzzing thru the freeways in LA. And, the pilot car was your eyes in the rear. View attachment 335702 Click to expand... the knucklehead who blew by the pilot was in a pickup camper, if I recall properly. It was 1979 and the lowboy should have steered INTO them but that is not hard wired into us, we steer away. The one who caused it made it across the bridge and got away. I have looked high and low for a picture I remembered from the day. If I pay for a Yakima Herald subscription I could get it, I suppose. It was August 20, 1979. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Washington_state_bridge_failures It was a photo of the bridge and dozer and lowboy in the river bed. That little river is a trickle in August and not much more most of the year. Until the bailey bridge was put up, we went around on the Old River road. Across the river at the bridge just west of Cliffdell, the one that goes to Boulder Cave. Then back across the Bumping River only about a half mile from the downed bridge. The river did some shifting over the years and closed Old River Road permanently. That was a bummer.

Here in the UK,we tend to leave the blades over the rear.

I liked doing lead pilot car stuff. No one could get past me, when a bridge was involved, yeah fun times then.

skyking1 said: the knucklehead who blew by the pilot was in a pickup camper, if I recall properly. It was 1979 and the lowboy should have steered INTO them but that is not hard wired into us, we steer away. The one who caused it made it across the bridge and got away. I have looked high and low for a picture I remembered from the day. If I pay for a Yakima Herald subscription I could get it, I suppose. It was August 20, 1979. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Washington_state_bridge_failures It was a photo of the bridge and dozer and lowboy in the river bed. That little river is a trickle in August and not much more most of the year. Until the bailey bridge was put up, we went around on the Old River road. Across the river at the bridge just west of Cliffdell, the one that goes to Boulder Cave. Then back across the Bumping River only about a half mile from the downed bridge. The river did some shifting over the years and closed Old River Road permanently. That was a bummer. Click to expand... I remember when that happened--I know someone who worked for Leland Hyatt at that time. He might have photos of it, but for some reason bridges along the Naches seem to be plagued with trouble. The one below was 2005 from a crane on a low boy on Naches bridge on I-82, which I think is the last bridge over that stream. *

that was indeed the last bridge and they fixed it. There is a trail that runs under those bridges. You can walk or cycle between Yakima and Selah. That raised concrete monster in the middle is the hyperspace bypass they put in to solve those massive rush hour backups on the mainline. . It did help.

And as is that bridge would be safe for normal small vehicles. But I bet it was closed for a long time?

chidog said: And as is that bridge would be safe for normal small vehicles. But I bet it was closed for a long time? Click to expand... Not really, repairs were made with a lane open.

If I can, I always face the exhaust to the back, because I'm too lazy to put a bag on. Grader and excavator unfortunately always face front.

Leave it idle.

Truck Shop said: Leave it idle. Click to expand... I do sometimes, bit it's illegal. Only issue I have ever had is with a loader. It was a NewHolland with touchy steering. I could see it jerk side to side as the bumps snapped the wheel. It had a starting issue, so I just stopped looking in the mirrors. I don't know how picky they would be. Steering bar is supposed to be locked as well, but I never use it either. A lot of times if I am not going far, and the machine is not an overhang, I won't even chain up. I chanced a 350 Linkbelt one Saturday at the C+D site. It's a back road, only a short drive. Never again. It moved on me. Not much, but you could see it. There is a 90 degree turn just before our shop, I took it pretty slow.

Van Dyke moved the 400 Komatsu a few miles for us on the Puyallup river job and did not put a chain on it. Not my circus, not my monkeys. The tracks were in bad shape too. They did grip that lowboy nicely, but there were several cracked links at the time.

skyking1 said: Van Dyke moved the 400 Komatsu a few miles for us on the Puyallup river job and did not put a chain on it. Not my circus, not my monkeys. The tracks were in bad shape too. They did grip that lowboy nicely, but there were several cracked links at the time. Click to expand... I would never do that on a heavy traffic road, or on a wet deck, and after that 350 moving, never a machine that size. I mean common sense should tell me that the chains themselves are hardly on the deck as we never use the side extenders on the trailer. But like they say. F around and find out.

If-I say if a accident occurs, whether load is or isn't secured DOT will check.

Truck Shop said: If-I say if a accident occurs, whether load is or isn't secured DOT will check. Click to expand... exactly that. It was his call and his excavator once it was on the deck.

Always the driver's responsibility. Even if someone else put it on and chained it down. You need to check and make changed if need be, or refuse to drive. I delivered s load of roofing. The driver picked it up on Montreal. Brought it to the yard in New Brunswick. Had a wedding to go to, so I pulled it the rest of the way. It was a tapped load. So I thought nothing of it. When I untarped, not one single strap. I mentioned it to him. Said he did it all the time with roofing. If I had been checked, or anything happened, it would have been my problem