mrsmackpaul

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

Close Geoff, we call you all Seppo's A bit of Cockney slang that has been Australianized even further Seppo is short for septic tank, which is Cockney for Yank So to most Australians over the age of 40 would know that a Seppo is a American from the U.S of A Most people under 40 have grown up in very politically correct world Also Australia has lost a lot of its identity in the new globalised world that is apparently gunna be good for us all Paul

Load number two Sitting in a paddock waiting It really is 17 feet wide and at least 60 feet long It isn't as big or even close to as big as the trailer attached to the big Mack Two normal bogie axle assemblies underneath, side by side Farmer reckons he has a loader than might sort of lift one end The rest is blocks of wood and jacks and winching I'll be living the dream, I really will As a apprentice there was a sign in the work shop that read something like this "We the unwilling have been doing the unbelievable with so little for so long we now attempt to do the impossible with nothing Kinda how I do everything, get into it and have a crack, I can only make a mess or succeed Paul

Well it's on like Donkey Kong now It's begun Mecho So we don't have flash rotator jiggers but rather we have what have at hand So we grab Mals Traxcavator, Case 1150 Lifts heaps First said gudday to Opera , aka "the black bitch" Mal bunged the tipper back on her in recent times Chucked the Traxcavator on and run it up to the unload site Then drop it off And head for home Phase one complete This trailer is bigger than Ben Hur I am gunna shift Or at least try and shift, it will be the second biggest size thing I have ever shifted Widest was 24 feet x 50 or 55 feet Will see what happens, might end up a complete cluster Paul

It came in a annual subscription for the "Weekly Times" which is farmers weekly news paper in Victoria and the lower half of New South Wales I'll ask Mum the name of the book, it's all about dog stories Mum replied Joey I had to Google a what a Australian Shepherd is, they are a American dog from California ?? A funny old world https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Shepherd Kelpie are probably the most widely used sheep dog in Australia,they can scale vertical walls 15 feet high, I think record is nearer 17 feet They are long and lanky and tough, really tough like a blue cattle dog so are well suited to the Australian farm life Kelpies are on the cover of the book, Mum has a very old ex farm Kelpie that has fully retired inside Paul

Chihuahua for Mack ute/pick up Kelpie as pictured mid size/ vocational sized Surpose a Rottweiler for the heavy duty jobs Paul

What's the current state of affairs with the new ride Any luck yet ?? Paul