American Loggers

[barklee]

I have a question that has been bothering me.... They say that the loads they are pulling are 400,000lbs. First of all, those trailers look like 50 ton units becase they are tri-axle. Second of all, if they can pull that much how could they get a permit for those loads. They are divisible. That being said, is it possible????

 

[Mack185]

I have a question that has been bothering me.... They say that the loads they are pulling are 400,000lbs. First of all, those trailers look like 50 ton units becase they are tri-axle. Second of all, if they can pull that much how could they get a permit for those loads. They are divisible. That being said, is it possible????

Well I couldn't tell you what there trailers are rated at but as far as permits, the roads are all private so they don't need them. Hell you wouldn't even need a CDL to drive on them I don't think.

 

[Autocar]

I noticed the truck rear ends seem much bigger then conventional rears plus the tires looked larger also. But then again my eyes arn't what they use to be Maybe there built like those KW's that are up in B.C. and Alaska

 

[dist3]

I could be wrong but isn't the road they travel a private road maintained by the Pelletier's.

 

[barklee]

i think alot of the roads they travel are private but it seems as if they are on public roads at some point. I did see the rear ends are much larger on a couple of their trucks. Never seen a Western star set up that heavy

 

[DirectTech]

when they are driving on the paved road it is still private no weight limits, that kw has plantiere drives on the rears, in some of the pics on the wall you can see a picture of the triple trailer that they hauled with a big v8 mack in mid to late 80's

 

[PSDF350]

Thats paper company woods up there hundreds of thousands of acers heck half of maine.

 

[adam21584]

I think the biggest land owner in minnesota is potlatch.

 

[mooseheadme]

they are hauling over 400 thousand, each of those off road trailers can haul over 200 thousand. there are no weight restrictions on the golden road cause its privately owned.

 

[DirectTech]

After some research I was able to find the picutres that I wanted, one of the triple and one of the double, hope you like it. when you meet on of the 12ft wide trailers going about 60mph you really wish that you had another pair of shorts.

 

[grapple1]

those are impressive loads

 

[barklee]

Woah! not me.......no way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[atgreene]

When you meet one on The Golden Road you look for a hole in the brush to hide. It's some impressive to see them coming and watch them roll by at 60 mph.

The Golden Road runs roughly 100 miles from Millinocket to St. Zachary in Quebec. It's paved for 15, maybe 20 miles? from Millinocket, from there it's gravel. There are hundreds (thousands?) of miles of private road in Northern Maine. The roads owners maintain them and in the case of the Golden Road, it is gated and requires visitors to pay a fee to enter.

There was an article in a trucking mag a few years ago that covered the specs on The Pelletier Fleet. Interesting reading. Everything is speced heavy and for rough work. They do it up right.

BTW, on edit, at the end of the Golden Road in Millinocket they cross Rt. 11 to get to the mill, but it's still private. They also have a fleet of trucks running all over Northern maine on regular roads moving wood products. You see their trucks all over rt. 11.

Well worth the trip up if you have never been.

 

[DirectTech]

The best part of being a road mechanic is that we have cust. that work up in that region, and you don't have to pay, been all around that region and it is great, one of the best part sights iI have seen

 

[atgreene]

The best part of being a road mechanic is that we have cust. that work up in that region, and you don't have to pay, been all around that region and it is great, one of the best part sights iI have seen

I've camped all over that region. My wife and I love Lilly Bay and Canada Falls. I try to get out toward the St. Zacharie end of the Golden Road to visit the maple operations. Long ride, but worth it. Someday I'm going to go up there in the spring and visit them when things are running.

 

[STEVEGODSEYJR]

In the 1 st picture with the triple trailers, the truck looks a little heavier on the passenger side. Wonder if they ever had any roll overs while hauling that much? It just seems impossible that the rig had enough guts to pull that much weight. (200 tons)

 

[linrick1]

Hi all, I ran the Golden Road for a few years in the late 80's early 90's. Back then we hauled spruce and fir down out of the woods to the pulp mill in Millinocket, now they haul all the wood north into Canada. There were three big outfits working back then, H.O. Bouchard, Gardner, and Pelletiers, plus a bunch of smaller contractors. I would regularly haul 120k+ on my highway truck, 400k was the road limit for doubles and we ran way over that quite often. Pay was percentage of the load so we used to put some pretty good packages on. I quit running the Golden Road and went to Alaska when the bottom fell out of the paper market and they closed the mill . Rick

 

[Paystar]

How does that work when they haul into Canada on a bush road.....is there some kind of border/customs point there?

 

[bigbob]

Milton Cat is going to be holding some workshops in April and some of the Pelletiers brothers will be there. I might go just to meet them!

 

[Mack185]

Did they get rid of Bonecrusher? He wasn't my favorite driver but he used to be in dang near every episode, haven't seen him yet this season.

Also, the only regular mechanic I see is Donnie. They must go through a lot of mechanics because I almost never see the same guy twice. Donnie seems like a helluva mechanic if he could get his ass to work.