• Thank you for visiting HeavyEquipmentForums.com! Our objective is to provide industry professionals a place to gather to exchange questions, answers and ideas. We welcome you to register using the "Register" icon at the top of the page. We'd appreciate any help you can offer in spreading the word of our new site. The more members that join, the bigger resource for all to enjoy. Thank you!

Cat 350

Steve Frazier

Founder
Staff member
Joined
Oct 30, 2003
Messages
6,599
Location
LaGrangeville, N.Y.
I passed a complete Cat 350 being transported on the interstate today. Looked like a whole lotta machine so I looked it up, 108,000 pounds. 10 wheel Kenworth tractor and a 3 axle lowboy trailer. No escorts. He was moving right along at 55mph. I'm not real familiar with heavy hauling but it strikes me that there should be more axles under that load? Your thoughts?
 

Pops52

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2016
Messages
293
Location
Penn Valley, CA
Occupation
Worn out lowbed driver "retired"
Steve, I'm guessing that fellow was doing what we out here would call "bootlegging" unless the counterweight was off and then it would be close. Here's a new 350 I just took off a railcar in Guadalupe, CA early 90's. On my Ca 7 axle I had to jump up the neck a bunch to make weight. 16 tire groups were good for 60K.
350.jpg
 

Steve Frazier

Founder
Staff member
Joined
Oct 30, 2003
Messages
6,599
Location
LaGrangeville, N.Y.
That was my thought too Pops. He was just running regardless. After I posted I thought about what I had seen a little more and realized something else out of the ordinary had happened. I was on I84 and crossed over the Hudson River. They have an escort staging area where oversized loads are supposed to wait for bridge personnel to escort them across the bridge, they keep traffic at a distance from the overweight truck to prevent overloading the bridge. This guy didn't stop, just trucked on through.

I can't imagine what his fines would have been had he been stopped, he'd have been written up by both the Bridge Authority and NYS DOT. I saw him again passing through the town I work in, I suspect he was on his way to the Poughkeepsie Cat dealer.
 

Nige

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 22, 2011
Messages
28,985
Location
G..G..G..Granville.........!! Fetch your cloth.
108k pounds or 48 of our (full-fat) tons. Over here that would go on a 3-axle tractor with a 3-axle lowboy no bother. Another thing I have difficulty rationalising is the apparent fixation with go-kart size tyres on lowboys on your side of the pond.
 

Truck Shop

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2015
Messages
16,560
Location
WWW.
Another thing I have difficulty rationalising is the apparent fixation with go-kart size tyres on lowboys on your side of the pond.
Most run the 295/75 22.5 tires because of a little extra room on over height loads.
A standard rating for lowboy axles is around 22,000 lbs each on max rating. Plus
solid spindles instead of hollow. Axles with Pro-Par style wheel ends use the same
bearing on outboard as inboard and have a higher weight rating.
 

Pops52

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2016
Messages
293
Location
Penn Valley, CA
Occupation
Worn out lowbed driver "retired"
The 16 wheel expando type like I ran used 215/75R 17.5. tires were about 30" tall and the highest point at the rear of the lowbed was about 32". Great for loading over the back AND kept the height of say, a 623 scraper under 14'. About 4500 lb rating for duals x8 gave 72K capacity on the 16 tire group. However, doing a brake and wheel bearing job was sure easier on the bigger axles........Glad I'm retired.
 

Nige

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 22, 2011
Messages
28,985
Location
G..G..G..Granville.........!! Fetch your cloth.
A typical 3-axle lowboy in Europe with 22.5 duals x 12 would be rated for approximately 54 tonnes (120k pounds) of payload, a gross of 72 tonnes (160k pounds) on the lowboy, and up to 30 tonnes (66k pounds) on the 5th wheel. That would usually be mated up with either a 3-axle or 4-axle tractor unit. The 4-axle tractor would generally have a drop axle in front of the rear tandem, or maybe could even be a twin steer.
 

Truck Shop

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2015
Messages
16,560
Location
WWW.
Really most a 255/75 22.5 around here.

Our three axle trailers with 60" axle spacing 53' can load to 43,000 slid all the way back.
The four axle tractor with drop axle down set at 9,500, lbs leaves the drives at 33,500
for a total 43,000 for the group. Which at a 24" pin setting puts it at maximum bridge
of 86,000, which will leave 12,000 for max steer weight. Depending on Tractor wheel
base can run 99,500 with bridge.
 

Pops52

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2016
Messages
293
Location
Penn Valley, CA
Occupation
Worn out lowbed driver "retired"
Down here in the "Land of Fruits & Nuts" the standard 5 axle lowbed unit is a short (200"+-) 3 axle tractor, 20K steer, 46K rears, & 16 tire expando lowbed. Murray & Cozad usually with 21' deck. Calif "purple weight permit" is 20 on the steer, 46,725 on drivers (54" spread) and 60K on the rear group with a minimum 5'-9" spread, expanded to 10' wide for total gross of 126,725. My combo tared around 36K so 45 tons was max. I always felt that ratio of weight to brake surface area was not good enough and one needed to take that into account when flying down the road.
 

Nige

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 22, 2011
Messages
28,985
Location
G..G..G..Granville.........!! Fetch your cloth.
Our three axle trailers with 60" axle spacing 53' can load to 43,000 slid all the way back.
The four axle tractor with drop axle down set at 9,500, lbs leaves the drives at 33,500
for a total 43,000 for the group. Which at a 24" pin setting puts it at maximum bridge
of 86,000, which will leave 12,000 for max steer weight. Depending on Tractor wheel
base can run 99,500 with bridge.
Commerical stuff here is very similar, but only on 6 axles (6x4 tractor + tri-axle trailer). 44 tonnes (97k pounds) GCW limit. 8.5t (19k pounds) on steer and trailer axles, & 10.5t (23k) on drive axles.

"Heavy Haul" comes under a different set of regulations. That's why in a lot of photos of lowboys there is a plate on the front of the tractor showing the "STGO" (Special Types General Operations) Category under which the vehicle is operating.
The most common are STGO 2 (80t/176k pounds max GCW, max axle weight 12.5t/27.5k) and STGO 3 (150 tonnes/330k pounds, max axle weight 16.5t/36k). Vehicles operating under both categories must have a mimimum of 6 axles but there is no upper axle limit.
 

cuttin edge

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 9, 2014
Messages
2,692
Location
NB Canada
Occupation
Finish grader operator
https://www2.gnb.ca/content/dam/gnb/Departments/trans/pdf/en/Trucking/ConditionsMovement.pdf These are the regs here in NB for oversize
https://oversize.io/regulations/new...xt=B-Train GVW (8 axles,58,500 kg (128,900 lb.) Our 470 Hitachi is counter weight off, 4 axle float. Tandem truck with a pusher axle ahead of the drives, and 2 escorts. The float has a permit for oversized loads, but every time we move the 470, we need a new one, and it is only good for the route on the permit, and on the day the permit is good for.
 
Top