Not a tractor, but that's quite a rock!

[Dr_Zinj]

As long as it's their money, and not my taxes.

Unfortunately, because it's supposedly "art", dollars to doughnuts, there's a NEA grant in there somewhere.

 

[PatasColo]

It is funny! But of course that's why they have so many tires; so that the load is so spread out and won't exceed the design limit of the roadway at any one point.

xtn

I thought of this also... but looking at some of the trucks involved in the moving, I think each individual truck ALONE exceeds the three ton limit.

Aside from that, I didn't count the tires on the trailer, but a 3 ton road limit gives you a rough limit of less than a ton per tire (assuming a 3 ton vehicle with 4 tires). Not sure if the trailer was below or above that.

In the end, a 3 ton street limit is awfully low, and yet there was the behemoth and all associated trucks and heavy equipment (did you see the pallet lifter?) crawling alongside or behind. I woulda' been out to watch too if I lived there. :thumbsup:
-Mitch

 

[aczlan]

In the end, a 3 ton street limit is awfully low, and yet there was the behemoth and all associated trucks and heavy equipment (did you see the pallet lifter?) crawling alongside or behind. I woulda' been out to watch too if I lived there. :thumbsup:
-Mitch

I wonder if the 3 ton limit is to keep heavy vehicles out while the street is actually rated for more? Seems like a big street (2 lanes each way?) to only be rated at 3 tons.

Aaron Z

 

[LD1]

I only counted 160 wheels on the trailer. The OP mentioned 200+, I wonder if that was counting the tractors???

I counted 10 axles on each of the 4 corners. Total of 40 axles. And 4 tires per axle. Total of 160 tires.

If the rock weighs ~340 tons, I'd venture a guess that the trailer weighs every bit of 100T. So 440T /160 wheels....Thats 5500 lbs per tire. They were pretty close to going over that 3T limit PER TIRE.

And the way them trucks were ballasted, I think they were pushing the 3T PER tire also:confused2:

 

[RaydaKub]

Shrink wrapped. Nice, gotta keep the weather off from the millions of year old rock!

I figured the rock had some massive gash in it that would catch the wind. So they wrapped it to help streamline the package and get better mileage. :laughing::laughing:

 

[RaydaKub]

I only counted 160 wheels on the trailer. The OP mentioned 200+, I wonder if that was counting the tractors???

I counted 10 axles on each of the 4 corners. Total of 40 axles. And 4 tires per axle. Total of 160 tires.

If the rock weighs ~340 tons, I'd venture a guess that the trailer weighs every bit of 100T. So 440T /160 wheels....Thats 5500 lbs per tire. They were pretty close to going over that 3T limit PER TIRE.

And the way them trucks were ballasted, I think they were pushing the 3T PER tire also:confused2:

Yeah, I didn't count any wheels, but just that much framework probably would have put them over the 3T limit, muchless the rock itself. That big lead truck would have to be over the limit by quite a bit all by itself. You don't have 800hp pulling without some ballast holding it down.

Also note that the first paragraph was a forward I received in an email, I didn't write that part either.

I'd really like to know what the heck was UNDER the rock to hold it up. Cables? A network of chains? Some solid plate?

 

[Depmandog]

That's a good question. Zooming in on this picture it is hard to tell exactly what is holding it. Probably something along the line of a woven steel braided strap - in multiples.

 

[IndyIan]

I wonder if they built that trailer just to move the rock? I'm sure you could move buildings with it but they would be a lot lighter.

 

[RaydaKub]

I wonder if they built that trailer just to move the rock? I'm sure you could move buildings with it but they would be a lot lighter.

Obviously the frame and all the hydraulic wheel controls, etc. may be used for other applications, but it's so tall in this configuration, I'm not sure how you would put a building up on it.

 

[aczlan]

IIRC, they they assemble the main frame around the object to be moved. If you look at the setup picture from: http://www.lacma.org/sites/default/files/LevitatedMassClassroomActivity4.pdf.pdf it appears that the trailer was assembled on site.

Aaron Z