Awhile back I posted of the steercar we were building at work. You can see those pics here.

I'm finally getting around to a post showing how they're used on the job. Yesterday we were delivering some girders for a new freeway they're building up around Layton, UT, to run out on the west side of the city. These pics are of the two-stroke powered car, one that isn't in the previous post I referenced above. It's kinda cool to still be using a truck with an engine that is well over 50 years old. Those two-stroke Detroit Diesels have a very unique and nostalgic sound. Boy do they ever smoke and slobber oil all over the place.

Here is the view from the cab as we are on the new roadbed. We travel over the normal roads with traffic also, but I didn't film until we were off the open roads and onto the new road. There's a wee bit of a blind spot.


Approaching the crane, getting into position for the lift.


Pulling down our tie downs while the crew connects the rigging.


Almost ready for the lift. The crane has to get centered before lifting to ensure that the girder doesn't travel after lifting. Incorrectly centering the crane can cause the girder to swing into the truck, or even itself. The spotter on top is helping the crane operator get centered.


The girder is off the truck. When using a single crane on a large girder, two belay lines are required to prevent the girder from rotating at the center. The worst outcome would be for the girder to pivot and impact the crane arm. Nothing left for us to do but go home and mail invoices.

Good pics and explanation of what was going on.
How much did that girder weigh?

Neat stuff!

quote:

Originally posted by jgerge222:
How much did that girder weigh?

This one wasn't very big compared to some others we've delivered. It was 130,977 lbs (59,410kg) and 138' (42m) long. We are usually doing this at night during a road closure (so it's harder to take good pics), but because this is an entirely new freeway that isn't yet opened, we were delivering during the day.

You ought to pitch that rig to a hollywood action director for their next street chase scene. Looks like a wiper blade for traffic.

Cool photos. Thanks for sharing.

Reminds me of when we used to have our sailboat hauled for winter storage. Nothing like seeing your 8,000 lb. boat floating through the air, over your head, like this:

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

Reminds me of when we used to have our sailboat hauled for winter storage. Nothing like seeing your 8,000 lb. boat floating through the air, over your head

What's even more fun, is to spend every weekend hour for a month and a half, working on a classic wooden sailboat, getting it ready to go back into the water for the summer season, and watching the sling slip out of place, and the boat come crashing down. That happened in the early 1960s.

Is that a Pearson 30? I have a shitload of hours racing in a Pearson 30.

quote:

Originally posted by ArtieS:
Is that a Pearson 30? I have a shitload of hours racing in a Pearson 30.

That she is She was a great boat.

quote:

Originally posted by sigcrazy7:
Awhile back I posted of the steercar we were building at work. You can see those pics here.

I'm finally getting around to a post showing how they're used on the job. Yesterday we were delivering some girders for a new freeway they're building up around Layton, UT, to run out on the west side of the city. These pics are of the two-stroke powered car, one that isn't in the previous post I referenced above. It's kinda cool to still be using a truck with an engine that is well over 50 years old. Those two-stroke Detroit Diesels have a very unique and nostalgic sound. Boy do they ever smoke and slobber oil all over the place.

Here is the view from the cab as we are on the new roadbed. We travel over the normal roads with traffic also, but I didn't film until we were off the open roads and onto the new road. There's a wee bit of a blind spot.

Got any audio and/or preferably video of one of these bad boys in action? I REALLY dig nostalgic HP...

Is it stressful to be the steercar operator?

COOL!!!

Back about y2k I had a fish camp in Moore Haven Fl. Highway 27 split the town and it still had a draw bridge over the Caloosahatchee River. A pleasure cruising sailboat with a tall mast could back up hwy 27 traffic for a mile and the bridge occasionally malfunctioned bringing activity to a halt.

A major expansion was planned for hwy 27 with a fixed height bridge tall enough for barges to get under. The spans look similar to op's pictures and they came in via barge. All was going good. They were mounting the first span and the next span was on the barge beneath it. The span got loose and crashed on top of the one beneath it delaying the project by about a year.

FYI: that bridge is now one of the more notorious speed traps in Florida. Speed limit is 65 on hwy 27 between Clewiston and Moore Haven. Drops to 55 on approach to bridge, drops to 45 when you first get on bridge and slows to 35 at the crest.

Troopers and sheriff's dept set their radar at the foot of the downside and sky is the limit on number of tickets they can write.

quote:

Originally posted by darthfuster:
Is it stressful to be the steercar operator?

Traffic can make it so. Also weather. If it starts raining, visibility goes out the door. I’ve sometimes had to look beside the door at the line on the shoulder to stay on the road. A person was killed in one (not ours, an unpowered unit) in 2020. People will sometimes cross under like Christmas Vacation, or do other stupid stuff like drive around the police blockade at intersections and cross right in front of a 100 ton load. “But, but officer, the light was green!”

Did you see us working in Lehi/Highland? We delivered a bunch of these with steercars on the I-15 Lehi expansion. We probably did sixty or more girders on that job. Big ones, too, like the Lehi State Street overpass.

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:
Got any audio and/or preferably video of one of these bad boys in action? I REALLY dig nostalgic HP...

No, but I know where to get some audio. Right now I’ve got it still ringing in my ears. They didn’t call them “Screamin’ Jimmys” because they were quiet.

quote:

Originally posted by sigcrazy7:

quote:

Originally posted by darthfuster:
Is it stressful to be the steercar operator?

Traffic can make it so. Also weather. If it starts raining, visibility goes out the door. I’ve sometimes had to look beside the door at the line on the shoulder to stay on the road. A person was killed in one (not ours, an unpowered unit) in 2020. People will sometimes cross under like Christmas Vacation, or do other stupid stuff like drive around the police blockade at intersections and cross right in front of a 100 ton load. “But, but officer, the light was green!”

Did you see us working in Lehi/Highland? We delivered a bunch of these with steercars on the I-15 Lehi expansion. We probably did sixty or more girders on that job. Big ones, too, like the Lehi State Street overpass.

I did see that work in progress. Didn't know that was you, brother.

-71 or -92. # cylinders. Turbo, Turbo intercooled? C'mon man, Detroit afficianodes need to know!

From the link in the first post: Cummins 855 big cam

Very interesting.
Thanks for posting this.

Silent

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
From the link in the first post: Cummins 855 big cam

It would appear the pictures above and the original steercar are different. But from the post above is this. "These pics are of the two-stroke powered car, one that isn't in the previous post I referenced above. It's kinda cool to still be using a truck with an engine that is well over 50 years old. Those two-stroke Detroit Diesels have a very unique and nostalgic sound. Boy do they ever smoke and slobber oil all over the place".