Frontier transports 9-million-pound dragline across Texas

With a bucket capacity of 80 cubic yards (61 cubic metres) and a working weight of 9.1 million pounds (4,000 tonnes), the Marion 8200 dragline is a huge machine. These huge excavators generally work in mines. One such machine completed a project at a location in Texas, USA, and needed to be moved to another mine, also in Texas.

The Frontier Heavy Haul team hauled some 27 loads of the machine that had a combined weight of 4,412,000 pounds.

It was a huge and hard job, but someone had to do it. Frontier Heavy Haul & Support took on the project to transport a range of abnormally shaped parts that had been disassembled from the dragline.

The customer asked the Frontier Heavy Haul team to determine how and in what order to move the components to the new location. As well, the customer needed to start reassembling the machine as soon as possible. The goal was to cut the machine into as few pieces as possible since it would take about a year and a half for reassembly.

There were several routing issues to solve, mainly because of the varying weights and dimensions of the load. Two different routes were utilized, depending on the size of the pieces moved. Frontier used eight different trailers in its fleet.

After a lot of analysis and research, the Frontier Heavy Haul & Support team hauled some 27 loads of the machine that had a combined weight of 4,412,000 pounds (2,000 tonnes). The lightest piece hauled was 39,500 pounds (18 tonnes) and the heaviest was 412,000 pounds (187 tonnes). The load dimensions of the components ranged from a length of 18 feet up to 135 feet 6 inches (5.5 to 41.3 metres) and widths from 2 feet up to 28 feet (0.6 to 8.5 metres).

The Frontier team utilized several different types of specialized trailers, including a 3-axle steerable blade trailer, a 3-axle 45 ton stretch trailer, a 10-axle 85-ton trunnion specialized basket trailer, a 12-axle 65-ton deck trailer, a 13-axle 85-ton deck trailer, a 6-line Scheuerle highway giant platform trailer, a 7-line Scheuerle highway giant platform trailer and a 13-line Scheuerle highway giant platform trailer with pull and push trucks.

Two routes

There were several routing issues to solve, mainly because of the varying weights and dimensions of the load.

The Marion 8200 dragline has a bucket capacity of up to 80 yards and 328-foot boom. The machine weighs 9.1 million pounds.

“We ended up with two different routes to accommodate all of the pieces that needed to be moved,” said Frontier’s Maurice Martens. “We contacted local police departments and gave them our schedule, and then we contacted them again on the day of the move when each load was coming through their towns. As well, we contacted a local radio station to let the general public know what times they could expect delays with the loads coming through their areas.”

In addition to the local news stations, the Frontier team contacted a power station that would be affected when a road needed to be closed to accommodate the 28-foot (8.5 metre) wide load, which was the widest piece.

“The 28-foot wide load required us to close a stretch of road for 16 miles,” said Martens. “We had to close the road in three sections.”

To move the loads as safely as possible, two to four civilian escort vehicles were a part of the transport. On some of the larger loads, two to four law enforcement officials on motorcycles were utilized.

The Frontier team made improvements at the start location and at the destination, including using crane mats to build up the ground to make a wider turn radius for the larger loads. Fences and gates were widened. The weather was a challenge with triple digit temperatures.

The job required 1,628 man hours and was completed safely over a span of about six weeks.