Hey everyone, I’ve been developing a conceptual ultra-heavy logistics truck platform as a long-term engineering thought experiment and wanted feedback from people who actually work around large machinery, heavy haul systems, mining equipment, locomotives, recovery rigs, etc. The core idea is a terrain-independent heavy logistics platform designed around modularity, maintainability, and distributed load management rather than pure speed or flashy technology. The current concept is roughly: Body-on-frame modular chassis using tetrahedral/interlocking truss sections Standardized pinned structural joints where geometry transfers most of the load and the pins mainly act as retention/alignment Rear-mounted transverse 96L short-stroke inline-12 diesel Positive displacement supercharger with efficiency-focused turbocharging Primarily mechanical driveline philosophy with minimal electronics where possible Designed around continuous heavy hauling and operational survivability instead of peak power Integrated maintenance logic (built-in hoist points, extraction paths, removable body sections, service corridors) Airflow/cooling concept uses the unused forward chassis volume as a pressure-fed cooling corridor instead of relying entirely on large dedicated duct systems Modular assembly approach where the machine is assembled in major structural segments before drivetrain/body integration The intended role would be something closer to: ultra-heavy recovery extreme terrain logistics remote megaproject support oversized component transport Arctic/desert infrastructure operations rather than a normal highway truck. One area I’ve been especially interested in is large-scale force management and vibration and fatigue survivability. I’ve been exploring concepts involving distributed structural load paths and controlled flex/compliance instead of trying to make everything completely rigid. I’d honestly love feedback from people with experience around: giant haul trucks locomotives large diesel systems heavy transport driveline harmonics mining equipment structural fabrication field maintenance realities Mainly: what parts sound mechanically reasonable what parts sound completely unrealistic where the biggest engineering nightmares would actually appear and what real-world systems or machines I should study more closely. I’m not trying to pretend this is immediately buildable — I’m more interested in understanding where real engineering constraints would start dominating a machine at this scale. For transparency, I don’t come from a heavy equipment or industrial background professionally. Most of this has come from independent study, observing real machinery design, and trying to understand why large systems are engineered the way they are. That’s a big reason I’m here — I’d rather hear from people with actual operating, fabrication, and maintenance experience than stay trapped in purely theoretical thinking. Appreciate any insight.
1950s was a crazy time for explaining & building unthinkable machines. Tires from it made Bigfoot 5
This is incredible this is exactly the kind of scale this truck concept lives in. have you had a chance to work on something this large in person?
Komatsu and other 350+ ton mining trucks. Electric wheel drive has been around since the 1970's and not just LeTourneau.
Almost every major OEM offers electric drive these days. AC motors seem much more popular than the DC wheel motors from back in the day when GE were basically the only game in town.
No before my time but RG's history is a long & neat read.
IIRC Reliance did/does offer a electric wheel, maybe not as big though.
I just know of CAT and Komatsu. Unit rig was a customer using G.E. wheels & controls, along with Komatsu (back when it was Wabco). What others are there ? The conversion to A.C. drive was driven by the goal of eliminating the commutator, along with all of it's problems. Or so I have been told.
So do Siemens. I think Cat use their AC wheel motors. They certainly don’t manufacture them in-house. PresseBox Distributing stories and PR publications. Successful PR work with Germany's leading PR service for technology topics. www.pressebox.com
What is your background ?
The recent postings in the past few years showing retrofitting large OHW dump trucks to autonomous brings up a question. I thought the race to larger payloads was driven to reduce the cost by using less manpower (drivers) per ton. Now that the driver has been eliminated, will the trucks be made smaller but with more of them at a given mine ?
Gm,Dart,Wabco built 10 wheelers,tire tech was not there now payload can match the shovel, shovel size will direct truck class
Mammoet engineering is the only one I can think of at this time but they have been building and using ultra heavy lift transports for many years. There are other manufactures I'm sure. I have witnessed a couple of those moves that include Demag crawler cranes, huge electrical transformers and oil and gas process equipment. The platforms I believe are hydraulic drives and are modular. Modules can be joined together is what ever numbers are required for the transports. All the modules can steer and I believe all can be controlled through a processor. I'm sure Nige has witnessed those units and moves.
Sad it's not ground breaking to move 500k across a desert now. 1 off Macks,Kw or lowboys
Mammoet SPMT's (self propelled modular transporters) are what you're thinking about John.
Time past no B's get it done.70 yrs ago today you have cheat sheet
I was raised by a man who loved old cars and gave that love to me. i never had the chance to get into them and ended up in food service. but ive always loved machines and motors and what moves them. so i started gathering and learning what i could. my father taught me how to think outside the box and so designs like this i would spend hours glossing over. being fond of larger vehicles meant after my hot rod phase i began appreciating industrial machinery more and so ive been trying to learn about machines this large and how so many tons can move at all. and what it takes to KEEP them moving
Is there a towing capacity advantage that could be driving that preference you think or maybe production?
AC vs DC . DC is the Devil's current power.https://youtu.be/ahs_LJfgDOU?si=pG8q9ise0-TIUL8x
that is a good question. im also wondering now that youve brought them up, how effective have they been? ive not heard about these autonomous retrofits, whats your thoughts?
This is one of the most amazing things ive ever seen. I'm still baffled that only 475 hp could move it even though i have learned a while ago that peak horsepower isnt as important for this class of machine
seeing the scale of that from the video alone was insane, i can only imagine what it was like in person. i also noticed how much work it took making the local area ready for it i can imagine how much that costs. apart of that is what i was hoping this truck concept would be able to help with without turning absurd for its niche