Nicolas delivers five monster tractors
26 September 2008Nicolas has delivered its largest ever heavy tractors to South Africa's Rotran Heavy Transport. The Eskom Generation subsidiary will be used to transport transformers and other large equipment.
With a tare weight of around 33 tonnes, along with a vehicle total weight of 54 tonnes (tractor with ballast container box), the TRACTOMAS TR 8x8 is able to move a total convoy weight (tractor plus trailer with load) of about 750 tonnes. Thus, it can tackle the task of transporting extremely heavy transformers over distances ranging from 300 km up to 4,000 km. These are needed in coal, gas and nuclear power stations which are operated by the South African energy company, ESKOM, as part of its nearly 26,000 km long electricity supply network.
The five truck tractors are going to be used together with two 13-axle heavy-duty platform trailers and a beam assembly to carry transformers weighing up to 270 tonnes. The convoy, adapted to the length and the weight of the transformers to be shipped, will be 170m long and will weigh 750 metric tons.
During the development of the TRACTOMAS TR, great importance was placed on absolute reliability and simple handling in spite of the immense vehicle dimensions. Thus, only brand-name components were used such as the diesel engine from Caterpillar or the power-shift transmission made by DANA SPICER. The Renault driver´s cab, taken from the company´s Kerax Class series, offers all the ergonomic advantages to the driver for long-distance transportation. With a tare weight of around 33 tonnes, an overall length of 10.870 metres, a width of 3,480 mm and an overall height of 4,515 mm, the TRACTOMAS TR 8x8 well exceeds all previously known dimensions for conventional 4 axles heavy-duty truck tractors.
Several years ago, Nicolas developed and manufactured tractors of a similar design at its facilities in Champs-sur-Yonne, France.
