This 20.70 m (67’11”) long and 3.00 m (9’10”) wide colossus is the most impressive rigid rolling creature I’ve ever laid my eyes on. Its sheer weight of approximately 108 tons (238,000 lbs) already boggles the mind.
Although the monstrous 2014 all-terrain crane says Terex on its front and sides, it’s registered as a Demag AC 700. The number 700 in the model designation doesn’t refer to the engine’s hp-rating for a change. It’s the crane’s maximum lifting capacity in metric tons, actually. That’s another mind-boggler.
From 2002 to 2019, the well-known and globally operating Terex Corporation owned crane manufacturer Demag (Deutsche Maschinenbau-Aktiengesellschaft) from Germany. Nowadays, Demag is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Japanese Tadano Group.
Nine axles in total and only one of them is a non-steering axle. This makes a twin steer set-up look like a nice trucking business starter kit. The third, fourth, eighth and ninth axle are the rig’s drive axles.
The Demag is powered by a 15.6 liter, Mercedes-Benz OM473 inline-six turbocompound engine with a maximum power output of 626 DIN-hp. And suddenly all that seems to be a bit underwhelming.
Nicknamed Bello, the dauntless dachshund. Right. If you want to dive really deep into the specifications of such a Demag all-terrain crane, look around here.
The strongman comes with its own sideshow to carry all the additional equipment. A 2019 MAN TGX 6×4 tractor with a 2017 Nooteboom MPL-97-06 semi low loader. The tractor is powered by MAN’s D3876 inline-six, the truck maker’s biggest engine with a displacement of 15.2 liter. Wagenborg opted for the 580 DIN-hp version.
The Nooteboom semi low loader is rated at a GVW of 97 metric tons (213,848 lbs). As an aside, the legal maximum GCVW of the whole couple is about the same as the weight of the Demag crane, given the tractor’s curb weight of 9.5 tons.
Sitting on top of things, a 2017 Volkswagen Golf Variant 1.6 TDI, a company car for the crew members.
Registration-wise, this MAN TGX is 11 days older than the one further above. For the rest, all specifications are the same. The tractor is also teamed up with an identical Nooteboom semi low loader.
Unfolded, a 2020 Scania R500 8×4 tractor with a Palfinger 165 tonmeter crane, mounted between the cab and the fifth wheel coupling.
The same Scania, coupled to a low loader. The tractor is equipped with an electric-hydraulic drive unit for the crane (photo courtesy of Palfinger Nederland).
Stretching its muscles, a 2019 Demag AC 500-8, also powered by a Mercedes-Benz OM473 engine. Eight axles in total, hence the 8 in the model designation.
Now let’s get this show on the road! A 2018 video, specifically highlighting the article’s AC 700 and another AC 500. What a mighty machinery!
A phenomenal machine. Living in England, I grew up seeing ‘Coles Cranes’ vehicles of various sizes doing their work but I never saw anything quite like this!
WOW what a beast!
In the immortal words of Gurney Halleck, “Gods, what a monster!” That is one impressive machine.
Very cool, My late brother could have explained this thing he was a parts interpreter for Terex Australia, I saw some large cranes operating yesterday where I deliver oil nothing that big though.
700t is very impressive! The rating comes with all the boom sections retracted, the maximum amount of cable rigged on the block and the boom as vertical as can be. Around the mid Atlantic such a monster would be used to build a tower crane, set pre cast concrete or set steel at a great radius from the centerline of rotation. A cool machine that is no doubt used to its fullest potential where ever it goes!
Yowza. What a machine. I assume that has to be about the maximum capacity for a regular road-going crane.
Liehberr makes a 1200t road going crane with a 328ft boom.
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Thanks for that. Liebherr just had to be one of the usual suspects. Like Demag, they’re experts in building typical Teutonic machines 🙂
Just look at that main boom! It’s so huge one almost has to be convinced it isn’t photoshopped…
I happen to have a Liebherr around here too. Not road going though, it’s a refrigerator.
A turbocompound engine? Does this mean it’s also taking drive power off an exhaust driven turbine? Or is it one turbocharger that forces air into ANOTHER turbocharger? I think I’ve heard turbocompounding used for either of those designs.
Straight from Daimler’s own website (info/specs OM 473 engine):
Technical highlights: turbocompound technology
Amongst the special features of the new Mercedes-Benz OM 473 is a technical highlight, known as turbocompound technology. It is one of the main reasons for the engine’s high performance and economic efficiency.
The term turbocompound refers to a second turbine located downstream of the exhaust gas turbocharger. It makes use of the exhaust gas temperature which is maintained after the gas has flowed through the exhaust gas turbocharger, thereby further boosting efficiency. The power is transferred via a shaft and a hydrodynamic clutch to the engine’s gear drive and thus directly to the crankshaft.
Mind-blowing. I just cannot imagine the strength needed for lifting 700 tonnes.
There’s a sublime 1/50 scale model of Wagenborg’s AC 700. Unfortunately Peter, it has already been put together…
https://www.imcmodels.eu/en/wagenborg-1
Amazing – great find Johannes.
The father of a friend of mine is a retired crane operator, and it always amuses me how he’s generally unimpressed by equipment that I think is enormous. But I bet he’d be very impressed by this rig!
I’m certainly no expert on this, but I think the biggest mobile cranes in the US have a boom range of 200 ft., which is equivalent to the 60 meter range on this Demag (as I understand from the spec sheet), but it sure seems like the examples here are smaller than this.
A few weeks ago I saw a large crane (not quite this big, though) at a highway rest stop – didn’t photograph it, but I should have. It was on a mountainous highway, so I thought it must have been a pretty slow ride coming up all of those mountain passes.
Convoi exceptionnel indeed, and maybe your best find yet.
The weight of the rig is outlandish, but if you divide 18 (wheels) by 108 tonnes, you get 6 tonnes or 13K-odd lbs for each wheel. That’s of course a great deal, but somehow imaginable to engineer: otherwise, supporting such a weight in such a (comparatively) small area, isn’t!
The legal maximum axle load for a drive axle of a run-of-the-mill truck or tractor is 11.5 tons. It’s 12 tons for the Demag (9 x 12 = 108), so no real excess. Provided the roads, bridges and viaducts are in good order…
Note that the MAN and Nooteboom couples are just as heavy, when fully loaded. Also 9 axles/axle lines.