The world’s largest mobile tower crane was the king-size cherry on the cake at the ‘Heart for DAF days’, held last October. And luckily, I stayed long enough to watch how the towering giant transformed itself into a compact, road-legal package.
The reason that the newborn creature was welcomed at the DAF Parking Only event, is that the truck manufacturer is Spierings’ preferred engine supplier. In this case, the crane carrier is powered by a 530 DIN-hp, 12.9 liter MX-13 turbodiesel.
The crane itself, on the other hand, is electric powered. Hence ‘eLift’ in the vehicle’s model designation.
Six Kessler axles and 12 mighty Michelin tires get the show on the road. The second, third, and sixth axle are the rig’s drive axles.
This was the only angle from which I could capture the entire, unfolded tower crane and its carrier in one picture.
Now then, let’s study the whole steel folding process.
There, 72 tonnes (158,700 lbs) of pure craftsmanship.
No license plates yet, but I have a hunch that the two-tone Spierings headed for Germany, immediately after the weekend show.
If you want to watch how things unfold, just scroll up. For detailed information, you can visit Spierings’ place.
Amazing, thanks…..
Wow! What a beast!
Remarkable engineering! Thank you for taking all these time-lapsed images showing the crane being retracted. Amazing to watch, and admire.
Spectacular.
If Lego makes one, I’m buying it. 😀
Lego’s Liebherr Crawler Crane demonstrates their ability to do so.
Granted, it’s not Spierings’ top model from the article….
Wow, what a spectacular feat of engineering! Thats a lot of steel that gets folded up there… Whats the weight of that thing?
72 tonnes/158,700 lbs, as mentioned in the article. Which means 12 tonnes per axle. Not extraordinary, really. For comparison purposes, the drive axle of a run-of-the-mill 4×2 truck or tractor is rated at 11.5 tonnes.
@Johannes Dutch
Excellent find. The creator Tom Van Mol has some very appealing sets.
I forgot to express my appreciation for your beautiful pictures of this wonderful machine. Thank you.
My pleasure!
Speaking of Lego, have a look at these projects, click on the pictures. I pre-selected Dennis Bosman’s truckin’ creations (well of course):
http://www.dennisbosman.nl/lego/lego-v.html
That is one whopper of a crane and tall enough for Godzillas limbo pole. How long would you guess the entire process you documented took, less the outriggers?
Set-up in 11 minutes, according to Spierings’ website. Sounds about right for the procedure the other way around as I watched it.
PS: I just checked the original images on my laptop. The folding process started at 15:27 and ended at 15:38, so 11 minutes it is!
What a machine,
but when it comes to building a model crane, Meccano is the king.
Great photos, Mr D, but to use the old Looney Tunes cartoon line about the process I’ve just looked at, “I dunno how youse done it, but I know youse done it!”. Just doesn’t seem feasible with the real-world component weights of a crane that’ll be lifting heavy things (as opposed to the kid’s Transformer model it resembles).
And just look at the size of the not-tiny operator’s cabin once it’s up – it’s tiny! That is a long way up, and I shudder involuntarily at the thought of the poor bastard who has to make THAT climb.
When you say “electric”, does that mean that the hydraulics are powered by an electric pump? And is the thing battery-powered or run from a generator linked to the road engine, I wonder?
There’s a lifting cage to the cab, no climb. The crane is battery-powered, so no ICE involved when at work. See link all the way at the bottom for the details.
That is an impressive mobile crane.