The Cat 395 -Caterpillar’s largest excavator- with a long reach boom and stick must have been the heaviest load on a low loader at the open house of the Schoones hauling company, held in September 2025. And I liked the way how the Volvo and Nooteboom combination was parked, as it shows exactly how such a roadgoing mastodon steers itself through bends and corners.
Fully in control of the whole situation, a 2017 Volvo FH16-750 tractor with a Globetrotter sleeper cab and a 10×4/*6 drivetrain, weighing almost 15 tonnes (33,000 lbs). A compact package though, as it’s only 8.50 m (27’11”) long. Terberg Techniek must have been involved in the creation process.
The tractor’s fuel tank finds itself behind the cab, the small black tank (with the blue cap) on the left side contains the diesel exhaust fluid. The Volvo tows a 2019 Nooteboom 3 bed 5 (or 3+5) low loader.
A detachable interdolly forms the link between the gooseneck and the bed. Clearly visible are the pendle axle units with hydro-pneumatic suspension and 600 mm (23.6”) of stroke/vertical travel; six of them at the front -on the interdolly- and ten at the rear. Technically, we’re speaking of a low loader with a total of eight ‘axle lines’ (and five when the interdolly is left at the home base).
The Cat 395 excavator is powered by Caterpillar’s C18 engine with 542 hp. I’d say that the whole yellow monster, in this configuration, weighs around 100 tonnes (220,000 lbs), give or take a few tonnes.
I’m trying to figure out how the excavator cab/engine module is placed on/off the trailer. Help!
This video will help, featuring a similar Broshuis low loader set-up:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cc-video-modern-heavy-haulage-decoupling-loading-cornering-and-rolling-along/
The Cat sits on a narrow bed, the pendle axles lift everything up from ground level.
I LOVE these posts!
It is amazing and interesting to find out how they move huge vehicles over the relatively tiny roads in Europe. A man I worked with was a tank driver in Germany in the 1960’s, and he described how tank convoys were followed by guys in jeeps, who started damage claims on the spot, when the tanks knocked over lightposts, mailboxes, and stone walls. He said the people were never angry, just very calm and philosophical, I guess they were happy to have a massive American presence in the face of the East Germans and Russians. There were also “fan clubs” of little boys and teenage girls, who would gather on the overpasses and wave to them as they rolled by. He LOVED his time over there, even though it was the most difficult driving he ever did. Trying to turn a corner on two intersecting 10 foot wide roads, with houses and stone walls on all sides, was always a challenge. (They were the same width they were in the 1300’s probably, when they widened them to 10′ for those new-fangled burro carts in 1320’s)
The number of axle lines may vary, but the article’s combination shows how (very) heavy machinery gets transported in Europe. Rigid, non-steering axles are out of the question in this line of business. Nooteboom, Broshuis, Faymonville, Scheuerle, and Doll are the usual suspects in this field of low loaders and semi-low loaders.
There are excavators and there are excavators, the last time I needed to dig I used a Bobcat E10 which weighs 1200 kg and is about the size of the cab of a Cat 395. It was so small I towed it with a 2″ ball and no trailer brakes.
For a look at US haulage Casey La Delle had some video explaining his 9 axle rigs with steerable rear bogies and dollies
Right, ‘minigraver’ (mini digger) is our generic term for a small/tiny tracked excavator.