Transport needs European style

[Robo McDuff]

or: never thought my M51 was a small truck until.....

Finally managed to get my M51A2 to the Czech Republic. Thought I would share this with you.

First thing I did was trying to repair the engine kill cable by replacing it with a lawn-mower cable. Could not find the bold back to connect the cable holder to the engine . Off course it is non-metric and I could not get a good replacement that fitted. . So I ended up with just pulling the entire cable when I want to stop the engine. Then I tried to maneuver a bit with the truck moving it 10 feet to the side (pics 2 and 3). That took soo much problems with steering that I decided then and there that NO, no way I would be driving this thing 20 miles through small villages and one big town to the place of loading. Right turn goes like a feather, right turn you need two persons to get the wheel around. Too risky.



We asked a local transport company to haul the truck to the loading place. They came with a container truck with a flatbed container plate (or however you call that). I loaded the fifth wheel and old tires in the dump bed and than drove the truck onto the container plate. A lot of head scratching how to make sure the truck would not shift. One chain and four belts did the trick. Then came the loading onto the truck. No sweat. Nothing shifted and without any visible effort the truck ended on top of the container truck. The last problem was the height, but we were just 7 inches over the max allowable height of 4 meters (13.12 feet).

 

[Robo McDuff]

back to where it all began

Then came the drive to the loading place. This is the place where the truck was originally standing when I bought it, together with a 1973 Atlas 1302 wheel shovel. As said, we were a bit over the max allowable height. Driving behind the truck, at some times I was sure the dumb bed would hit a low viaduct or a traffic light, but all went OK.



Finally, we arrived at the loading place, back where it all began.



When you are standing next to them, those 5-tons look big. Seeing the M51 on top of this container truck makes it look like a small toy.

Now getting the shovel to work again, and then the big trip to the Czech Republic. The rest of the pics will come tomorrow, I am off for a short drink and a long night (sorry, no sleeping smiley in a hammock).

 

[73m819]

For some reason I do NOT think state side DOT would be very HAPPY with those hold down STRAPS

Glad you could get it moved

 

[patracy]

Eeek at those straps.

 

[Robo McDuff]

The first two pics are how it looked two years ago, when this adventure started.



We now had to get the shovel running. For those interested, it is an 1973 Atlas 1302 wheel shovel with a four cylinder air-cooled Deutz engine. As indestructable and on par with the multi-fuel. We managed with a lot of patience, the batteries of the M51 parallel (giving 12 volt 180 AmpH) and a bit of starter pilot (ether). Then, we used the M51 to pull the Atlas on the trailer, since the engine of the Atlas works but the differential and brakes are kaput, so only the hydraulics work. A good first test of the new fish-mouth trailer coupling on the M51.




Phew, a job well done. That is me making getting out of the cab for the last time in the Netherlands. With the trailer winch we hauled the Atlas further on the trailer. Then the 1953 NSU Konsul (350 cc) bike was put up there as well and all was fixed with straps and chains. Took the guy more than two hour to be satisfied.



That's it, finally off to the Czech Republic.

 

[Robo McDuff]

Unloading

A free moment to upload some more pictures.

The transport started driving from Rijssen, the Netherlands Monday morning. In the end, he arrived in Trebon and we hooked up around 13 PM Tuesday. It is only 900 km (560 miles) but Europe has very strict rules on driving and resting time and speeding. Everything is registered digital, with not much options for "just stretching the rules a bit".

The last 20 miles I drove as passenger in the Scania as well, to point the road. The small forest roads were no problem, but unloading took its time. The problem was that the shovel did not have brakes or propulsion, so the first bit was done by hand and then the M51 was used as brake - pusher to get the shovel off the trailer. The winch on the trailer is for smaller cars only, no way it can brake 10 ton of rolling steel.

We then tried to pull the shovel with the truck to its place but the steering of the truck was so lousy that we gave up on that after both truck and shovel almost landed in the ditch. If you look good you can see the dump behind the shovel in picture 5.

We put the truck on its temporary parking place and finally got the shovel there as well with an old 1960s Zetor 25 tractor.



The next step is repairing the starter of our fork-lift truck. Then we can clean the blacksmith workshop to house a 5-ton truck and move the beast in its place. I'll keep the pictures coming.

For those interested: in Europe, your working time (including driving, loading, unloading, cleaning, paperwork etc) can be 10 hours per day and 2 times per week 12 hours. After each driving period, you have to have an uninterrupted resting period of at least 11 hours which can be shortened on 3 days to 9 hours but that has to be compensated within 2 weeks. everything is now registered on digital tachographs and drivers have their own digital driver's card which stores the data as well.