Travails of moving Armor #2... Leopard 1 and Swiss Pz61 are home! WARNING LONG!

[Augdog1964]

Not that I have any first hand knowledge.... but would tarping the load save you any headaches and unnecessary attention?

Thanks for sharing the story

It could, but tarping can also damage the paint and items on the tank.

 

[halftrackjack]

thanks for posting your experience.
i bought 6 tanks from the littilefield place. m40. m47, m60, m32, xm1, m48.
the heaviest was the m48 at about 81,000 pounds.
i bought 3 at a time and the first 3 i had problems. i had the crane arrive and the trucks showed up with no outriggers for there trailers
outriggers and the load width where discussed well before the move day but they showed up with nothing and told me they didnt know where they had left them.
im out $4000 (dont use Mike O'Brien Trucking)

i then switched to murry trailers in stocton ca. they can haul about 83,000 pounds with a 5 axle truck if its positioned just right.
http://www.murraytrailer.com

its best to use a trucking co that has been to that location before because its not easy to say the least. even murry trailers was hesitant to come back a second time.
all my tanks did not run so a crane is needed all 3 times at a little over $4000 a time which only gives you about 2 hours of actual lift time after transport and setup for an 8 hr day.

 

[tokarev]

Dave,
Glad to hear it all worked out in the end - the Mk48 sure came in handy - Sounds like you might need another with a fifth wheel/60,000 lb winch .
Walter


-

 

[kcimb]

Troopers and CMV certified cops can stop CMVs for an inspection without any reason at all.

 

[BiffJ]

Dave didn't get into some of the details on the Mk48 that I saw from the ground. At one point the idiot trucker we were pulling out of the mud locked all the brakes and Dave didn't notice. He pulled the guy about 6 ft with all the brakes locked before he noticed me waving him to stop. I realize the truck was in mud but it still weighed 80K lb +. I tried to pull the back end of the trailer over with the 936 wrecker and it wouldn't budge. All 6 wheels were spinning before anything on the guys trailer even noticed. The Mk48 was in the grass/mud and dragged the whole rig....pretty impressive rig. We used it this weekend to pull a BMP up on to a trailer. The BMP has an engine issue and won't run so we chained a snatch block to the tongue of the trailer and used the winch on the Mk15 trailer to pull the BMP up. It worked so well it looked easy. We had a few inches of track hanging off each side of the trailer and that was our only issue. We had to adjust the position of the BMP with the dozer occasionally to keep it rolling straight onto the trailer. Unfortunately for those of you who want pics of the exploits we didn't get much of that. I think the truck driver got some pics of the winching operation but neither Dave or I got any of the truck being dragged. I was too busy cursing and swearing at the idiot driver and Dave was too busy driving the Mk48. We did get a bunch of pics of the Pz61 and the Leo 1 however and they are both beauties. I'll post a walkaround of them here once we get the Leo running right. There is a walkaround of the Pz61 posted on gunboards at
http://forums.gunboards.com/showthread.php?357274-Swiss-PZ61-tank-Walk-around

Frank

 

[datadawg]

Troopers and CMV certified cops can stop CMVs for an inspection without any reason at all.

What about our 4th amendment?? I thought LEO cannot just stop you, unless they have (a) probable cause that a crime has been committed [e.g. they observe a traffic violation] or (b) an articulable suspicion that you are about to commit or are committing a crime (they see what looks like a beer in your hand while you are driving).

Of course this is all theoretical b/c they can say you crossed yellow line or they suspect you were overweight or whatever... and if you argue constitutional law on the side of the road, all **** is going to break loose. I
can only imagine the frustration and cost/expense of having a tank impounded. I wonder if the cop ultimately ordered a wrongful impound whether his department is responsible for reimbursing the owner for fees/costs.

A great story nevertheless, and a sobering one for me. My desire to own a tank has just been sprayed down with cold seawater.

 

[BiffJ]

Apparently when you become a common carrier you give up any and all of these constitutional rights where it concerns your cargo. They can't search the cab ( I don't think) but they can examine the cargo without any violations or probably cause just because its there.

 

[datadawg]

It could, but tarping can also damage the paint and items on the tank.

Tarp can damage paint on a tank?? How?? Or is this a joke?

 

[B3.3T]

A tarp flapping in the wind at 70+mph will beat the crap out of anything. Paint on a tank is not anything special.