David Herbert Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 (edited) I found these on YouTube, the seccond one is not the best quality but you will get the idea. Form your own opinion about the skill levels involved. Something went wrong... Something went wrong... enjoy ! David Edited January 8, 2013 by Marmite!! Youtube tags added Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamie meachin Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 Here are some pictures I took in 2011 at Weymouth veterans weekend. Here Jim Clark and his M4A4 sherman nick named "sloppy but safe" is being lined up to be loaded on a diamond T 981 and rogers trailer. When the sherman goes up the ramps, there is a point where Jim can not see the trailer or the banks-man guiding him on, all he will see is sky. Its not until the sherman gets past its centre of gravity that it comes back down onto the trailer. Here little adjustments can be made to get the sherman square on the trailer or worst case scenario unload and start again. I will point out that the original world war two rogers trailer and a modern low loader trailer are two very different trailers to load onto. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 don't be too quick to judge the first guy, steel on steel does not give a lot of traction and when you throw in a bit of ice aswell then it gets a little hairy ! rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RattlesnakeBob Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 (edited) don't be too quick to judge the first guy, steel on steel does not give a lot of traction and when you throw in a bit of ice aswell then it gets a little hairy ! rick Totally agree with you mate........In my time I've loaded Gawd knows how many tracked earth movers of all description and it isn't something that is easy to get spot on every time..... but it is right proper easy to get horrendously wrong... ......modern smaller excavators with rubber tracks are always a bit easier, and Dozers with grouser tracks when the ramps have a timber surface.....but ...never something to ever get complacent over.... PS: Mind you.... The second video???......the chap wants a proper slap for trying to go up onto a trailer as fast as that anyways..... Edited January 9, 2013 by RattlesnakeBob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyFowler Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 You could always ask Grandpa to help !:wow:Something went wrong... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyFowler Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 A bit calmer but crowds are rather close ! Something went wrong... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyFowler Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 Some make it look easier to get right than I suspect really it is ! :-D Something went wrong... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim gray Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 Always found the tracked steering to be very light when comming over the hump, a very light touch is required. The worst EVER was the CAT 621 scraper. The army low loaders needed timber baulks at the swan neck so the nose of the scraper cleared and the vehicle would fit. Felt like you were hundreds of feet high in the cab! Much preffered a "normal" load up.Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulbrook Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 When I was tank transporting in BAOR in the 80s it was unforgivable to manouevre the tank on the trailer: the tank (mostly Chieftain but some Cents - ARVs and other nations) had to be lined up prefectly before loading and any crew who couldnt crack it were seen as unprofessional. On the 50 ton trailers there was no room for error as the edges of the tracks were on the edge of the trailer. Of all the incidents of "one off the side" as it was called that I witnessed (not my squadron as it happens) all were due to trying to steer either on the way up or on the trailer. In fact in the squadron I was in it was an offence full stop - if the tank didnt land square it had to be unloaded and reloaded, and God help any No1 who thought otherwise. In order to ensure that the tankie driver didnt have his own ideas he would be invited to put his hands out of the hatch where the No1 could see them. Often track tensions were such that the tank didn't drive straight - in this case the No1 would simply aim off, and they were damm good at it, the aiming off was allowed for by making the tank driver ease up to the trailer with his hands out of the hatch - the No1 would watch the offset over half a tank length of forward travel then get the tankie to steer a bit in the last few feet before the bottom of the ramps. After that it was hands off all the way to the tank stops. A similar approach was taken to winching. Get it on square first time was the only way. Winch jobs or not the aim of the game was to arrive, load lash and leave in 20 minutes and that could be anything up to 20 tanks at a time. Happy days...Got some super 8 cine footage somewhere... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landyandy Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 mtlb based vehicles are not the easiest machines to load being light on steel tracks + the steering is either nothing or full on, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Herbert Posted January 9, 2013 Author Share Posted January 9, 2013 Thank you Paul, I was trying to resist comment as there are many more experienced people than me on HMVF but you have described exactly my views on how it should be done. The first clip in this thread demonstrates why you don't try to stop and restart on the ramps or try to steer as it will just make things more exciting. Tracked vehicles will naturaly go in a straight line (assuming equal tension and wear on the tracks) and if not will always try to vear the same way so it is not hard for the man directing to predict where the vehicle will go. The driver can never see exactly where he is and should only pull the levers when told to. It is of course vital that the man directing is competent and uses hand signals that the driver understands. I was very fortunate to have learned the army system which is quite different to how many plant people seem to work, particularly when the directed vehicle is going backwards. With reference to loading a Sherman onto a Rogers trailer, there is a problem with the man directing standing on the neck of the trailer as it is quite likely that he will be catapulted up in the air as the tank gets to the top of the ramps and the whole front of the trailer jumps two feet off the ground.I have seen that done. He is better on the back of the Diamond T. I have put a late HVSS Sherman onto a Dyson 50ton trailer (designed for Cent) and it felt like I was twenty feet in the air and well off centre. If I hadn't trusted the man directing me I would have aborted but when it settled (with my head about twelve feet from the ground) we were only about an inch off centre which was ok. Most tanks will load in first gear at not much more than tickover so there is no need to charge the ramps, and it is so easy to line up exactly that steering on the ramps should never be needed. The key is the man directing, not the driver. Happy loadings, David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landyandy Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 it also is the same when unloading , i cannot see a thing so rely on john to direct me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Herbert Posted January 9, 2013 Author Share Posted January 9, 2013 Andy, Textbook job, Good handsignals, no rush, no drama. SAFE ! David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markheliops Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 I have been "fortunate" enough to load various vehicles on to low loaders and it can be a very scary thing to have to do! The most important thing when loading onto a low loader is - the person guiding you on to the trailer. As a driver, you must have complete faith in the person guiding you on and he in-turn must be confident in guiding you. I was always told when being guided anywhere - if you lose sight of the person who is guiding you stop immediately and wait until you can see them again. That does include loading onto low loaders. It is the loaders responsibility to always be visible to the driver - to the point when I was being loaded I gave the loader a pole with a flag on it so when the vehicle was going sky-ward I could still see where the loader wanted me to go. It is the drivers responsibility to do exactly as the loader directs. It does give me the hump when you are directing someone and they keep looking in their mirrors. I tend to fold the mirrors in when they do that. Loading the Chieftain ARRV doesn't leave much room to make a mistake but Andy Long is a very competent loader. Markheliops Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Barrell Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 David and I got very good at loading tanks, even my M75 onto a standard width trailer with 7" of overhang each side..... We never needed to adjust line once started on the trailer. Like you Mark, my pet hate is being asked to guide someone and then finding their gaze wandering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robin craig Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 Adrian, Mark and LandAndy and others have pretty much said it all. I laughed my ass off about the comments on wing mirrors, that is such a classic. The one caution I would put out there is this simple gem, steel on steel is to be avoided at all costs. Universal carriers are the usual suspects on steel ramps. Having witnessed 2 near deaths and had my own life put in jeopardy by an unknowing supervisor because of the above we now as policy, unroll used snow mobile tracks as an interface and have never had any problems ever since. I'm so very happy to hear that others have had the same experiences, good a bad. R Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulbrook Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 The only other observation i would make (and please please please dont shoot me down - it was prompted by the picture and is just offered in the spirit of helpfulness) is that humans and other soft objects should be at least 10-20 m or more from the sides of the trailer so if the load does go over the side and rolls it's only the paintwork and pride that gets damaged. Oh and a commander sticking out of the turret is a bad idea too. If we had to load and carry armour with a tank crew on board (rare) they had to load and travel battened down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landyandy Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 The only other observation i would make (and please please please dont shoot me down - it was prompted by the picture and is just offered in the spirit of helpfulness) is that humans and other soft objects should be at least 10-20 m or more from the sides of the trailer so if the load does go over the side and rolls it's only the paintwork and pride that gets damaged. Oh and a commander sticking out of the turret is a bad idea too. If we had to load and carry armour with a tank crew on board (rare) they had to load and travel battened down. well said paul when john and i load and unload no one is aloud to stand any were near the sides Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyFowler Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 It all started so calmly ! :wow: Something went wrong... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtistsRifles Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 Oops!!!!!!!! :wow: :wow: :wow: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m109a3uk Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 Ok I'll leave it to climb on its own:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbrtcrowther Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 What happened there then? Main drive clutch come to bits and jammed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RattlesnakeBob Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 What happened there then? Main drive clutch come to bits and jammed? Lord knows ..something's gone/ going wrong though I reckon ?? ... it's a good example of not judging someone unless you know what is actually happening too though I reckon:-) .....as he's mustering up to load the vehicle it does seem very 'jerky'???...could be a clutch or auto gearbox problem ? I once was soundly publicly embarrassed by nothing more grand than a medium size telescopic 4x4 handler (can't recall what make it was) that had a sort of 'auto drive/select' system where you selected a gear forward or back...let the clutch up fully, then eased the throttle down and the drive was supposed to come in nice and gentle .....:cool2:.but the system was playing up on it so we'd got used to holding your foot on the brake as you gently revved up to wait for the machine to sort of 'jolt' a little bit so you knew the drive had 'come in'.. then you eased up on the brake and away you went....that was the theory anyways.. ...as the job wore on the machine had got worse and worse and would either 'leap' into movement at a helluva rate of knots or sit dead still revving and going nowhere only to suddenly surprise you ...the mechanic couldn't sort it on site so a low loader arrived to take it away for fixing....with a suitable crowd of workers and public able to view me load it I hopped in the cab.....what followed next would have made a grand video of 'how not to load a machine'..:-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DUNSFOLD Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 I remember loading a Stalwart up a loading ramp not knowing it had a broken middle drive shaft on one side. When the point of balance came in it slewed sideways!. Thankfully it was on a concrete ramp and not single ramps. Very exciting, also had no brakes! A lucky escape and no one hurt except my pride. Ever since then any more 601 series vehicles i loaded i always drove a little and noted the filler plug positions. Just shows how easy it is to have a accident. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Herbert Posted March 24, 2013 Author Share Posted March 24, 2013 Here's another one, that has been posted on Russian Trucks Forum. I think this guy is very brave but it does show what can be done if the driver and the man on the truck work together properly. It also helps having no fear! The bed of that truck is not exactly oversize and is a long way off the ground. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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