Whilst working for a heavy haulage outfit I was tasked with transporting a Cat 120G grader from Townsville wharf to just north of Brisbane. The company was based in Brisbane and as we had a fair bit of specialised gear our prices weren’t cheap. The job was quoted assuming running to Townsville empty. If the truck could be loaded to Townsville, that would be pure profit. Usually there is no shortage of freight going north, getting a load south was more problematic. A three metre wide donga (portable building) was found, looking for a truck to take it to Townsville. As an overdimentional load it was also paying a premium. A 120 G will fit on a drop deck trailer and is far easier to load a donga on, than a float. All I needed to do was level the deck with four stacks of pallets, two at the back and two in the middle. Lay old tyres on the deck and pallets, chain it down, front and back, job done. The drive north must have been uneventful as I recall nothing of it. The donga came off at a roadworks site and the crane was not called until I was on site. After eventually being unloaded, I spent better than an hour reorganising the trailer, shifting twenty pallets, all the dunnage, tarps, tyres and all the other paraphernalia carried on a trailer, by hand, to the upper deck.
I arrived at the wharf during the lunch break, told the office what I was to plck up a 120G grader. After an hour or two of waiting, out trundled a Cat 140 H. I told the wharfie he’d got the wrong machine, his reply “Can’t be, it’s the only one here.”
Now a 140 is considerably bigger than a 12 and at 26 odd tonne a bit heavy for my little dropdeck tri. After phoning the office in Brisbane to confirm it was the right machine, I proceeded to load. I had less than half a tyre on each side of the deck. With it jammed hard against the vertical drop, I still had the rippers hanging a few feet out the back of the trailer. I chained the grader down, made sure the rippers were in the highest position and raised the ramps. They only came up a little over 45⁰. I chained them to the rippers and would have to keep an eye on the back in case the hydraulics leaked, allowing the rippers to drop.
I put up my signage and flags and headed to the Alligator Creek roadhouse for a shower, feed and sleep.
As an oversize vehicle, I was restricted to daylight travel, so I couldn’t avail myself of the relative safety of darkness. Fortunately the Cat was coming off in Nambour, just north of the 24 hour weighbridge and checking station at Burpengary. I managed to unload without any trouble all the way down. Another win for me.