Tatra completed production and shipped the longest and heaviest model in its history . This is a chassis for a special drilling rig that will be mounted on the vehicle by the German manufacturer Streicher Drilling Technology . The vehicle will then be used for exploratory wells even in difficult terrain, the total weight of the complete vehicle is approximately 84 tons.
The chassis has a total of eight axles and is in a 16×8 drive configuration in accordance with the customer's request. However, the arrangement of the drivetrain allows the vehicle to have all axles driven if desired, i.e. 16×16. The first three axles are air-sprung, have a load capacity of 10 tons, and are steerable. The middle double axle is sprung with a combination of air bags and leaf springs (so-called heavy combined suspension) with a load capacity of up to 16 tons depending on the tires used and the required maximum speed (in this particular case, a maximum load of 14.7 tons is possible). The last three axles are steerable again and are sprung with airbags with a load capacity of 10 tons. The steering of the rear axles is hydraulic with electronic steering from the Dutch manufacturer VSE with a connection to the rotation of the front wheels. The wheelbases between individual axles are 2150/2150/2860/1450/2150/1650/1650 mm. All steered axles are fitted with 385/65 R22.5 single-mounted tires , and 315/80 R22.5 double- mounted tires on the middle twin axle. In this configuration, the total technically permissible weight is 86.4 tons, or up to 92 tons when choosing the appropriate tires.
The impressive special is powered by a liquid-cooled Caterpillar C-32 forked twelve -cylinder engine with a volume of 32 liters with an output of 1132 hp and a torque of 5143 Nm. Such high power is only needed to drive the drilling rig , in the case of driving a vehicle, its power and torque are electronically reduced by about half. The engine is followed by a six-speed Allison 8610 MR automatic transmission with a retarder. Through the gimbal, the driving torque is transmitted to the so-called "distributive" additional gearbox, equipped with gearing for the drive of either the drilling rig (full engine power) with the output in the upper part of the gearbox, or the vehicle drive (reduced engine power) with the output in the lower part of the gearbox. The lower output is again connected via the cardan to the second additional gearbox, already integrated in the chassis support tube, where the drive torque is distributed via a divider and inter-axle differentials to the wheels of the permanently driven axles – 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th axles. Both additional transmissions are custom-built with housings and other components based on standard transmissions designed for stock Force and Phoenix model series vehicles. To cool the engine, transmission and hydraulic circuits, two cooling blocks are located on both sides of the vehicle behind the cabin, each with a hydraulically driven fan.
The vehicle is fitted with a standard Tatra Force cabin design with a driver and passenger seat. This time, the cabin is non-tilting and, compared to standard cars, due to the required height limit and with regard to the engine installation, it is moved 200 mm forward and 50 mm down. The vehicle frame consists of two parts, bolted together in the space behind the third axle – the front part is a product of our company, the rear part was supplied by a German body builder. The total length of the vehicle, including the frame, is 18,080 mm , the height over the cabin is 2,490 mm and the width is 3,000 mm. The turning radius is 15.5 m, the turning radius is 14.3 m.
After carrying out the relevant trials and tests , the vehicle was loaded onto a transport semi-trailer using two cranes and transported to Germany , where it will be completed with the superstructure.
Source: Tatra Trucks
