Boy, this thread brought out the lurkers.

Why the hell would you weigh it??
How?? Some kind of pneumatic pressue system? (random guess)

they measure it's gravitational pull, and extrapolate it. :)

Is it me or does the guy standing next to it look a bit like that photo of bruce?

Must be what he uses to help move the doodad collection around.

Jag said Why the hell would you weigh it??

To know how much product their is in the truck , most bulk product ( rock, steel scrap , etc,,,,) is bought and sold by the ton .

How??

Here is one way http://www.mt.com/mt/product_detail/...y=I3Mjg4NjM1MD

I installed the first one of these ever and walked it thru the government testing on site . Have you ever seen 400,000 lbs of known and un known weight ?? I have pics if you would like .

Some kind of pneumatic pressue system? (random guess)

No with strain guage load cells . Pnuematics wouldn't work because air expands and contracts to much , no to mention the water that would accumulate in the system .
How ever there are scales that use hydrostatic systems , great for explosive areas and for large weird applications out side were lighting resistance is a consideration .

Okay, it's a good thing these things aren't road vehicles. I'd imagine they'd need a full runway to stop the bloody thing if it ever got up to its projected 40 mph.

They DO make transmissions and driveshafts that big...and bigger.

These items are installed on all current Navy ships. The shafts are on the order of two feet in diameter and the MRG's (Main Reduction Gears) handle the output of one or two LM2500 gas turbine engines putting out up to 20,000 bhp each. AR AR AR!

Brian

This 109,000 Horsepower engine, also uses a single driveshaft, but only 102 RPM. :)

I live alongside miles of beach and dunes and would really like one of these just for one day, just for fooling around. Oh yes.

Yep. You've got to consider the sheer weight and expense of those components and the ease of running a cable to wheels instead of designing around shafts, wasting space.. It'd probably be a lot lighter and cheaper to go the electric motor direction.

The 688 class submarine I was on has TWO 30,000 hp high pressure steam turbines attached to a transmission the size of a storage shed.

The transmission turns one shaft with a 17' seven bladed screw.

Big loads for big trucks have there share of problems

I think I must have passed a semi carrying tires for one of those trucks last month. They were sitting on a flatbed on their sides, and the tires took up a lane and a half. I wondered what they were for.

I lived in Indiana where they do a lot of coal mining. These trucks have been known to kill. YellowBolt, you can't see where the driver sits and he can't see where you sit.

Jackie Chan
 

Jackie Chan made good use of this vehicle in Mr Nice Guy (American release title).