896gerard Posted November 11, 2015 (edited) I'm not really a regular truck builder, but I like to think of new systems that do not exist in real life yet but that do improve the life of, for example, truck drivers. When something like a big tarmac machine has to drive onto a trailer to go to the next building site, the slope of the trailer should be very small. That small slope is nowadays achieved by making very large ramps that fold up vertically for transport, causing massive air resistance and therefore unnecessary fuel consumption. A way to make these ramps shorter is to decrease the bed height, because that asks for smaller vertical ramps. The second option is making the wheels below the bed smaller. But decreasing the wheel diameter increases the rolling resistance. Another way to solve the problem is placing the bed betweeen the wheels, so that it can be much lower, but that limits the cargo width: the tarmac machine can never be wider than the bed width, which is not handy if truckdriver x has to transport many different tarmac machines. Read the rest of the story and how I solved these problems with my my DAF CF with 3-axle trailer on http://mocpages.com/moc.php/421622 Or watch the video here: To give an idea of the model, I have posted one photo below, the others can be found on http://www.brickshel...ry.cgi?f=560197 in a better resolution.[/font][/size] Edited November 11, 2015 by 896gerard Corrected font and changed image to link Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
aminnich Posted November 11, 2015 Their are so many parts of this I just love, NICE JOB!! For truck, I love the gear box idea, moving the whole motor assembly is a pretty clever idea. Not just the functionality of the truck, but it also looks clean and nothing is missing. For trailer, I wasn't expecting that at all! Genius idea. I'm guessing you used gear racks to move the rear wheels front?? My only concern is that the thickness of the trailer bed isn't enough for the heavier load. If that was thicker, you make it much stronger. All in all nice moc!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
896gerard Posted November 11, 2015 Their are so many parts of this I just love, NICE JOB!! For truck, I love the gear box idea, moving the whole motor assembly is a pretty clever idea. Not just the functionality of the truck, but it also looks clean and nothing is missing. For trailer, I wasn't expecting that at all! Genius idea. I'm guessing you used gear racks to move the rear wheels front?? My only concern is that the thickness of the trailer bed isn't enough for the heavier load. If that was thicker, you make it much stronger. All in all nice moc!! Well, it IS strong enough. I have put the 8258 truck on it and it only bended about 1mm. The hardest part of building the trailer was indeed the fact that the trailer bed had to be very thin AND very strong, but I designed for that and it appeared to be very strong. Because it is thin, that does not mean that it is automatically weak. If you think so, maybe you should have a look at the brickshelf link, where the 8258 is on my trailer. Or maybe read some Mechanics Engineering books how to make thin lego structures like this very strong. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
aminnich Posted November 11, 2015 (edited) I'm just saying that from my experience building a similar low boy trailer to 2legoornot2lego. The bed of that trailer is a bunch of thin plates stacked to give it a lot of strength. I believe you that you made it nice and strong, tho And the brick shelf file isn't public yet Edited November 11, 2015 by aminnich Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheItalianBrick Posted November 11, 2015 Hi, nice moc but...I don't see any of the things you mentioned as a real problem! Neither I see your solution as a real solution. Let me explain: small wheels are used simply because sometimes you need more load height, ramps don't effect fuel efficiency that much simply because air resistance works over certan speeds....a truck is in general quite slow! Your "solution" has a big issue when loading an heavy machinery....the pivot poit is so far from the actual carried weight that all the chassis will simply bend...or the truck will be lifted by the trailer! In my opinion I would have spent more time to make the DAF truck more nicer and realistic istead..... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
radar92 Posted November 11, 2015 I love the functioning of the trailer. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
896gerard Posted November 11, 2015 (edited) Hi, nice moc but...I don't see any of the things you mentioned as a real problem! Neither I see your solution as a real solution. Let me explain: small wheels are used simply because sometimes you need more load height, ramps don't effect fuel efficiency that much simply because air resistance works over certan speeds....a truck is in general quite slow! Your "solution" has a big issue when loading an heavy machinery....the pivot poit is so far from the actual carried weight that all the chassis will simply bend...or the truck will be lifted by the trailer! In my opinion I would have spent more time to make the DAF truck more nicer and realistic istead..... How would you use "small wheels because sometimes you need more load height"? Your "solution" has a big issue when loading an heavy machinery....the pivot poit is so far from the actual carried weight that all the chassis will simply bend...or the truck will be lifted by the trailer! Will not happen. I have personally tested already that this trailer can lift a weight of 1,5 kg (more than the DAF truck itself!) without lifting the truck a mm. If this model unit is built with non-lego pieces, the trailer can also be optimized further so that the rear axle does not need to shift fully forward but only partially. In my opinion I would have spent more time to make the DAF truck more nicer and realistic istead..... Well, I'm a Technic builder. And this is a very small scale. You cannot do everything with Technic pieces at this scale. The DAF is not built with Unimog tyres. You may try if you want to do it better with Technic pieces at this scale. I'm just saying that from my experience building a similar low boy trailer to 2legoornot2lego. The bed of that trailer is a bunch of thin plates stacked to give it a lot of strength. I believe you that you made it nice and strong, tho And the brick shelf file isn't public yet Sorry for that, I cannot publish it myself. The same photos are available on my Mocpages account: http://mocpages.com/moc.php/421622 Edited November 11, 2015 by 896gerard Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jim Posted November 11, 2015 Hi, Very nice creation! Your image is way too big. Can you reduce the size to max 1024 wide? And please use the regular font in your post. I have corrected the font for you this time Thanks! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
896gerard Posted November 11, 2015 Hi, Very nice creation! Your image is way too big. Can you reduce the size to max 1024 wide? And please use the regular font in your post. I have corrected the font for you this time Thanks! Thanks for your comment, on my screen the photo was exactly the width of the page, so that's why I used it. I have corrected the photo, thanks for correcting the font. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jim Posted November 11, 2015 Thanks for your comment, on my screen the photo was exactly the width of the page, so that's why I used it. I have corrected the photo, thanks for correcting the font. Thanks for correcting the picture! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheItalianBrick Posted November 11, 2015 Well i mean in real life this could happen! Let's say you load a Caterpillar D8 which weights 36 TONS more or less…..you need a low bed! Also at that scale there is much more you can do…easily….including suspensions, all wheel drive, more details….. But anyway your moc looks clean and I appreciate it! Positive feelings! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
896gerard Posted November 11, 2015 Well i mean in real life this could happen! Let's say you load a Caterpillar D8 which weights 36 TONS more or less…..you need a low bed! Also at that scale there is much more you can do…easily….including suspensions, all wheel drive, more details….. But anyway your moc looks clean and I appreciate it! Positive feelings! Yes you probably could do more at this scale. But not if you have power functions in it and by using a lot of non-Technic pieces. I wanted to prove that you can actually make a truck with Technic pieces AND let it pull a heavy 80 cm long trailer. Please remind that the flat 6 under the cabin takes away a lot of space and that still a steering electric motor has to go there. 4WD simply didn't fit. Maybe if you take all motors out. And do not forget that the cabin folds forward, which requires an extra Technic supporting frame to be under the seats. Having all of those features in one package makes it impossible to do the things you want. Have you ever tried it yourself? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dr_spock Posted November 11, 2015 Interesting and creative solution. Could you run into stability issues such as jack-knifing since the center of gravity of a big heavy machinery load being higher off the ground versus a lowboy trailer? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheItalianBrick Posted November 11, 2015 yourself? One more week before my 8X8 MAN TGS full leaf springs, auto valve compressor, 5 functions, V6 engine it's completed and you'll be amazed! But hey, I love challenges and pushing to the limit! Also your truck it's out of scale… But again I think you should make a nice low bed for it..maybe something crazy with 6 axles! That would be really nice!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
896gerard Posted November 11, 2015 (edited) One more week before my 8X8 MAN TGS full leaf springs, auto valve compressor, 5 functions, V6 engine it's completed and you'll be amazed! But hey, I love challenges and pushing to the limit! Also your truck it's out of scale… But again I think you should make a nice low bed for it..maybe something crazy with 6 axles! That would be really nice!! I think you have not quite realized what my goal is with building Lego Technic creations like this. It is not about building it precisely to a certain scale. It is about inventing new ideas. Building exactly to a certain scale is what many people with Technic or non-Technic pieces. And some of them are incredibly good at it. But to be fair, that is not my personal deepest motive while building with Lego Technic. My biggest pleasure in building with Lego Technic comes from the fact that I often happen to be able to build creations with ideas that no-one has ever built before. And that is something that very few Technic builders do. That is the reason that I did not drive this DAF CF into perfection. For me, it was enough that it had clean looks and that it can be recognised as a DAF. The trailer is the main point of interest here! Edited November 11, 2015 by 896gerard Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dhc6twinotter Posted November 11, 2015 That's a very nice truck and trailer! Looks like a fun project! I'm not sure if you are aware, but trailers like this do exist in real life as well: The video gets more interesting at the 3:00 mark. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
896gerard Posted November 11, 2015 Interesting and creative solution. Could you run into stability issues such as jack-knifing since the center of gravity of a big heavy machinery load being higher off the ground versus a lowboy trailer? Of course that can happen. But at least with this trailer, you can drive straight through a river and with a lowbed, you can't. It's just where your priorities are. My initial idea when I started this project is that I wanted to make an offroad trailer with a very small slope. This whole idea of getting rid of the trailer wheels while unloading copies the small ramp from a low-bed trailer, while having good offroading capabilities when driving. If you would use the same wheels as a low bed trailer, the trailer would have the same height of a low-bed trailer and an incredibly small slope of the ramp. That's a very nice truck and trailer! Looks like a fun project! I'm not sure if you are aware, but trailers like this do exist in real life as well: The video gets more interesting at the 3:00 mark. Well, it seems that somebody else had the same idea... I have never seen that video before. I'm happy that my idea is implemented in practice as well and also seems to work really well! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dhc6twinotter Posted November 11, 2015 Well, it seems that somebody else had the same idea... I have never seen that video before. I'm happy that my idea is implemented in practice as well and also seems to work really well! Well, for not knowing these trailers exist, I think you did a pretty fine job building one! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Saberwing40k Posted November 12, 2015 I didn't know trailers like this existed either, and before I watched the video I was going to say that there would be better methods. But, as the OP pointed out, this trailer has low ramp heights, low drag, and high ground clearance, which would be of great value in some regions. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
2LegoOrNot2Lego... Posted November 12, 2015 Love this build, well done... Whether is already exists or not...haha... :thumbup: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kiwi_Builder Posted November 12, 2015 How would you use "small wheels because sometimes you need more load height"? Because some machinery is too tall to fit under the maximum vehicle height (don't know about Europe but here in NZ it's 4.25 metres from ground to top) while sitting on a trailer with normal wheels. This along with the fact that it is always good to lower the centre of mass to reduce the chance of a rollover. Even on other trailers the 'more load height' can be extremely useful, increasing the amount of load space available to maximise efficiency. But none of that matters, I love what you have done. You have found a potential problem and found ways to solve it. Fixing numerous problems with one design by making vehicles with low ground clearance be able to be loaded easily, removing the aerodynamic drag of ramps (which can also be solved by making the ramps out of mesh, but this is far cooler ) and keeping the same diameter wheels, removing the increased rolling resistance of the smaller ones. This is what I love and you have inspired me with your building to problem solve a real life issue. You've done a very good job and I LOVE it Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Samer Posted November 12, 2015 Leave alone the force accuracy discussion, this creation is genuine idea and involves advanced mechanisms presented handsomely and in reasonable space. Big thumb up Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
