Who doesn’t remember playing with dump trucks as a kid? I know I do, and I know I loved getting covered in mud doing it too! As much fun as I had with my dump trucks, they were nothing like this monster of a truck.
The Liebherr T 282B is the world’s largest, highest payload capacity (363 tons) haul truck in the world. With a V-20, putting out 3650-horsepower, and with its maximum torque reaching an impressive 14457Nm (Newton meter), I would have had a blast playing in the mud with this monster of a dump truck!
This Dump Truck is not a Toy
With the cost of one of these Liebherr T 282B’s being between $4-5 million it’s highly unlikely anyone will have one of these as a back yard toy. These giant dump trucks are used primarily for working with coal, iron, copper, and gold mines all over the world.
On March 29, 2004 the T282B was introduced to the public as an off-road construction type vehicle. Being 50 ft 3 in long, and 29 ft 10 in wide makes this dump truck too large for public roads, and even has to have the assembly completed once delivered to its destination site. Just the tires alone are taller than a person!
When fully loaded this dump truck moves at 40 mph, which doesn’t seem like much considering it has 3,650-horsepower – until you remember it’s carrying almost 400 tons in the back of it! With speed like that it’s a good thing they aren’t street legal.
The Engine
The T282-B is actually run with a DDC/MTU 20V4000 motor offering the greatest output of any commercially available vehicle in the world. The engine has 20 cylinders arranged in a V pattern and weighs in at 10.4 tons by itself, and also has a capacity of 90 liters. One of the most important things about the Liebherrs T 282B is its engine, which is a diesel electric drive that powers an electric generator which powers the alternating current driving motors. Compared to the mechanically propelled Kippern, the advantages brought by this engine are enormous improvements. Besides the service life being substantially longer for the drive system, the improvements in transferring power to the wheels is a major upgrade seen in this dump truck.
