Hauling a Million-Dollar Mining Dump Truck is Much Easier Said Than Done

There are a lot of situations in this world that are more than meets the eye. One example of this is heavy hauling. To the untrained eye, it might just seem like a truck hooks up to a loaded trailer and takes off. However, the situation is usually much more than that. These truckers aren’t simply being paid to drive from one point to the next. Instead, they are also responsible for the load that they are pulling.

When that load just so happens to be a Caterpillar 777 mining haul truck, things get rather complicated. After all, the total combination here weighs in at around 200,000 pounds. Not only that but this load is much wider and taller than a normal truck would be. Therefore, the driver is going to have to take many extra precautions to get this monster where it needs to go. In fact, there’s an entire team responsible for making sure that nothing happens along the way. It almost goes without saying that one mistake here is going to be rather expensive.

In addition to not wanting to mess up any load, the price factor is sure to weigh in here. These dump trucks have been known to cost north of $1 million. If this thing goes toppling off the trailer, it’s certainly going to make for a long day. With that in mind, it makes the process all that much more interesting as well. Every last piece of the puzzle has to be exactly right.

By following along with the video below, we get immersed in the action of a heavy-duty hauler. In the behind the scenes look from Big Rig Videos, we get the opportunity to really get an idea of what a day in the life of a heavy-duty truck driver is really like. Spoiler alert: It’s stressful!