Giant aircraft wings being transported along I-275 in Livonia

**artds** · September-05-14, 02:01 PM

Does anyone know which local company makes/works on these? I see them about once a month. Each one is strapped to an oversize flatbed trailer and usually escorted by smaller trucks with "Oversized Load" signs on them. I've also seen them on Michigan Avenue near US-23 just south east of Ann Arbor.

**Honky Tonk** · September-05-14, 02:11 PM

Originally Posted by artds

Does anyone know which local company makes/works on these? I see them about once a month. Each one is strapped to an oversize flatbed trailer and usually escorted by smaller trucks with "Oversized Load" signs on them. I've also seen them on Michigan Avenue near US-23 just south east of Ann Arbor.

Could they be wind turbine blades? There are several companies in the A2 area.

**Johnnny5** · September-05-14, 02:15 PM

Originally Posted by Honky Tonk

Could they be wind turbine blades? There are several companies in the A2 area.

That's exactly what they are. You'll often see the tower pieces traveling the same routes.

**Honky Tonk** · September-05-14, 02:29 PM

Originally Posted by Johnnny5

That's exactly what they are. You'll often see the tower pieces traveling the same routes.

Do I win anything?

**Jimaz** · September-05-14, 02:30 PM

Ah hah! That explains the Giant Asian Hornets.

**Honky Tonk** · September-05-14, 02:44 PM

After every rain, there's more yellow sand piled up outside that hole between the sidewalk cracks. I sat out there a few times with my camera, but have never seen anything come out of it. I haven't given up. Now, back to our regularly scheduled thread.

**ndavies** · September-05-14, 02:51 PM

They are wind turbine parts. Last summer there were a bunch of the blades, towers parts and nacelles [[The part that holds the generator) heading north on I-275. This summer there have been a bunch of blades heading South. I haven't seen any tower parts or nacelles this summer. The tower parts have to be at least 10 foot in diameter, they barely fit under the bridges. They have special trailers for both the blades and the tower sections. They're usually park at the rest areas during rush hour. [[I drive one end of 275 to the other every work day.)

**Inkadinkado** · September-05-14, 05:21 PM

North of Pontiac there is at least one shop that does precision machining of aluminum for aircraft wing components. If you know machining for auto these parts will really stand out when you see them roll by on flatbeds. Like dinosaur or alien bones. Up Lapeer road, I believe.

**TKshreve** · September-05-14, 06:04 PM

Originally Posted by Honky Tonk

After every rain, there's more yellow sand piled up outside that hole between the sidewalk cracks. I sat out there a few times with my camera, but have never seen anything come out of it. I haven't given up. Now, back to our regularly scheduled thread.

I think the flooding may have given them a whopping.

**Jimaz** · September-05-14, 07:12 PM

Originally Posted by ndavies

They are wind turbine parts.... The tower parts have to be at least 10 foot in diameter, they barely fit under the bridges. They have special trailers for both the blades and the tower sections....

That's interesting.

So is that the only constraint on the size of these windmills? If they could relax that constraint would they make them even larger?

My father worked on the Saturn V boosters that launched Apollo to the moon. They built them near New Orleans because they were too large to transport by rail. Instead they had to barge them from New Orleans around the tip of Florida up to what was then Cape Kennedy for launch.

I'm wondering what the next size-limiting constraint would be if they could transport larger windmill parts by some other means, say airship, and would it be cost-effective to do so?

Just dreaming.

**archfan** · September-06-14, 01:43 AM

The constraints for wind turbine size are cost. Bigger blades require more material and mean more weight at the top of an ever-higher tower. One company proposed an offshore 20mw turbine with blades 260+ feet long, but they admit it requires new, lighter materials. GE is experimenting with building the blades out of architectural fiber rather than fiberglass. But I wouldn't want to be the one who has to sew up a rip...

**lpg** · September-08-14, 07:45 PM

I have seen them getting off NB I-75 at Dearborn Ave. Then heading north on Jefferson through Delray.

**DetroitPlanner** · September-08-14, 07:59 PM

My dad told me they are that big to make it hard for the scrappers to fit in the back of their hooptie-trucks.

**56packman** · September-09-14, 08:14 AM

They have been heading east on 696 all summer long.

**Steve203** · September-09-14, 03:33 PM

Boeing machines wing spars out of solid aluminum slabs that are as long as the wing. They have a neat rig for getting the slabs from Alcoa or Reynolds up to the widebody plant in Everett. I wonder if the people that drive the rear bogie have to be under 5'5" or so to fit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn0OaxD3XuM

**Jimaz** · September-09-14, 05:48 PM

Originally Posted by Steve203

... They have a neat rig for getting the slabs from Alcoa or Reynolds up to the widebody plant in Everett....

That's pretty cool.

They used to have rear drivers on fire [[ladder) trucks too. I think it was to allow tighter turns in dense city streets.

Ah! It's called a tiller ladder truck

**MrJones** · September-10-14, 12:48 AM

North of Lansing on US 127 near Ithaca there is a windmill farm. Those things are huge. I've seen many of them heading east on I-696 from Farmington over the past year or so. No idea where they're headed.