Everyday Heroes: Meet Finning's service ... - Finning Canada

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STOPS ON A DIME: Fully loaded, the 797 achievesspeeds of 68 km/h. Oil-cooled hydraulic 42-inchdisc brakes bring it to a haltI’ve been a passenger in a full load at 64 kilometresper hour. You imagine putting yourhouse in the back of a pickup truck and drivingalong; it’s quite a feeling.”To put it another way: imagine carting 1.4million pounds zooming with you on yourdrive to work.The good news is the brakes work just fine.At Caterpillar’s vehicle testing site in Arizona,Davis watched a fully loaded truck travellingat that speed “stop on a dime.” It’s no surprise:each wheel is backed by 10 to 15, 42-inchbrake discs. They’re cooled by a computersystem that pumps more than 1,000 gallonsof oil per minute through the coolers and thebrake discs.In fact, driving the 797 isn’t that differentfrom operating a much smaller vehicle, andis a favourite with operators, says Davis. Afterall, at its heart, it’s just a big old two-passenger,two-door dump truck with rear-wheel-drive.“It’s like driving your car,” he says again.Yeah, right, and your car usually has 70 elephantsin the back.OLDER BROTHER: Today’s 797grew from the 793C, pictured heretop photograph courtesy of suncor70 tracks & treads • Spring 2008 www.finning.ca
Have anIce DayIn February and March, a fleetof Cat machines plows a 600-kmstrip of ice, hoping that -27°Cholds on a little longerSTORY BY JASON UNRAUuring winter in southern<strong>Canada</strong>, icy roads call for anoverdose of rock salt to tameslippery conditions, but in the NorthwestTerritories, ice is a good thing for transportation.In fact, for 1,400 kilometres of seasonaloverland routes, the ice becomes theroad and the more ice, the better.Welcome to the world of frozen highways,constructed with a flurry of activityand a fleet of heavy equipment. When themercury bottoms out, winter roads linkmany communities that would otherwisebe inaccessible. But they also open up a vitalindustry route between Yellowknife and thediamond mines to the north.In February, if you hang an abrupt andrather unceremonious left off Highway 4,some 68 kilometres northwest of Yellowknife,you’ll find yourself on the longestice road in the NWT. Before it closed forthe 2007 season, the Tibbitt-to-ContwoytoWinter Road snaked its way across nearly600 kilometres of frozen lakes and over64 portages, places where the road crossesrocky islands or frozen arms of land betweenthe water bodies. It’s a private road,built in a joint venture among the handfulof mines along its length.For an average of 10 weeks per year thisopaque, windswept trail provides a lifelineto four diamond mines operating in theterritory’s remote and unforgiving barren-lands.“When this road was first built,a heavy season was 760 loads. In the ‘92,‘93 era, we thought that was a big deal. Lastyear I think it was 11,600 loads,” says JohnZigarlick, chairman of Nuna Logistics, thecompany that the joint venture partnershire to construct, maintain and managethe road each year.Zigarlick’s involvement with the roadbegan in 1983 when he was president ofEcho Bay Mine Ltd. The mine required aneconomical way to get machinery and suppliesto its Lupin gold mine. Back then,without the luxury of GPS and radar to determineice thickness, Zigarlick and his crewdrilled holes every two or three kilometresto test the ice. With thousands of big rigsladen with heavy equipment and fuel drivingto and from mine sites today, the thicknessmust be monitored with pinpointprecision.“We use ground penetration radar, anew innovation,” says Zigarlick. “It’s actuallygetting quite sophisticated now.”Road builders start reconnaissance of theroute in mid-December. After they profilethe ice road using amphibious Haglunds,flooding begins. The goal is to remove theinsulating layer of snow and build the ice toa uniform thickness.Of course, Cat equipment is involved, intwo stages; first D4 and D6 dozers maintainthe land portages prior to ice road construction.Second, when the ice road reaches sufficientthickness (about 70 centimetres),the heavy 140H, 140G and 14G graders arewww.finning.ca Spring 2008 • TRACKS & TREADS 71
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News & ReviewsBY DAVID DICENZOPaint
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GROUNDBREAKERGareth SinePedal to th
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GROUNDBREAKERBy the NumbersHeight i
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We service what we sellIn 1928, Ear
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CAT POWER: A Cat 3406 engine powers
Page 19 and 20: SIXTIES SERVICE: Finning’s Jerry
Page 21 and 22: company was asked to take on the ad
Page 24 and 25: Giant spruce near Port Renfrew, B.C
Page 28 and 29: Lines Acrossthe NorthKenn and Rosel
Page 30 and 31: REMEMBER WHEN…Terrace, B.C. field
Page 32 and 33: Remember When…Cat equipment clean
Page 34 and 35: EverydayHeroesKeeping customers’
Page 36 and 37: Green isGoldOne B.C. family is tear
Page 38 and 39: The sureway: An Edmonton constructi
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Page 43 and 44: Partners inProgressAn Edmonton comp
Page 45 and 46: operating methods. It’s helpful i
Page 47 and 48: 1940s: DW-10 wheel tractorequipment
Page 49 and 50: 1970s:D10 tractorCat spreads its wi
Page 51: 793 has a higher yield.” Moving m
Page 54 and 55: TEAM SPARWOOD: Clockwise from botto
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Page 58 and 59: BigThoughtsIT’S ALL THAT: Kidco u
Page 60 and 61: REMEMBER WHEN…Field Service 1962b
Page 62 and 63: For a long time, Earl Finning’sde
Page 64 and 65: 12 DecadesStrongPeter AndrewA coupl
Page 67 and 68: A NiceStretchRon Macmillan’s gran
Page 69: REMEMBER WHEN…Service preventive
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Page 75 and 76: LIMITED TIME ONLY - 75 TH ANNIVERSA
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Everyday Heroes: Meet Finning's service ... - Finning Canada

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