In certain countries, like the United States and Russia for example, we can find gigantic geological formations directly created by humans: open-air mines. Whether it is to extract copper, rare earths or even diamonds, they exist almost everywhere in the world and are used to make many of the objects we use on a daily basis.
And not just any ones. Since if on the road, the 33 tons are certainly the largest machines that we could come across on a daily basis, they are ridiculously small and light compared to the monsters that we are going to present to you. And obviously, when it comes to comparing who has the biggest… truck, nothing beats a cockfight between Russia and the United States.
Cat 797F: the very famous one in the United States
If we say Caterpillar, English speakers will understand that we are talking about a caterpillar, fans of large machines will understand that we are talking about truly enormous machines that we find on large construction sites. And among them, gigantic trucks like the Cat 797F.
Winner of the “The Coolest Thing Made in Illinois” in 2020, the mining truck used in surface mines across the country, and in North America in general, is one of the stars of the industry. And its dimensions are simply impressive:
- Length: 15.08 meters
- Width: 9.755 m
- Height: 7,709 m
- Weight (empty): 260.69 tonnes
- Payload: 363 tonnes
- Maximum weight: 623.69 tonnes (the equivalent of more than 4 blue whales)
And yet, although it is decidedly enormous, this truck, well this mega truck, is not the biggest in the world. More or less, he remains behind a monster from Russia.
BelAZ-75710: the giant truck from Russia
If Russian automotive know-how is not necessarily the best known or most recognized internationally, the country’s industrial strength is. Particularly in the mining industry. This is how, within the framework of the exploitation of the country’s open-cast mines, Russia can count on its in-house truck: the BelAZ-75710.
Written БелАЗ-75710 in Russian, it is simply the biggest truck in the world. When reading its technical sheet, we don’t know if we are talking about a small plane, a building or a truck because it seems so unreal.
Look instead:
- Length: 20.6 meters
- Width: 10.62 m
- Height: 8.17 m
- Weight (empty): 360 tonnes
- Payload: 450 tonnes
- Maximum weight: 810 tonnes
Quite simply a motorized monster.
Small objects next to huge construction machines
If the BelAZ-75710 and the Cat 797F are definitely recognizable trucks due to their gigantism, they are not much compared to the construction equipment that allows them to fill their skips.
And in mines, we find in particular excavators or excavators whose champion of all categories is German. Named Bagger 293, it measures 96 meters high, 225 meters long and weighs 14,877 tonnes. Otherwise, even the BelAZ-75710 or the largest truck in the world, looks like just a big toy when seen from the top of this giant excavator.
Source: Caterpillar / Reading
