Fans of pilot vehicles, heavy and ungainly loads, many axles and brutish prime movers – rejoice! For the second consecutive issue, we’re lucky enough to feature a heavy-haul unit with a big, yellow machine on its back, and some innovative technology underneath it all.

Just a short trip south on the Waikato Expressway from Horotiu-based Hanes Engineering – the cover star of our March issue – is the township of Hautapu, just north of Cambridge. It’s known historically for its 140-year-old dairy factory, and in more recent times – and especially to the transport and earthmoving fraternities – as the home of C & R Developments.

You’d no doubt have noticed the company’s yard alongside the expressway. Missing the expanse of big yellow earthmoving machinery and bigger green sheds is impossible. Head into the premises, and you’ll find the company’s fleet of big orange trucks – four Caterpillar bulk units, a five-axle K200 crane truck and five heavy-haul Kenworths. The company operates more than 200 major plant items, plus 11 heavy trucks (soon to be 12) and a fleet of smaller support vehicles and utes.

While they exist to support the company’s core task of shifting earth, the C & R Developments trucks are as synonymous with the company as one of its Caterpillar bulldozers – most certainly in the North Island. But, while we’ve featured some of the company’s truck fleet over the years, none has ever had the honour of gracing the cover until now – with the arrival of the company’s latest Kenworth T909, The Duke.

Good trucks, great crew

Owned and operated by brothers Mike, Tony, Tim and Simon Ross, C & R Developments has built a reputation for excellence in civil earthworks and bulk earthmoving. The thing about operating a fleet of earthmoving machines is that they need to be moved to and from jobs. And when the plant needs to move, it needs to move.

“We bought the transporters to work in with our civil jobs,” says Simon Ross. “It got to the stage we’d grown too big to be relying on others to move our gear – it became too tough getting trucks when we wanted them, so it was crucial to get our own transporters.”

First in was the company’s 1997 T950, an ex-B.R. Satherley Transport unit that C & R acquired about 14 years ago. “It’s been a great old girl for us, but it just does light duties now,” Simon says.

After the 950, the company acquired Pistol Pete, a C15-powered 2008 T908 out of Australia. Until the arrival of The Duke, this unit was driven, cared for and loved by the affable Murray ‘Muzz’ Peake – who did well over a million in it.

The company’s first T909 arrived in 2012, driven by Tony Goodwin, and in 2020, the company rebuilt a C15-powered, 2003 Kenworth C501 Brute – another truck out of Australia and reserved for the heavier stuff with its 200-tonne rating and TRT six-line ESS Platform Trailer.

“It wasn’t in as good a nick as we thought it was when we bought it, but it got a new lease on life and now does the hard yards,” Simon says with a smile. (The full story on the Brute can be found in the November 2020 issue of New Zealand Trucking.)

As operators, the Ross brothers were not necessarily dedicated ‘Kenworth guys’. “Our first transporter back in the days of Baker Construction was an IH,” says Simon (see, The boys and their (big) toys). “We later had an International S-Line. Before that, way back in the 1970s, Cambridge Heavy Haulage did all our transporting. Then Porters took over until we bought the 950.”

Adds transport manager Andrew Stevenson: “The trucks are essential. When the gear needs to move, we can’t rely on another party that might give other gear priority. And when a truck breaks down, we need to get another one out there immediately, not next week.”

“The Kenworths have been good machines generally; we’ve had no real issues from them,” Simon notes.

“They’re a lot more comfortable than they used to be, compared to the 950 …” adds Andrew, who then throws in a comment that strikes us as both interesting and insightful in 2025’s world of increasingly technologically advanced trucks.

“They’ve been proven for years – that’s why so many of them are put on heavy haul. And our mechanics can fix them in our workshop … They’re ‘simple’, good, solid trucks. And for the age of some of them, they’re not often in the shop.”

Almost before he can finish his sentence, Simon adds a point relevant to the entire industry, but exponentially more so when it comes to this line of work: “You can have all the best trucks, but if you have the wrong buggers on them … We’re lucky with the guys we have, who are so good on the gear. They’re bloody passionate guys with long-term experience, real truckies who love their trucks. There’s no need to ask them to go out and wash them; they’re blinged up all the time. We have a good crew, that’s for sure.”

Speccing it right

Part of the C & R family for 14 years now, Muzz is exactly that kind of truckie – passionate, professional and personable; he takes immense pride in the job and his unit.

“I still enjoy this work. It’s challenging, keeps your mind sharp. Every load is different. You can have two similar machines on the trailer on the same day, and both will load and ride differently,” he says.

The key to making the job easier is the gear. As far as Muzz’s new 909 is concerned, it follows a tried-and-true recipe, running the same mechanical spec as his old 908, save for the motor – the 908 running a Caterpillar C15 ACERT that was ‘breathed upon’ to produce in the region of 700hp, the 909 running the venerable Cummins X-15 at 459kW (615hp).

Otherwise, it runs the same 22-series 18-speed Roadranger, Meritor MFS73 front axle on 7.2-tonne Kenworth suspension, and Meritor RT52-185G rear axles geared at 4.89:1 (with diff locks and oil cooler), riding on NeWay AD246-10 air suspension for a 20.8 tonne rear-axle rating. It’s dimensionally the same, too, running a 5500mm wheelbase – short and manoeuvrable but still stable. In all, it’s rated to a GCM of 155 tonne.

“It’s a spec we know works,” says Andrew.

SI Lodec scales, TRT Traction Air central tyre inflation, and a Jost 90mm oscillating turntable on a TRT subframe all play a supporting role.

Arguably, however, the star of the show is what hooks up to the Kenworth: a TRT Four- Rows-of-Eight ESS Widening Low Loader, the first of three the Hamilton engineering firm has so far built in exactly this spec. It replaces Muzz’s old MTE four- rows-of-eight and, where that was a relatively straightforward unit, the new TRT four-row ESS trailer changes the game. It’s a first of its kind, and the C & R team worked closely with Jeremy Carden, trailer sales specialist at TRT, and Jason McLuskie, who led the design, during its development.

The innovation is combining TRT’s electronic steering system and double-acting suspension with a float. Each axle can steer to 45 degrees, and the trailer height can be altered from 815mm to 1515mm.

Jeremy explains the different systems built into the unit: “The axles are driven by a ram that sits in the well under the deck, which pushes on the steering quadrant to activate the steering arm on the axle leg. Each leg’s kingpin housing is built into the separate decks allowing for the 45-degree steering angle either side of centre, compared to a standard rows-of-eight assembly where the axle beam goes through the main webs.

“The electronic steering system is guided by a slew ring built into the skid plate and a wedge plate that sits in the truck’s fifth wheel. Two encoders read the angle between them as the truck turns, sending the signal to the Rexroth controllers. The transducers on the steering rams then interpret this info and move the wheels accordingly.”

The business end of the TRT Four-Rows-of-Eight ESS Widening Low Loader … Yanmar diesel water-cooled engine sits directly over the kingpin. Twenty-tonne removable Hammer winch pack. Dual Bosh Rexroth RC controllers housed inside the control box.

Jeremy adds that the axles are spaced at the maximum 2.4m and, compared with a traditional rows-of-eight axle, each leg has its own suspension unit. “This allows control of the ride height when its empty and loaded and locking off of single axles with a single valve. For example, when changing tyres with a machine on, there’s no need to block axles up to get a tyre off.”

A hydraulic compensating gooseneck with 650mm stroke means the trailer doesn’t strain the truck’s chassis when on uneven ground, and can create an incline to help with loading. A single shut-off valve is placed at reach on the outside of the gooseneck so that it can be easily locked off.

The remote control – familiar to anyone who’s operated a house-moving trailer – gives full independent control of height, steering, ramp control and widening. “It’s safer than getting under the trailer to use levers,” says Jeremy. “Various manual steering modes allow you to override the slew ring, and the operator can completely control each axle up to 45 degrees in slow-speed manoeuvring. You can make the axles do all sorts of wonderful things, like artificially create a pivot point to get around tight obstacles.”

It’s all powered by an integrated Yanmar diesel water-cooled engine. Two Bosch Rexroth RC controllers are the ‘brain’ of the machine. The only connection to the truck is a cable that runs to the dash-mounted remote display.

“People hear the word electronic, and they worry it won’t last. But it’s pretty simple and very robust: 95% mechanical and hydraulic with 5% electronics to control it,” Jeremy comments.

TRT has tried to keep a reasonably long beavertail, given the need to accommodate the steering mechanism for the last axle row beneath, while ramps are standard 2.8m single fold, with options to go longer if requested.

One disadvantage of the trailer is it can’t close to 2500mm width; the platforms close to 3090mm and widen to 4390mm. The deck length measures 13.2m from the front of the deck sheet to the ramps, or 12.65m of clear deck space from the base of the gooseneck. Tare weight is between 23.5 and 23.7 tonne. “You’ve got seven tonnes of tare weight up your sleeve compared to a traditional four-line platform lead trailer with a removable ramp module,” Jeremy says.

Other features include a removable 20-tonne Hammer winch pack, a manifold greasing system, fully welded coaming rail protectors, polished Alcoa wheels (which Jeremy says help reduce tare weight by about 350kg over steel rims on a four- rows unit), Ausbinders rather than chain twitches on the ramps, and lights on each axle group, the gooseneck and the ramps.

“Muzz wanted the lights – his trailer has 12-work lights, 28 side markers and eight marine plug sockets for additional lighting.”

D10 on the move

It’s midnight on a late-February Wednesday when we gather at the Hautapu yard to accompany Muzz and The Duke on its maiden job – a Caterpillar D10T bulldozer headed to the Port of Auckland, to be shipped down to the Lyttelton Port where it will join half a dozen of the firm’s other machines, including dumpers and graders, for stage two of the port’s reclamation project. C & R had completed stage one as a joint venture with Heron Construction that began in 2019, dredging 5ha of seabed and replacing it with 3.5 million tonnes of selected aggregate material.

Andrew would later explain the rationale for shipping the gear: “We have a contract with the port, and it works out cheaper to send it from the Port of Auckland. The majority of our running is in the North Island and we tie in with Satherleys in the South Island. A lot of gear goes in, but not a lot comes out. So, because they’re based there, it helps to work with them. Even if transporting it ourselves, we’d come back empty and that’s a big cost.

“The South Island is a bit hard for this work. There’s bugger-all roads we can use between Blenheim and Amberley; you can’t be more than 3.1m wide. We can’t go down the Kaikōura Coast because of the tunnels. To cross some of the South Island bridges, we have to unload the machine and walk it through the creek – if it’s not been raining …” he explains.

“Getting the machines back is different because sometimes the ships will come back into Wellington. So, we might drop gear off in Wellington and bring them back from there.”

And, that’s assuming you have all the necessary permits to traverse the roads on your route – every state highway in the country, really. Speaking of which, it was this that scuppered The Duke’s originally planned maiden voyage the night before when it was supposed to shift a machine to Whangārei. But hey, that’s trucking … The 908 stepped in, the job got done, and here we are in the early hours of the following day ready to head out with the D10T.

With it being loaded the day before, Muzz fires up The Duke and the trailer’s Yanmar and begins his pre-trip inspection.

Immediately, the advantage of the trailer’s lights – along with five on the cab’s back wall – is clear. There are few parts of the combination not clearly visible and when a large portion of the job is undertaken in the dead of night, that can only be a good thing. “It’s great to see where my axles are placed when I’m manoeuvring it,” Muzz comments.

The trailer was delivered in September 2024, and Muzz has already done about 20,000km with it. That’s a fair amount, considering he also spends time towing the six-rows unit, so he’s well accustomed to its operation now. “You can’t beat it when it comes to the steering. That is really good,” he says. As we’d later see, it does indeed follow the truck impeccably.

Pilots Richard McHugh and Geoff Hindrup lead us out of the yard, with Jamie Ashby following the truck. Muzz is running at 4.9m high, 5.2m wide and at 99 tonnes. It doesn’t take long for the team to encounter the first obstacle on the route – the recently installed Hautapu roundabout on Victoria Road/SH1B. Even though C & R successfully lobbied for an extra metre of road along one of its edges, its non-steerable units would still have to negotiate it down the oncoming side when widened and heading for the motorway. (More on roundabouts and the other challenges the heavy-haul industry faces in the sidebar Same as everyone, just worse.)

Tonight, though, Muzz faces no such drama. He approaches, turns in, follows much the same line as he would in any conventional unit, and blasts out with incredible ease. No tyre scrub, no dragging the trailer over the inner curbing, no strain on gear or operator.

Much like Mark Dennis in the Hanes Engineering Mack Titan in our March issue, Muzz can run up the Waikato Expressway to Auckland’s Southern Motorway at Ramarama, from which he’ll have to follow the heavy-haul route along Great South Road through the southern suburbs. But whereas last month we exited for our destination before Penrose, this time, Muzz will continue a little further to Green Lane West and turn off at Mt Eden Road. From there, it’s a straight run to the city at Symonds Street, which runs virtually to the entrance of the port at Tinley Street.

The Duke has done just 1200km, and with this being its first outing, it’ll still need a bit of loosening up. We’re hitching a ride from the Huntly Bypass to Ramarama and Muzz – ever the Cat man and with the 908 still holding firm in his truck- driving psyche – gives his initial impressions. “It’s feeling all right … I stayed in high range all up the Huntly Bypass, which is good.”

Cool heads prevail

With the Waikato Expressway largely devoid of other traffic, it’s an easy trip north as The Duke continues to stretch it legs – the 909 registering an interior noise level just about on par with the Hanes Titan, a perfectly comfortable 74db.

That is until we encounter two house-moving units ahead, parked on the hard shoulder of the expressway with one of their vehicles broken down. Radios light up between pilots and drivers of both crews. “We’re coming through with 5.2!” is the call; there’s nothing for Muzz to do but continue his approach.

“Muzz, it’s going to be f$&%ing tight to get our blade past,” calls Geoff.

True to his laid-back character, Muzz is unfazed. “Ah, okay,” he responds.

“All clear on the back door, Muzz,” Jamie adds.

Muzz brings The Duke to a crawl and lines up as close to the central barriers as he can, the Caterpillar’s blade just clearing it. With eyes trained on his mirrors, Muzz guides the unit through. Jamie provides guidance from behind: “Good on your left, Muzz … Five hundred on your right … Plenty of room, mate, you’re all right …”

It’s all about communication, patience and experience. “We come across all kinds of stuff; I’ve seen it all,” Muzz comments once we’re safely past.

“This job is different. Every load is different. It’s sort of like driving a stock unit; you can’t just change direction. Once you’ve picked your line, you have to stick with it. It’s all about common sense. Slow down and assess. You can’t drive around at 100km/h with something like this behind you. It’s a whole different ballgame. You’ve got to pick when you’re going to do everything, like letting someone pass. It comes with experience, and this job is not everyone’s cup of tea. It takes a certain kind of driver. But it’s like that in other areas of trucking too.”

Soon, we reach the Bombays, The Duke’s first real test. The weight of the D10T is immediately apparent as Muzz approaches and begins to drop gears. The pyro needle climbs and the fan kicks in. She’s pulling, but Muzz has to drop into the low box. The latter part of the climb is completed at about 16km/h at 1400rpm in third, the X-15 just in its torque peak of 2779Nm (2050lb/ft) at 1200r/min. (Max power is 459kW (615hp) at 1800r/min.) By the time we reach the Nikau Road overbridge, the X-15 begins to pick up speed once more.

“I was a good half a gear to a full gear down at various points there, compared to the 908,” he comments. “I’d have been doing about 22km/h in that. But, overall, it wasn’t bad; it’ll loosen up.”

By 2.30am, we reach Ramarama, and those lights at the trailer axles allow a good view of it tracking the truck beautifully through the bends and turns on our route to the port. With Auckland (mostly) asleep, it takes us another 80 minutes to reach our destination, and 45 minutes later, Muzz and The Duke emerge, trailer empty and narrowed up for the return home in the early hours of the morning.

In awe

Day or night, watching an oversized heavy-haul unit at work is always a treat. The cool heads and teamwork between the drivers and their pilots, and their interaction with others on the road, as they work their way past the many obstacles on route to their destination is always inspiring and invigorating.

From an observer’s perspective, the entertainment and engagement value is undeniable – and the admiration and respect for the teams that do this each day, immense.

Of course, having good gear always makes the job that much easier, and if the Kenworths currently in the C & R fleet are anything to go by, The Duke should serve Muzz well and manage the task admirably. And as far as the TRT Four-Rows-of-Eight ESS Widening Low Loader is concerned, the term ‘game-changer’ was used more than once.

And, really, none of that is at all surprising when you consider the amount of IP that went into speccing it all – Kenworth being able to supply the right truck fitted with the right componentry, TRT being able to call on decades of engineering experience and ingenuity, and the team at C & R who knew exactly what they wanted from their gear and their suppliers to make their job easier, safer and more productive in a sector fraught with challenges.

SPECIFICATIONS
Kenworth T909 6×4 Aero roof 36in integrated sleeper

Special thanks

Our sincere thanks to Mike, Tony, Tim and Simon Ross for allowing us into your business once again and to Simon and Andrew Stevenson for sharing some valuable insight into the world of earthmoving and heavy haul.

Thanks to Murray, Richard, Geoff and Jamie for having us along on The Duke’s maiden job. It was a privilege to watch you work.

And to the teams at Southpac Trucks and TRT – two stalwarts of the Kiwi trucking industry and purveyors of some incredible gear. Thank you both for your ongoing support of our publication. Thanks to Adam McIntosh at Southpac Trucks for the technical info on The Duke and Jeremy Carden at TRT for taking the time to give us a deep dive into the new Four-Rows-of-Eight ESS Widening Low Loader.