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The Mightiest - Season 3 Episode 4 -
Heavyweight Champions
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Heavyweight Champions
tele: https://t.me/TopFilmUSA1
#film#shows#usa#usashows#hot#filmhot
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FunTranscript
00:04Gargantuan tasks demand mega-muscled machines.
00:14Dominating the drag strip, commanding deep-sea construction, or reaping the fields.
00:22Whether at work or at play, these heavyweight champions are the masters of monumental loads.
00:37Burning rubber.
00:41Screaming engines.
00:43It's just an adrenaline rush like I've never had before.
00:47These diesel-sucking beasts are transforming trucking from highway to raceway.
00:53You're just on the edge just watching. Loaded race after loaded race.
00:56It's all part of a rebirth of the big rig.
00:59It's exciting for sure.
01:02From heavy haulers.
01:03It's exhilarating, man. It's a power like nothing else.
01:07And drag strip brawler.
01:11This is the Great Lakes Big Rig Truck Challenge.
01:16Where high-powered semis battle in uphill elimination rounds.
01:22Until only one truck is victorious.
01:26Tens of thousands of fans come from all over the world just to watch these monsters race uphill fully loaded.
01:34You've got fans going wild, ground shaking, black smoke everywhere.
01:40When those rigs launch, the roar hits you right in the chest.
01:43We're talking custom-built machines.
01:46These are one-of-a-kind racing beasts that can't even function as normal big rigs anymore.
01:50You could drive it down the road. It would be very smoky, make a lot of people mad.
01:54It would get very hot pretty quick.
01:56Transmission is built for shifting fast, not for lasting long.
02:00So you'll flow a transmission fairly soon on the road.
02:03These are the 18 wheelers you'd see along any stretch of the highway.
02:07Holding materials, supplies, food.
02:10Long-haul, heavy-duty veterans of the road that have been reborn purely for competition.
02:15It takes more than speed.
02:17They have to pull their weights uphill.
02:20A-class is the best of the best.
02:228,000 horsepower, 16,000 foot-pounds of torque, side-by-side.
02:26Straight up the hill, 700 feet, tires off the ground.
02:30Each big rig is attached to a 54-ton load.
02:36When they get their cue, the pedal hits the metal and the gears grind.
02:44Will they cross the line first or get kicked to the curb?
02:50When we're on the racetrack, you're my enemy.
02:56These aren't just big rigs, they're heavyweight pulling champs.
03:00Top-tier A-class trucks hauling full loads out to prove who's the ultimate king of the road.
03:06These machines are pushed to the maximum for racing.
03:09They were not designed to be a race application, but we've made them into a race machine.
03:14Long before their racing days, big rigs were making their money out on the highways.
03:19And they've been doing it since the early 1900s.
03:23So the semi-truck was invented in 1898 by a guy named Alexander Winter, an American engineer who wanted a
03:31better way to deliver his company cars than using horse-drawn wagons.
03:35It started out with steam engines and then switched to gasoline and then diesel.
03:39By the 1920s, when better road networks were created, semi-trucks were everywhere on highways.
03:47Now, millions of semi-trucks move trillions of dollars worth of cargo on roads and highways the world over.
03:56I love trucks because the world revolves around trucks.
03:59Without trucks, you wouldn't have the goods and services that we do every day.
04:02But when these haulers retire from the highway, the lucky ones are rescued for the track.
04:10Semi-truck racing was born at the Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1979.
04:18Two motorsport promoters, Jim Donahoe and Pete Keller, organized the first major big rig race.
04:26That event led to circuits like the Great American Truck Racing Series and Canada's Truck Rodeo, which began with regular
04:34big rigs racing up a hill.
04:39They had to find an uphill because they wanted to see who had the most powerful truck to get to
04:44the top, so it just became an uphill race.
04:47Now it's evolved into maxed out semis that grow more powerful with each passing year.
04:56Out on the track, the big rigs reach speeds of 120 kilometers per hour.
05:03But the drivers are more concerned with their pulling power.
05:10Full turbo, everything's maxed out. See the steep part of the hill? Full boost, and that's when the engines work
05:15the hardest.
05:15There's a heavy load pulling on a seat belt.
05:18And that extreme pulling force comes straight from the heart of these machines, their engines.
05:25We are going to take a look at the engine.
05:28Nobody is relying on factory-made parts for these rigs.
05:32Under the hood, it's all custom.
05:38Drivers are obsessed with squeezing every ounce of power from their rigs to get that competitive edge.
05:43They crank up air pressure to max up horsepower and pump in so much fuel that black smoke and flames
05:49pour from the exhaust.
05:51And when factory parts can't survive the abuse, they build custom components from scratch.
05:56For mechanics like Leland Zimmerman, that means pulling in some parts borrowed from even bigger beasts.
06:04These are big, massive turbos. Big, big turbos. Like, look, they come off a train engine.
06:09Retrofitting them into a big rig engine.
06:12The result, a mutant black smoke spewing force to be reckoned with.
06:18We also have a much larger turbocharger that pushes air into the engine here.
06:22We basically push way more air into it and inject way more fuel into it, spin it much faster, and
06:28that creates more power.
06:30We have a much bigger fuel pump, three or four times as much fuel as the factory pump.
06:35The injectors are much bigger than the factory injectors. It allows it to inject more fuel into the cylinders.
06:40More fuel and more air means more explosive power off the starting month.
06:48To put these modifications in perspective, these are high performance, highly modified engines capable of nearly ten times the power
06:56of your average 18-wheeler on the highway.
07:01Modifications we've done to the fuel pump, the big turbocharger, and the RPMs we can spin makes this thing the
07:07mightiest.
07:07Our goal is to get it faster than any of the other trucks, from shifting our gears, the way we
07:12leave the line, the finish line.
07:16It all has to work together to get there ahead of the other truck. That's what matters.
07:21These engines are tested in back-to-back races.
07:24As they charge up that hill, it's all about the torque.
07:38Torque, or twisting force, is the truck's not-so-secret weapon when it comes to the starting one.
07:45It determines how fast these monster machines can take off from a dead stop.
07:51Torque starts with the rig's oversized pistons, pumping up and down inside the engine's cylinders.
07:58Each downstroke turns the crankshaft, the part that transfers that force to the flywheel.
08:05Through the transmission, drive shaft, axles, and down to the wheels that power the vehicle forward.
08:17The result? More torque, and the ability to pull enormous loads uphill at high speeds.
08:26The torque is how hard that shaft will turn, and the horsepower is how fast it will go.
08:32When the engine fires up, it tries to twist in the opposite direction of the drivetrain.
08:38That's called a torque twist.
08:39All that power lifts the front wheels off the ground by popping a wheelie.
08:44The engine's generating so much torque force, it really wants to twist itself out of the truck.
08:51But these souped-up trucks with maxed-out engines have to get all that power into the wheels.
08:58The axles are where the power transfer starts.
09:02An axle is the metal bar connecting two wheels, so they spin together in sync.
09:06It takes engine power and turns the wheels to move the truck.
09:09In big rigs, these are massive compared to your car's axles.
09:13They handle insane torque and weight, so they're built like tank parts.
09:17When the axle spins, it drives the tire, so the axle is directly bolted to the hub in the tire.
09:23This is the axle housing. Those take a lot of abuse because of the weight and the power that we
09:28have.
09:28They can twist up to a quarter of a turn without breaking, and they just rebound.
09:33All that torque means nothing without rubber that can grip the ground.
09:38The tires we run are a waste hauler logging truck tire.
09:43They're about 20 millimeters wider than a standard truck tire, and that extra width gives us a significant amount of
09:49traction.
09:49And we also run the tires at a lower pressure to lengthen out our contact patch.
09:54The contact patch is the portion of the vehicle's tire that is in actual contact with the ground.
10:00The larger the patch, the more friction the tire has with the ground, creating the grip.
10:06More grip enhances the truck's ability to accelerate and brake.
10:10Everything on these trucks is built to take a beating.
10:14It's all about riding the line between automotive engineering at its best and total chaos.
10:21Something would happen that the engine wants to run away.
10:24If a turbo blows, it'd be like a bomb under here.
10:26When pulling massive loads, components can overheat.
10:30Fuel lines burst.
10:32Engines strain.
10:34And sometimes, something's gonna give.
10:46Right here, the engine is at full power.
10:48We actually had a part of the engine come out and go over and hit the block over there.
10:51There have been cases where they're making about 5,000 or 6,000 horse.
10:54They're driving down the track, and the engine block splits right above the crankshaft, right in here.
10:59And it has actually blown up out of the truck, blown the hood and everything off.
11:04But even seemingly insignificant components can go a long way in saving drivers from harm.
11:12There's the safety thing that's required in the rules.
11:15It's just a normal steel cable that you can buy at the hardware store.
11:19The cable holds everything together.
11:21Whether it's an engine block ever decides to split and leave the chassis so it doesn't go flying and you
11:26run over it,
11:27it can still break apart, but it's not gonna jump out of the truck.
11:32Sometimes, accidents are explosive.
11:35Other times, they're small failures that can bring rigs to a grinding halt.
11:44Well, we just broke our transmission.
11:51Big rig race trucks are pushed to their limits, so breakdowns happen.
11:57But losing your transmission could mean game over.
12:01Transmissions are incredibly complicated.
12:04Hundreds of parts, gear sets, input main and counter shafts, gear synchronizers.
12:08Figuring out which part failed can take time that racers just don't have.
12:12So they often choose to just swap out the entire transmission.
12:14This is what I expected.
12:16The second gear that's been a problem before, it just shelled all the teeth off of it.
12:21Transmission transfers engine power to the wheels.
12:24When you're hauling heavy loads at high speed, misaligned gears can grind each other to pieces like two buzz saws
12:31collide.
12:32This is our spare transmission that we gotta get in there.
12:34This should be just as good as the other one.
12:36I'm probably gonna have to launch in a different gear.
12:38Truck transmissions are made to handle immense power and torque, translating the engine's raw force into controlled motion.
12:45They enable the truck to move, and in this case, power them up steep inclines.
12:49Here they come with the jack!
12:51Forget what you know about regular repairs.
12:54When you're dealing with supersized parts, everyone has to help out.
12:59In the full throttle world of semi racing, mechanical failure comes with the territory.
13:06Truckers spend all year preparing for this event, so swapping out such a crucial component at the last minute can
13:12shape the confidence of even the most seasoned driver.
13:16We're gonna try to go 700 foot in about 15 or 16 seconds, up a 10% grade.
13:23There's a lot of parts in there that are taking two or three times the abuse that they were meant
13:28for.
13:29See how that goes.
13:3263,500 kilograms!
13:35That's like pulling 40 cars up a hill.
13:38This is where engineering comes face to face with lady luck.
13:42Rigs like these don't come with warranties on their custom parts, so they could last 50 runs or be toast
13:48after one trip up the hill.
13:53The greatest feeling is when the clutch engages, when the tires grab traction, and the engine is at full RPM.
14:01The kind of power and motion that just sets you back in your seat, and you can feel the thrust.
14:09Got it!
14:12It can take off, it can feel good, get every gear just like you should, and get a win.
14:17All that hard work pays off.
14:20The Zimmerman Big Rig drives straight into the winner's circle.
14:24Taking a highway truck that used to haul groceries and jacking up the horsepower to ridiculous degrees is proof that
14:29thinking really, really big can make the impossible looks like a hell of a good time.
14:36Yeah, that's crazy.
14:38That's a hard truck to beat, too.
14:39So, every element of this big rig comes together to create two winners.
14:44A driver, and their mighty machine.
14:50Thanks to everyone involved, and thanks to Mike and Billy for making a great show as always.
14:56Year after year, these rigs dominate the hill, proving that steel, diesel, and determination can transform regular rigs into racing
15:07legends.
15:07Oh, yes, go!
15:11We shall get away, take the lead for now!
15:15The Saipem 7000.
15:18An elite vessel.
15:21Tackling the biggest deep sea construction projects around the globe.
15:27Its mission?
15:28To lift gigantic structures and install them in the world's most hostile maritime environments.
15:38Saipem 7000 can work in shallow water, deep water, heavy lift, pipeline. Everything is possible for this vessel.
15:48It's semi-submersible.
15:50It can raise itself higher or lower, depending on the job.
15:58It's not a conventional vessel.
16:00You won't find the usual hull shape with a bow and a stern.
16:03The way the vessel was built was by building two separate hulls that, in this moment, are under water and
16:10cannot be seen.
16:12This unique ability is controlled by the vessel's ballast system.
16:17We are on the bottom part of the ship. All of this will go under water. It will sink while
16:25we are filling the water in the ballast tank.
16:27This vessel has the rare ability to sink itself deeper into the water by flooding those internal tanks.
16:33And then, just like an iceberg, the deeper it sits, the more stable it becomes, giving it rock-solid positioning
16:39for all its heavy lifting operations.
16:42So here beside me is what we call the rapid valves.
16:46It's two meters in diameter. When we open this one, it's filling up to 150 bathtubs per second. 22 tons
16:54per second.
16:55It's massive water tanks flood and empty with the push of a button, giving this vessel a greater level of
17:03stability as it lowers deeper into the water.
17:07The SIPAM 7000's 54 ballast tanks hold 40 Olympic swimming pools worth of space.
17:15The lower hull of the vessel is divided into tanks, each subdivided into chambers like an aquatic beehive.
17:24And the columns of the hull house a combined 14 gravity-fed rapid-valve tanks, the most frequently used tanks
17:32of the ballast system.
17:34When their huge 2-meter valves open, seawater surges into or out of the tanks and the deck level lifts
17:41or lowers.
17:50The ballast system is simple. Add seawater into the tanks to increase the weight of the ship, sinking it lower
17:56for stability, or pump it out to lighten up and rise higher above the water line.
18:00When you add more water, weight increases and gives the crew a more stable foundation to work from.
18:08This system becomes even more important when bad weather hits. Sitting lower in the water creates more stability as the
18:15SIPAM 7000 is battered by waves and wind.
18:18It allows it to take that punishment without being tossed around as much as a normal vessel would be.
18:23In this line of work, stability is essential.
18:27The operational deck has to be still and stay still for the vessel's true purpose.
18:33This is the reason why SIPAM 7000 exists, the two main crane.
18:40These aren't ordinary cranes. They're 200-meter steel giants with a critical capability that defines what the SIPAM 7000 can
18:49accomplish.
18:50These twin cranes are built for the heaviest of lifts. They can work independently or in total synchronization, distributing enormous
18:59weight evenly to accomplish lifts that would crush a single crane.
19:04Cranes synchronize when a single crane can't safely handle the load, whether it's too heavy, too long, or awkwardly shaped
19:12like offshore platforms, bridge sections, wind turbines, anything massive that needs multiple lifting points to stay balanced.
19:21Each crane can lift 7000 tons. That's like picking up the Eiffel Tower.
19:28But they're even stronger when they work together.
19:33Two cranes can lift in tandem up to 14,000 tons.
19:37Tandem lifting allows for more efficient and faster construction of large, complex offshore work.
19:44The crane's boom arms are marvels of engineering.
19:48Each arm is as long as a professional soccer field and can reach far past the edge of the ship's
19:54deck.
19:56With a 360-degree rotation, these cranes work like a sprinkler head, covering an incredible range by simply pivoting from
20:03their fixed base that's built into the deck of the vessel.
20:06Greater range eliminates any wasted movements and the need to reposition the SIPAM that's off.
20:14In their lifetime, the twin cranes have hauled millions of tons of cargo on and off its deck.
20:22Right now, we are preparing the vessel to install an offshore substation.
20:27It's essentially a very big tower in steel that rests on the seabed.
20:31This is the kind of job that the SIPAM 7000 specializes in.
20:36A wind substation is a power hub sitting in the ocean, collecting electricity from wind turbines.
20:42To anchor turbines to the seafloor, you need piles, massive steel cylinders as the turbine's structural support.
20:49These turbine piles tip the scales at 375 tons, heavier than a 747 airliner.
20:59But before the installation job can begin, they have to load up the cargo.
21:05Barges bring eight of the giant piles to the broadside of the SIPAM 7000.
21:10The crew prepares the piles for hoisting.
21:14Like blades on a Swiss Army knife, the crane has a range of hooks for different loads.
21:20One hook, which is 7000 tons capacity.
21:24Then we have another hook, which is 2500 tons.
21:28A third hook, which is 900 tons and is mainly used for underwater operation.
21:34You can reach up to 370 meters water depth.
21:39And then we have a small whip hoop, which is 120 tons that we are using for the normal operation.
21:45These cranes are not just good at lifting heavy things.
21:49They're good at lifting heavy, awkward construction materials.
21:57These piles are more than 70 meters long.
21:59The crane is lifting the piles that will be used to fix the support structure to the seabed.
22:05One by one, the piles are hoisted onto the deck.
22:10The cranes work in tandem with the choreography of a construction ballet.
22:15A tandem lift involves securing both cranes hooks to a single large structure and then operating both cranes in unison.
22:23It requires precision planning and communication from the operator to the ground crew to ensure the load center of gravity
22:29is balanced between the cranes.
22:31The cranes are not just super strong.
22:34They're super smart.
22:41Computers and sensors are the thinking power behind the lifting prowess.
22:46They track weight, position, weather and use multiple cameras to identify objects in the workspace so they can pull off
22:53the perfect lift.
22:54It's an uplifting combination.
22:57Computing power and mechanical power come together in perfect synchrony.
23:02This complex pulley system distributes weight and multiplies the cranes lifting power.
23:11The hoist system is made up of winches, cables, pulleys and mortars.
23:17Think of it like the cranes tendons and muscles.
23:22We are in the main crane machinery room.
23:25Here we have the wires which control the boom of the crane and every single hook.
23:32We are talking about almost 20 kilometers of wire.
23:37This is really a unique piece of equipment.
23:41The cranes pulley system makes lifting easier by spreading the weight across all of the wires.
23:46More pulleys means less force needed to lift.
23:49It's kind of like inviting all of your friends over to help you lift something heavy.
23:53They're suspending thousands of tons in mid-air over open water.
23:58Cables aren't just holding the weight, they're also absorbing the constant movement of the waves, the wind and the vessel.
24:06The Saipam 7000's cranes hoist these jumbo cylinders like they're soda straws.
24:12Slowly, carefully, the turbine piles are placed one by one on the deck of this amazing vessel.
24:37The Saipam 7000 and its crew are no strangers to big lifts.
24:43It's become part of their daily routine.
24:47She can work in any kind of latitude.
24:51This is why this vessel is special, one of the giants in the world.
24:56The vessel has navigated hundreds of thousands of kilometers around the globe.
25:02And has conquered huge projects across every ocean.
25:09We're talking about a vessel that has traveled far enough to circle the earth more than a dozen times.
25:14That's farther than a trip to the moon.
25:18All this power starts below deck, in a vast series of engine rooms.
25:25We have a six engine room with 12 engines.
25:30Everything is powered by this engine.
25:33From the auxiliaries, from the ballast pump, for the main cranes, even for the lighting on the toilet.
25:42But it's the Saipam 7000's power lifting prowess that gets most deep sea construction crews excited.
25:50Back in 2004, it shattered the world offshore lifting record by hoisting a 12,150 ton platform in Libya.
26:03Normally, world records aren't broken by standing still.
26:07But the Saipam 7000 is all about stability.
26:11This vessel, because of this very huge superstructure, is very affected by the wind.
26:17Especially because the cranes are very, very tall.
26:19But the current as well can be a challenge.
26:21A big part of the vessel is submerged while we are in operation.
26:25Maintaining a precise position in moving water is a trick at the best of times.
26:30So, when the water gets rough, the tough get dynamic.
26:47The Saipam 7000's twin cranes depend on dynamic positioning to stabilize the ship so they can hoist safely.
26:55Computer controlled thrusters fire in precise bursts to hold the ship in position.
27:01All of it is controlled from a panel in the ship's command center.
27:09In total, we have 12 thrusters here that allow to us to have a full system with the full DP.
27:17The ability to stay in one spot without dropping anchor is a huge advantage for the flexibility of the vessel
27:24when the crew needs to drill, lay cables, or build when they're in extremely deep waters.
27:28With anchors, you drop cables, lock in position, do your work, then haul everything back up before moving to the
27:35next spot.
27:37With dynamic positioning, the vessel simply shifts to the next position.
27:42No anchors to drop, no cables to retrieve, just continuous work.
27:50Dynamic positioning is basically a 360 autopilot system that allows ships to stay in one spot.
27:56It employs GPS, sonar, and a slew of sensors which control underwater thrusters that continually adjust the ship to counteract
28:03waves and currents and the motion of the cranes, ultimately keeping the vessel stationary.
28:12There are four fixed-pitch azim, or 360-degree thruster units, at the back of the hull.
28:19These are the main propulsion units moving the vessel and putting it into specific positions.
28:25There are six retractable thrusters that can be pulled inside the hull when the vessel is in transit.
28:32And there are two tunnel thrusters on the bow.
28:35Once on site, these thrusters lock the vessel in place, turning it into a stationary work site that can stay
28:42exactly where it needs to be.
28:45The important thing on the dynamic position is that we are able to stay within one meter when we are
28:52there.
28:52That is important because sometimes we are not so far from the platform, so that the movement is not so
28:58big, otherwise you hit the structure.
29:00Combining perfect positioning and colossal lifting, the Saipam 7000 is an essential partner in deep-sea construction.
29:10The 7000 gives a sense of belonging to a team that doesn't just complete a job or do a task.
29:18It does make something that, up to that moment, was considered not possible or something that nobody has done before.
29:26With depth-controlling ballast tanks and colossal cranes that dominate deep-sea lifts,
29:33the Saipam 7000 sails the world, handling storms that send lesser vessels speeding for boring.
29:43Highly regarded for its engineering and construction of offshore energy infrastructure.
29:50It picks things up and puts them down like no other machine in the world.
29:57A floating testament to human ingenuity, the power that makes power happen.
30:04Deep in the grain belt, legions of mechanical giants turned fields into food to feed the world.
30:11This is one of the most advanced agricultural machines on the planet.
30:16Cutting. Threshing. Churning.
30:23Devouring 23 football fields worth of wheat an hour.
30:28That's an upgrade to fill 40 semi-trucks a day.
30:33This is the John Deere X9 Combine.
30:38Combines are so-called because they combine six important harvesting functions on the farm into one powerful machine.
30:46They cut and feed, thresh and separate, clean and manage the grain.
30:51They're farming factories on wheels.
30:55Combines are basically an automated rolling processing plant doing minutes.
31:00Ways to take farmers days on it to accomplish by hand or with lesser machines.
31:05But before this harvesting powerhouse can take to the fields, it takes shape in a state-of-the-art factory.
31:14Here at John Deere Harvester Works, separate parts become an entire machine.
31:20The assembly of big machines requires a very big factory.
31:25This place is the equivalent of 53 football fields worth of space, making it one of the largest agricultural manufacturing
31:33facilities in the world.
31:34And it employs nearly 2,000 people.
31:39At first, I was very surprised because I didn't think a machine would be this big.
31:44Here, those 18,000 plus pieces are shaped.
31:48There's so many components that go into that machine.
31:52Sealed.
31:54And assembled.
31:56Into one of the mightiest farming machines ever created.
31:59From the factory to the farm, this is what it's all about.
32:02While combines come in various models and sizes today, their development was a long time coming.
32:11Thousands of years, harvesting grain was done mostly using hand tools.
32:15Cutting, bundling, and removing the grains from the stalks took hundreds of hours.
32:21The first combine, invented in 1836, was a massive wooden machine pulled by a team of up to 30 mules.
32:30Their strengths turned the wheels of the system, moving the internal parts of the combine and harvesting the grain.
32:37By the mid-20th century, the Industrial Revolution modernized the farm.
32:42Animals were mostly replaced by gas and diesel-powered tractors.
32:47Steam-powered threshers separated the grains from the husks of plants.
32:51And other machines, like early pull-behind combines, made farming less challenging while increasing the amount of crops a farmer
32:58could manage.
33:01John Deere's model 55 changed the game as the first American-made self-propelled combine.
33:08Self-propelled combine only needed one person to run it and a second to haul the grain away, drastically reducing
33:14labor costs for the farmers.
33:16Very quickly, the combine became the king of the harvest.
33:21But a farming giant like this doesn't just roll off the production line.
33:26It's a built-to-order type that begins in the factory.
33:34Industrial fiber-optic laser stations turn raw sheet metal into combine parts, chassis components, and the sides of the grain
33:41tank by vaporizing or melting metal into specific pieces.
33:44So this is an entire right-hand side sheet frame.
33:48This is the entire length of the combine.
33:50So pretty cool that we're able to move that with one robot arm from one fixture to another automatically.
33:56With the help of robots, the factory turns 54,000 tons of sheet steel into combine parts each year.
34:04That's enough steel to build 22,000 cars.
34:09That's one of the biggest arms we have here in this factory.
34:12This is a large material handler that's going to come over on this track and pick up a gripper tool.
34:18It's a custom tool designed to pick up the entire side sheet of the combine.
34:22Robotic welding arms, along with human counterparts, ensure the combines are built strong.
34:29To handle the enormous physical stresses of harvesting at high speeds.
34:35That is a new substitute for like a spot welding application.
34:38This is a much stronger joint and a much more reliable process that we can build an entire side sheet
34:44in one shot without human interaction.
34:47The shift towards robotic labor for repetitive tasks makes the process more efficient and reliable, requiring less time and less
34:54welding to get the job done right.
34:57But some pieces still need the steady hand of a human.
35:02So I'm actually building the actual side sheet where all the pulleys and the belts and everything else go on
35:07to.
35:08Everything connects to this.
35:10There we go. That's the finish off of that weld right there.
35:15Human skill is always going to be necessary even when the robots are perfected.
35:19You still need someone to look it over before it gets sent up to paint and take it to the
35:23main line.
35:24When it's time to paint, this isn't a single coat to make it look pretty.
35:29It's a specialized suit of armor made from electrostatic paint.
35:35That paint stays for that customer 17, 18, 19 years down the line for that second, third customer too.
35:41We have four robots in this cell that will apply the paint electrostatically, use electrostatics to get that high rate
35:49of efficiency.
35:50Electrostatic paint is basically magnetic.
35:53By giving the paint droplets an electric charge and applying the opposite charge to the object being painted, or the
35:59combined part, the paint will be attracted to its surface.
36:03The electric charge guarantees consistent thickness and an even finish, especially with intricate parts and hard to reach areas.
36:11Parts are transformed with a specialized protective coating.
36:14That paint coverage on top of the parts is what really adds that extra protection to preserve that product for
36:20the whole life that the farmer wants to use it.
36:23Conveyors stretching 16 kilometers hang above the factory, hauling, heaving, and hustling every last part into place, including the all
36:34-important axles of the combine.
36:37Axle, there's about a hundred parts to attach.
36:40It's a core piece of the equipment.
36:42Built to hold loads that are double their own weight.
36:46These axles are designed to grind through fields of dirt, mud, and intense weather without ever giving in.
36:54An empty combine is already the weight of 15 average size cars.
36:58Add to that a full tank of grain, it's like adding a full size school bus on top.
37:02The axles have to hold all of it, so they have to be tough.
37:06Keeps the machine moving down the field and helps with the steering of it as well.
37:11Durability and strength of this axle is amazing and incredible.
37:14It's able to plow bigger crops for the farmers, saves them a lot of time.
37:19Hoses dangle as they wait to join the underside of the combine.
37:24I'm hanging the hose hangers for the four-wheel drive option.
37:28And bolts await their union with the big green machine.
37:34This is the transmission right now.
37:37I'm going to secure the top portion of it.
37:39Once I get it flush, I can attach a washer and a screw to this side.
37:42With the body of the combine tightly secured,
37:45now comes the moment to drop the machine's most important muscle into place.
37:52We have a department called 550 and they do all the engine work.
37:56They do the fuel tank, they do the hoses, the harnesses, the fan that keeps the engine cool.
38:02This allows for innovative, specialized engine development,
38:06like greater fuel capacity and efficiency,
38:08so it can run eight to ten hours straight without refueling.
38:12An absolute necessity.
38:14The engine's job is to ensure enough power and consistent operation
38:18to handle the various heavy-duty tasks that a combine tackles during harvest season.
38:24For many crops, there's a limited window for optimal harvest.
38:28So you have to make hay while the sun shines.
38:31Connecting the engine with the combine is an intricate process that needs to be done with precision.
38:39Right now he's just setting the engine down on the frame of the combine.
38:43The engine has to be secure before they do anything because of how heavy it is.
38:48I'm just lining them up.
38:50Bolting the engine to the frame stabilizes it,
38:54letting the combined steel frame absorb the intense vibrations when it's operating on the farm.
39:01This is a large engine, so it's got to get through fields for the customer to get the job done.
39:07So this is what he uses to tighten the bolts down.
39:11It's very fascinating.
39:14It's safe after we tighten everything.
39:15It's set to a specific torque to torque down the bolt to the nut.
39:19Not only are they ideal for heavy-duty repetitive tasks where a manual wrench would be too slow,
39:25they're made with smart technology.
39:27The computer tells the worker when they have tightened a bolt enough,
39:30ensuring each combine is properly fitted before assembly can rotate.
39:41The grain tank is inspected and secured, becoming the machine's steel stomach.
39:47Just making sure everything's lined up and just making sure everything's straight.
39:52Because if it's off by any sort of degree, then we have to pull it all out and take it
39:57out and have repair come and fix it.
39:59With so much grain traveling into and out of the tank daily, leaks could be costly.
40:05I mean, it's got a lot of augers on the inside of it.
40:08It's got a few other things to help move the grain and the other stuff around for when you open
40:13your auger and unload it into your truck.
40:15The enormous, nearly nine and a half meter unloading auger is a giant spiral-shaped tube that transfers grain into
40:24waiting trucks.
40:26Any problem with the auger has to be detected and addressed here.
40:31I got to pay attention to where it's at so we can get them down without damaging it.
40:36Combines are on the front lines of the global food supply chain and these made-to-order machines have to
40:42perform no matter the crop or the weather.
40:44At the next station is the header, the combine's most critical component.
40:50It's the tool that gives this beast its bite.
40:55The harvesting head.
40:57The header is what cuts, grabs, and feeds the crop into the machine.
41:02And for a top-of-the-line machine like this one, the head is customized for different crops and conditions
41:08with a range of widths and shapes.
41:11The two main options are corn heads, with individual row units for harvesting tall stalks of corn.
41:17And draper heads, so named because they drape-cut crops onto belts that bring them into the system.
41:24My station up here is actually responsible for three different types of hinge draper.
41:29What I'm in the middle of building right now is a 50-foot flex.
41:34We're actually installing this top auger.
41:36The iconic rotating reel arm is added to the head.
41:41The reel is actually bringing the crop into the machine.
41:45It's designed to take and grab it and pull it.
41:48But its cutting tool gets all the glory for good reason.
41:52I've got the knife installed here.
41:54The knife is actually going to move back and forth like this.
41:57These are super, super sharp.
41:59Out in the field, these oscillating blades slice through stalks in seconds,
42:04so the crops can be swiftly carried into the belly of this green Goliath.
42:11With a cutting-edge cab attached.
42:13This is basically the farmer's castle until he's done getting all his harvest out of the field.
42:18All circuits connected.
42:20And components tested.
42:22I got the best job in the world because everybody inside that factory wants to be out here driving.
42:26A completed combine comes to life.
42:29What we have here is an X9 machine straight off the assembly line.
42:34So it's the first time the key's actually turned on, the motor fires, and all the hydraulic systems, electrical systems,
42:41all the belts, pumps, and pulleys are going to be moving for the first time.
42:44It's right here.
42:45A combine, as the name implies, is the sum of its parts.
42:50Making these colossal machines some of the mightiest on earth.
42:54Yeah, they're big.
42:55But the durability and strength of them is amazing.
42:58It's amazing what this X9 machine can do.
43:00All 18,000 plus parts unite as one relentless harvesting heavyweight hero.
43:06Ready for the field.
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