The gear ration on the drive system is 168:1.The hydraulic system contains 2,500 gallons of hydraulic fluid.Their top speed is 1 mph loaded, 2 mph unloaded.A baseball diamond will fit on top of one crawler.Can transport weight equivalent of 20 fully-loaded Boeing 777 airplanes, or 18 million pounds.Curb weight is 6 million pounds, which is as much as 1,000 pickup trucks or 15 Statues of Liberty.When they were built, they were the largest tracked vehicles in existence.In 1960, Hans and Franz cost $14 million dollars, or about $117 million dollars today (and because of this cost they were also nicknamed “Them Golden Slippers”).Here are some facts put into terms that we humans can better relate to … And a total of 16 traction motors that are powered by four 1,341 hp generators!īy NASA, via Wikimedia Commons.Two 1,006 hp generators driven by two 1,065 engines providing power for lighting, steering, hacking, and ventilating.Two 2,750 hp V16 ALCO 251C diesel engines.Hans and Franz official names are Crawler Transporter 1 and 2. The problem was fixed, and stronger bearings were used. It turned out that the roller bearings had failed, leaving rollers, racers, and retainers from the traction support roller assembly in pieces. Between the two of them, they have traveled a combined 5,000 miles - which is pretty good for machines that weigh 3,000 tons each and only run a maximum of 1 mph!Īfter their first trip, the "brothers" left metal debris in their wake. Two years later, they were crawling on their own, after their parts were shipped to Florida and they were assembled. Īlthough they are associated with Florida, the manufacturing process for Hans and Franz began in Ohio in 1963. It should be no surprise that the Marion Power Shovel Company was tapped to manufacture and assemble these behemoths, with their reputation for making massive shovels. When they were first created in the 1960s, Hans and Franz were known as the as the Missile Crawler Transporter Facilities. īy the way, here are a few other blog posts you might find of interest. And they've been working for fifty years. Their directive is simple: transport massive rockets, space shuttles, and now (at least for one of them) the Space Launch System to their respective launchpads at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Hans and Franz are the names given to NASA’s massive crawler-transporters.
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