In Toyota’s latest update about the task of towing the space shuttle Endeavour, the automaker said that the Tundra will be towing the Endeavour over the 405 freeway on October 12 on the Manchester Boulevard Bridge. The initial plan was for the Tundra to tow the space shuttle on Bill Robertson Lane nearer to the California Science Center near downtown Los Angeles. Because of this change, the towing equipment also had to be revised for weight distribution purposes. In a previous post, Toyota said that the Tundra would tow the Endeavour for part of its journey to the California Science Center in Los Angeles, where it will be a part of the permanent exhibition. As mentioned previously, the Endeavour has a total weight of over 300,000 lb, with the specially-built trailer dolly. It is around 30 times the factory-rated sustained towing capacity of the Tundra. Toyota said that it has tested the truck and is certain that it can handle the weight. Toyota had released a video that demonstrates how it prepared the Tundra for this job. In place of the space shuttle, Toyota used huge concrete blocks to match the weight of the spacecraft. In the video, Toyota engineering consultant Greg Bryant discusses the preparations.
Toyota Tundra will tow the space shuttle Endeavour over the 405 Freeway
by Andrew Christian, Email, 09 Oct, 2012
Toyota Tundra Space Shuttle Endeavour
