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The Mack Titan has a reputation for reliability and heavy haul capability and is established as a staple of the heavy haul sector. With its high ground clearance plus impressive horsepower and torque, the Titan is perfectly suited for the big jobs in New Zealand.

The network of roads linking all four major mills (Kawerau, Kinleith, Taupo and Murupara) in the North Island – aptly called ‘The Off Highway’ – is one such place where the giants of the forestry industry regularly haul loads of 100 tonnes plus.

Murupara local, Joe Tanirau, who was a mechanic in the KLC workshop, had taken the opportunity to get behind the wheel and do relief driving for many of the owner operators out of Murupara until a Pacific P10 came up for sale when owner operator Vince Barnett decided to step away.

Joe and his wife Arlene then formed their business Trojan Logging, running the Pacific for a few years until it was replaced by a 525hp Mack Super-Liner.

The next truck to join Trojan Logging however just happened to be the first Mack Titan in New Zealand and the last chassis to be built in Australia with a Mack V8 engine. A 1999 model powered by a 610-horsepower V8 Mack engine and transmission, the Titan had a GVM of 39,900kg and an impressive GCM of 200,000kg – which it needed for the big loads in the bush.

Little changes were made like changing the toolbox from the left to the right hand side, an extra air tank was fitted for greater capacity, cab skirts were fitted and the mirror arm was extended out 100mm with an additional stay added.

Joe Tanirau has since passed away but his friend, Ryan Teddy, remembers him fondly. Ryan says: “Joe was an awesome guy and a very tidy operator. He was a very humble man and a perfectionist with all of his trucks.”

After a couple of different owners – including Multi-Trans, where it was taken to Fiji for a project – the truck was sold to Titan Cranes around three years ago and was used for off highway push/pull work to assist with their old transporter set up.

Unfortunately, it was decided that a truck with an automatic transmission was better suited for this kind of work, so the Titan became redundant.

Then an opportunity then came along to purchase a 3-rows-of-8 MTE trailer (which had repairs made and a repaint by MTE) and a 2-rows-of-8 dolly from Dave Carr. So the company made the decision to put these together and make a second smaller transporter set up behind the Titan.

When the truck was initially purchased it was red, so Titan Cranes had it repainted into their livery by Robyn Smith in Petone. The entire interior was re-trimmed in black leather (two cow hides were needed) and a pair of new ISRI seats were installed at the same time and trimmed to match.

A new stainless grille and sun visor were manufactured along with a few other accessories. However, the truck had its fair share of issues that needed to be sorted including the steering box (which had to be rebuilt twice to get it right), the radiator which was replaced, and new headlights were fitted along with a few other parts along the way.

The truck is rated at 200t and had been repowered by a previous owner with a 600hp Cummins engine with an 18-speed Mack transmission and Mack reduction axles.

The truck was sign written in Lower Hutt by Fine Signs and then taken south to its new home at the Christchurch branch where driver Grant Hansen was given the keys.

Grant will use the truck to relocate the Titan crane fleet to and from work sites – hauling everything from a 10t city crane through to the 500t crawler all over the South Island, as well as any other loads that may present themselves.

Titan Cranes, which is part of the Titan Group that includes its sister company Titan Equipment, started back in 1965 with five cranes and has grown its fleet to include over 60 cranes with a wide range of capacities.

Titan Cranes has recently welcomed NZ Crane Hire into the group which adds a well-maintained Auckland fleet with good people and strong customer relationships in the Auckland region to go along with their head office in Wellington and branches in New Plymouth, Christchurch and Dunedin.

The heavy haul capability of the Mack Titan will serve Titan Cranes well just like it did for Trojan Logging all those years ago.