I was in Denmark on holiday several times and also visited Torben Rafn in Sommersted a couple of times. Their entire fleet is looking great and contained several special vehicles. Among them was also this MAN 50.502, seen here in the year 2006.

This MAN was built many years before that for the also danish company Dansk Specialtransport/Rørby Johansen a/s. The base of this truck is an MAN 48.502 8x8, so the 48 tons F90 version with a 500 hp V10 engine. This truck then was converted by Toni Maurer by adding a 3rd front axle.

During this shoot the trucks was owned by Torben Rafn. Now it is sold, don't know where it is at the moment. Both front axles and the tandem are driven, giving good traction for heavy jobs.

After the years at Dansk the truck was modernized a bit and got the grill of a MAN F2000 series.

Immediately noticable is the huge tower behind the cab. First of all comes the part with the air barrels, additional cooling, exhausts etc.. behind that they installed a big 2nd part with a lot of toolboxes, in typical danish style.

Here they used it on their yard to prepare a platform for future usage.

...and then parked it beside the garage. The heavy drawbar coupling makes the truck very suitable for pulling real heavy transports.

A jump back in time, now in 2004, the 2nd time that I got to see this truck. This time it was also carrying the ballast box on the fifth wheel.

The ballast box sits on top of the cardanic 5th wheel and rests on a beam at the back. By strapping it down at the back, the box can't go anywhere. The names on the box are the regular customers of Rafn.

Dansk chose the large XT Commander cab back in the days, so the version with the high roof on it. The heavy bumper is equiped with a drawbar coupling for pushing transports.

This time it was connected to a 4-bed-4 moduletrailer.

And again in 2004, just a couple of weeks earlier. This was the 1st time that I spotted this truck here. Now it didn't have the ballast box mounted and was pulling a 8-axled moduletrailer.

The driveline of the MAN consists of the V10 engine and a ZF WSK with Ecosplit transmission.

Without the ballast box we now have a clear view at the toolboxes. Also visible, the extension hoses for the trailer hydraulics that run past the 5th wheel.

In the meantime Torben Rafn was acuired by the danish crane rental company BMS, that will continue this copmany under the same name for now.

An awesome piece of machinery that represents a nice part of danish heavy transport history!