• Thank you for visiting HeavyEquipmentForums.com! Our objective is to provide industry professionals a place to gather to exchange questions, answers and ideas. We welcome you to register using the "Register" icon at the top of the page. We'd appreciate any help you can offer in spreading the word of our new site. The more members that join, the bigger resource for all to enjoy. Thank you!

When does one apply for heavy haul trip permits?

lion_singh

Member
Joined
Oct 9, 2012
Messages
19
Location
Los Angeles
Please help me with a newbie question. I have no heavy haul experience. I am writing a heavy haul business plan which is all on paper right now and I need your help to understand an important point please:


Assume that you are an owner operator who does his own dispatch, permits, billing and all paperwork by himself. I know that's not the ideal situation to be in. It would be good to have outside support but just for this worst case scenario, assume that you do everything on your own. Now assume that you are going to pick up a load that is overweight and over dimensional but NOT a super load (your trailer is a 50 ton triaxle RGN). When do you apply for trip permits and how long does it take to come through?


I will now try to answer the question based on the research I have done on the internet reading various heavy haul forums, articles, blogs, and commercial services websites. You guys tell me if it makes any sense or not. When I looked at a few permit services websites, they say that permits for overweight and overdimensional generally come through in 3 to 4 hours. If that be true, then the most likely time period when I would apply to get the permits would be when I have started loading or right after loading is done. I certainly would not apply for permits until I knew for sure that the load is not canceling and it is safely within my grasp.


Does my back-of-the-napkin answer make any sense? How do you experienced guys handle the permits aspect of heavy haul trucking? Many of you may have back office support but what about the lone rangers out there? Please provide your comment no matter how big or small. All of your comments will help me immensely and I am very grateful for that.


Regards,

Singh
 

Lee-online

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2010
Messages
1,023
Location
In a van, down by the river
We call the trucking outfit to let them know we need a piece of equipment shipped. A 627 for example, We finally get it fixed around noon and know for sure it is ready, put out a shipper to the trucking outfit to ship the next day. They are there at 7am to load, wait around until 9am when the permit allows them to hit the road.

I would assume they call in for the permit the day before the move because i dont think there is enough time in the morning. Sometime there will be a few permit loads waiting to leave.

Time is money and no one want to be waiting around for a permit to come through.
 

GPC

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 3, 2011
Messages
51
Location
North Carolina
Occupation
Lowboy Driver/Dispatcher/Mechanic
If you want to be safe call a day ahead of time. But we all know someone will call and want something moved now. In my state (NC) I can generally have a permit in about 30min. Those permits are 132,000lb gross on 7 axles, up to 15ft wide (Requires front and rear escorts) up to 14ft tall (can go over 14' but requires front escort with height stick) overhang if I remember correctly is up to 15' can go over but requires escorts.

Depending on how big of a superload permit you want it can take up to a week to get those. Anything in NC that is more than 7 axles and weighs more than 132,000lbs is considered a super load.

Also do not apply for permits after you have loaded something or while you are loading it. Because one nothing sucks more than to load up a 85,000lb excavator and then find out you can't get a permit for some reason. Second reason is nothing looks worse to a customer than when you get a machine loaded up and can't go anywhere with it. Time is money to them and they don't like seeing a truck sit with a machine on it for 3 or 4 hours waiting on permits. They may have called you to move a machine because one of theirs broke down and they need another one to keep going and you're going to sit there and wait for permits while their job is down won't win you many more hauls with them.

One other thing I want to know is how long do you think it takes to load a machine?
 
Last edited:

lion_singh

Member
Joined
Oct 9, 2012
Messages
19
Location
Los Angeles
Lee, GPC - Thanks for your input. It is appreciated very much!

GPC - You asked if I know how long it takes to load a machine. I have no clue! That is on my list of next set of questions to ask! But let me attempt a dumb ass answer though since you brought up his vital point here. My business plan is for getting a tri axle 55 ton RGN so that I can stay at 7 axles (3 to 4 on truck, 3 to 4 on trailer with flip axle). Assuming that the machine is self propelled, it should ride on to the RGN in 10 minutes. After that comes chaining which may take an hour. So maybe one to two hours? Don't laugh!!! I have already said I don't know about heavy haul! I appreciate you asking the question and look forward to you answer which will make me a little more educated about heavy haul.
 

johndeere123

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 20, 2012
Messages
176
Location
Nova Scotia
If I have the operator to help me, I can get a 30 ton excavator on and ready to go in about 30 minutes if the track-frames are not too dirty. Other times it can take an hour to just get the machine clean enough to load.
 

GPC

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 3, 2011
Messages
51
Location
North Carolina
Occupation
Lowboy Driver/Dispatcher/Mechanic
If I have the operator to help me, I can get a 30 ton excavator on and ready to go in about 30 minutes if the track-frames are not too dirty. Other times it can take an hour to just get the machine clean enough to load.

This is about right if the tracks are clean I can have most equipment chained down and ready to go in about 30 minutes. The only thing that takes me longer for some reason is the larger dozers it will take me about 45 minutes to get one of those loaded and ready to go. All in all you should have most equipment chained down and be pulling out the gate in no more than one hour. Now there are some machines that are so dirty it will take 30min or so to get them clean enough to where you even want to put them on the trailer. Also I do not like people cleaning the tracks out while it is on the trailer. Sure it may save time on the loading end but, when you take it off there will be a pile of crap you have got to sweep off the trailer and that may take longer than if they just cleaned them off before it got on the trailer.
 

RollOver Pete

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2007
Messages
1,510
Location
Indio, Ca
Occupation
Operating Engineer/mechanic
The same goes with open cab machines that are full of trash.
Anymore, I just throw the trash out right where the machine sits. I have spent as much as 1 hour chipping off dried mud from one of our excavators just to get it ready to move.
I've tried to be nice/polite about asking our operators to keep their machines clean but when you continually have to remind them its like talking to a bunch of rocks. They don't seem to get it.
I imagine that one of these days that the owner will get pissed and send me down the road for having such a short fuse when it comes to dealing with snot nosed children (his operators). But until then, I do my thing and clean up after the kids where ever they leave their grubby little muddy toys. For me, its just added time on the clock and time is money.....money in my pocket. ;)
 

GPC

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 3, 2011
Messages
51
Location
North Carolina
Occupation
Lowboy Driver/Dispatcher/Mechanic
Pete I went and moved a paver one day for the paving crew and they had left all their crap on the back of the screed. So guess what I did:mad:. The lot where it was parked happened to have allot of big mud holes in it and all the shovels, lutes, spray bottles, vest, and even two lunch boxes went into the deepest mud hole I could find. LOL

Moral of the story after the lowboy driver has asked you at least 15 times to have the paver clean when he comes to get it. You really should have it clean.
 

RollOver Pete

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2007
Messages
1,510
Location
Indio, Ca
Occupation
Operating Engineer/mechanic
Exactly!
Because I've been bad, I'm 1/2 point from loosing my commercial license .
That said, I have to be extra careful when moving equipment. That includes making sure that no dirt/rock/debris/trash leaves the machine while I'm moving it.
 

SeaMac

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 2, 2012
Messages
549
Location
27.2730° N, 80.3582° W
Occupation
Operator
Seems more than a few Lowboy Operators get tired of cleaning up our (Operators) trash and left-behind's and I don't blame you one bit. I have been on the road traveling behind a transport rig and have had nice little pieces of lime rock come flying off at me. It IS an Operators duty and obligation to keep his or her machine clean at ALL times. I can't stand seeing an Excavator with crap built-up so much you can't even see the frame let alone the road wheels and such. One solution is to remind the Operator if he or a loved one were driving behind a transport rig and something flew off and caused an accident, how would they feel then? Another approach, the one we use, "do you have any idea how much that undercarriage costs to replace, do you have any idea how much longer it'll last if you clean it, would you like us to hand you the bill?". Always seems to work, if they don't have one they'll soon be requesting a track cleaning shovel...
 
Top