Words of wisdom, tips, etc. Please!!

Local heavy equipment...

I did that when I came off the road. There will be a tendency to 'cheat' on securement because you're in a hurry or "it's just going right up the road a few blocks. You will see others do it. Don't. You're not in that big of a hurry.

Luck in battle.

 

Soooo, you was following me yesterday by the Grass Valley airport?

 

Never done local, but like other have said, get familiar with your equipment before you have to load it. Play with everything on the yard(controlled environment). As questions of other drivers, talk to the operators. I would assume most local companies have annuals to save on permits. If it were me, I would order a permit myself, just to see how the state routes the largest piece i would haul to that particular jobsite, then keep a list.
Go big on securement. On top of the fact you are bigger than before you are hauling extremely expensive toys. Biggest learning curve will be placement on the trailer for weight distribution. I'm sure some of the other guys in here can verify, but I'd assume most local outfits will permit or blanket well over their actual, so they dont have to be exact when loading the deck. When in doubt, ask. I'd much rather have a driver asking a millions questions, than one who just assumes.

 

Get into a routine for your hooking and unhooking. Don't rush it and don't let someone distract you. This will help you from ripping air/electrical lines off or maybe leaving the neck support down and wiping out a set of fenders.
As others said, learn how to operate everything you can. It gives you more capability as an employee. Also, there will almost certainly be times that you need to pick up or deliver a machine to/from a site where nobody is working.
If the operator or somebody helps you chain down, always double check their work. Always double check your own work. Personally I chain from one corner of the trailer and work my way around the machine. I'll walk back around the opposite way checking everything. I check once more as I walk around flagging.
With a lowboy you'll have to pay much more attention to your ground clearance, humps in the road and things that could get you hung up. Working for a local construction company can have you in and out of some neighborhoods and places that were never meant for trucks, sometimes you've gotta be creative.
Common sense will get you a long ways. These are just a few small things that hopefully will help. There are dozens of others here with more experience and knowledge than myself that can provide assistance when you're trying to learn.

 

Load positioning isn't a "one size fits all" deal with equipment. That is something that you'll learn over time with experience. I'm in a similar situation as you, working for a construction company hauling many of the same machines over and over. That gives you a chance to get it dialed in. The first time moving a machine you take your best guess, then see how it scales out when/if you get a chance to weigh it. Take notes. Keep any scale tickets and a notebook or something with the info for that load (what machine/attachment, axle weights, dimensions, where you positioned it on the trailer, any special blocking or extras you needed). Then you know what to do every time you move that machine, and you have a good idea where to start with similar machines.
Small and light machines are easy, you have the most room to work with. Sometimes the bigger or heavier ones won't leave you any choice on where they fit on the trailer.
It isn't like moving a big cube of steel where the center of mass is the same as the center of the machines dimensions. You'll learn as you go, most machines are heavier on one end than the other, or one side vs the other. You'll have to load them accordingly to get the weight in the right spots. I've never moved one, but a sideboom/pipelayer like the oilfield guys use is a perfect example of this. They have that big counterweight on one side, so many guys will load them offset to the other side of the trailer to keep the weight centered.
Keep your eyes and ears open around other heavy haul guys. You can always learn something, good or bad. Spend time on this forum, reading through the hundreds of pages in the pictures threads. You can learn a lot about the best ways to load/secure different types of machines just from the pictures and comments that the experienced guys here have shared.

 

You get over here much Reo?