Permit weights and load reduction...

Yeah depends which state/province you're in and where it's going.
Most states say "Reasonable time" usually means 8hrs.
They also say "Doesn't affect value/operation of product", which means un bolting, un pinning, etc, not cutting torch...
Merlyn, the famous MCT from MT, told me reasonable there meant "if it takes 6hrs to remove the blade and the machine is only going an hour away, you can leave it on..." Never tried it, but I'd believe him...(NOTE that is for Montana, not everywhere!)
There could be a multitude of reasons;
Leaving attachments on may put the load into Super status and may require excessive wait times...over 150,000 in MD is like two weeks, dropping a bucket, c/w, & stick gets them to 149,500 and they move today...
I could go on all night with examples...

 

Moved a JD 992 with bucket and thumb and counterweight last month OR to AZ through CA machine weighed around 108k

And moved an ill fated 349 to OH with the counterweight but no bucket

No issues permit related

 

Don't forget road bans!

 

I'm most familiar with Ohio as far as what crap they will try to pull. Somewhere in the operations guide it says something about 8 hours I forget the exact verbage I could look it up but doesn't really matter for our purpose here. Basically if you can axle it you can haul it, they do get ticklish about blades and Oscar was right about PA anything over 12' the want the blade pulled it guardrail installed. Several years ago they got one of our other drivers from the crane company with a 600E at the Stalag 13 scales in Wilmington. He was grossing like 113,000 with a 120,000 permit which should have been a gravy load but they made us tear it down behind the scale house. We to it to court and ODOT said if it rendered the machine inoperable for its intended purpose that didn't apply and the judge tossed the ticket. That's Ohio, I have hauled bigger pickers up to the 890 Grove an GR800 Tadano on the 9 axle completely dressed in multiple states and as long as I axled out no one said a word. The local big construction company around here has a west coast 9 axle the run full time (they didn't have that when I was there) they haul 400' and 349's, and such with cwt bucket and all and they have no problem. We tear ours down because it's easier than screwing with our east coast 9 axle. And we really don't go that far. Like every thing else lots of gray area.

 

In addition...theres a different set of regs for superloads. Civilian pilot cars go for $1.50/mile each. Police escorts and bucket trucks costs much more. Weekend restrictions. School hours only.

They normally ship the truck chassis on a multi axle. Bed goes on another. Cab, axles, suspension, wheels and tires are shipped separately.

 

It depends on the situation as a few of the guys have stated. There are a million variables. Moving machines fully dressed on triple pivot, wide deck or modular 11-13 axle rigs need permits just to run empty... add in pilot cars, un-decking, trailer assembly, small curfew windows, insanely long routes with lots of detours, MUCH different rules for the same truck across many states and it can be a nightmare. The costs for a single large truck may be much higher than the cost for a few smaller trucks with dis-assembly, re-assembly and faster overall move time. We break some machines up into 7 axle lowboy/ 5 axle landoll combinations and we can run smaller permits and move with less restrictions across multiple trucks. I got out of the company lowboy driver's seat & I work now as a cross country pilot/escort for anyone that calls me and I get phone calls from guys that don't understand the costs and wait time associated with needing permits for larger, heavier loads and forget to factor that in when they agree to haul loads for a broker. "Hey i'm 15' 2" tall, 14' wide and I need to get to Virginia." Then I start telling them what a route survey, pole car + chase car will cost per mile, + 2X wait time + 2X over-night fees that are completely dependent on how slow the state is to get out the permit and I hear that "oh man I didn't think about all that" pause of silence from the other end.

 

There are heavy hauls back home, capable of bridging anything up to 32 axles and sets of them to either side to theoratically carry 64 axles in two interstate lanes under escort. We have a number of Westinghouse transformers coming in near me several times a week at 150 ton they challenge a bridge to access 67.

With that said... heavy cranes are moved in sections where necessary, one truck carries the tracks, another the boom, a third the ballast weights etc etc etc as many and as big as necessary until the job can be done in one move because permits are precious short on time over distance.

 

Now that's freaking cool. Just when I start thinking I don't want to go into oversize you post that. Thanks alot six.

 

Do it

 

Still thinking about it @Chewy352 ? You can always start out with something smaller and work your way up like a 773.