Spotlight Transport By Seth Skydel
Finding Solutions
Aber’ s Towing & Crane Service Delivers on Customer Needs for Heavy Haul Services
Every call we receive from a customer is a challenge looking for a solution,” said Aaron Aber, vice president of Aber’ s Towing & Crane Service.“ Understanding their needs is what allows us to manage their heavy haul projects with the skill and experience our clients have come to expect.”
Based in Ashland, Ohio, specialized transport services from Aber’ s Towing & Crane Service include intrastate and multistate hauls across the Midwest for a wide range of items. Included are cranes and large pieces of construction equipment such as oversize dozers, excavators and crushing machines. The company’ s biggest haul, at more than 150,000 pounds, was for an 1,150- ton capacity Manitowoc crawler crane.
The Aber’ s heavy haul fleet includes 19 Kenworth, Peterbilt and Volvo tractors, over half of which are fitted with an extra lift axle. Heavy haul specs for the power units call for double frames, 605-HP Cummins engines, 18-speed Eaton Fuller transmissions, 46,000-pound capacity air ride rear suspensions and 20,000-pound capacity steer and lift axles. Michelin and Hankook supply the fleet’ s 11R24.5 standard profile tires.
Bread and Butter Trailer
For trailers used by Aber’ s, the company primarily operates Talbert Manufacturing models in 35- to 65-ton capacities.“ Our bread-and-butter trailer is the Talbert 55CC in 8-foot 6-inch and 9-foot-wide versions,” Aber related.“ It’ s a four-axle unit that has three axles with a close-coupled pin-on fourth axle at the rear.”
The Talbert 55CC close-coupled lowbed trailer has a low 18-inch loaded deck height and six inches of ground clearance for navigating oversized loads under bridges and through tunnels without the need for rerouting. The 55CC has a standard 26-foot deck with a capacity rating for half the deck length, allowing operators to haul 55 tons in 13 feet, and a 108-inch swing radius for distributing weight from the drive axles to the steer axle of the tractor.
The 55CC features Talbert’ s four-cylinder removable hydraulic gooseneck that maximizes lift capacity and load height when handling oversized equipment. The trailer’ s main and side beams are manufactured with 12-inch-deep I-beams fabricated from high strength T1 steel with a minimum yield strength of 100,000 PSI. Other standard specs include two-inch Apitong
10 CRANE HOT LINE ® December 2024 • www. cranehotline. com