Spotlight Transport
By Seth Skydel
In the Driver’ s Seat of Success
Jay D Enterprises’ Blueprint for Heavy Hauling Excellence
Fifteen years ago, as a college senior, John“ J. D.” Higgins knew exactly what he wanted to do. Setting out to fulfill his dream, he founded Jay D Enterprises in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania. Today, he continues to serve as the president of the specialized and heavy haul carrier.
“ We now have 50 trucks and 120 trailers,” Higgins related.“ We serve oil and gas and coal mine industry customers mainly within 250 miles, but we also haul as far as Texas. Our niche, the bread and butter of our business, is in moving permitted, oversize and overweight loads.”
With a mix of standard tandem- and four-axle heavy haul Kenworth W900 and Peterbilt Model 389 tractors, Jay D Enterprises regularly moves a variety of large construction and mining equipment, along with cranes. The glider kit-built heavy haul tractors are equipped with rebuilt Caterpillar C15 engines rated at 650 horsepower and
2,250 pound-feet of torque, 18-speed Eaton Fuller manual transmissions and 46,000- pound rear axles with 4.10 gearing.
“ Some of our biggest customers are rental companies and operators in the offroad articulating crane market,” Higgins said.“ They call on us to move very heavy crawler and rough terrain cranes between jobsites, as well as all-terrain and truck cranes when the distance between locations is too far to drive the machine.”
The Jay D Enterprises trailer fleet includes a wide variety of makes and models, including 35-ton stretch to 75-ton multi axle units and four- and five-axle step decks. Included are Fontaine 40- to 55-ton extendable 55MX and Renegade XN20 lowboy models along with 55LCC 55-ton and 60LCC lightweight 60-ton detachable units. Jay D Enterprises also fields XL Specialized 40-ton mini decks, Manac extendable flatbeds and Dorsey Steel Giant CR steel drop
decks with beavertails.
“ Besides needing equipment that can handle different loads, one thing we spec for many of our trailers are low deck heights,” Higgins related.“ In western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and in West Virginia there are a lot of low underpasses, so our Fontaines have 18-inch-high decks and our XL Specialized trailers are spec’ ed with 12-inch decks.”
The entire trailer fleet at Jay D Enterprises is supplied by Tri-State Trailers, a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based multi-brand dealership that operates four full line facilities offering new and used sales, renting, leasing, parts and service. Tri-State also rents trailers to Jay D Enterprises when the carrier needs extra capacity for specific hauls, supplies the fleet with parts and handles any warranty work that is needed.
“ We can’ t say enough about the support we receive on a regular basis from Tri-State Trailers,” Higgins said.“ They go beyond selling us equipment by working with us to understand our needs and to make sure we’ re spec’ ing the right equipment.”
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February 2025 • www. cranehotline. com