Heavy Hauling
Crane rental companies and operators call on Jay D Enterprises to move a variety of heavy machines between jobsites.
Fontaine, XL Specialized, Manac and Dorsey trailers, including stretch, multi axle, step deck, drop deck, extendable, detachable and lowboy models at Jay D Enterprises are all supplied by Tri-State Trailers.
Other key players in the ongoing success of Jay D Enterprises, Higgins noted, include the company’ s maintenance team and outsourced service providers. In house, the fleet’ s technicians handle all maintenance and most repairs except for major component rebuilds for items like transmissions and rear axles.
“ Our maintenance staff also responds to road calls if there’ s an issue within two or three hours from our facility,” Higgins continued.“ In further locations, we rely on a network of providers across our operating area. Most of the companies who we consider a first point of contact are from word-of-mouth references.”
With equipment running in and out of off-road jobsites, particular attention is paid to ensuring tire service needs are met.“ We usually carry two or three mounted tires on hauls for faster replacement, in part because the lower height 17.5- and 19.5-inch tires on our trailers are not always readily available,” Higgins said.“ For many years, we’ ve relied heavily on Briggs Tire Service in Washington, Pennsylvania. They’ re available
around the clock and their service is always second to none.”
There are several challenges with any specialized trucking service, Higgins noted, but years of experience have led to practices that can address them effectively. For example, across the industry it is difficult to find and retain skilled drivers for heavy hauls.
“ Drivers who have experience handling 100,000-pound-plus loads are hard to come by,” Higgins said,“ so it’ s important to treat them well so they’ ll stay. One of the ways we do that is by showing them that we trust their years of experience. For example, we count on their expertise to ensure proper load placement and securement, not only for safety but also because if we have to unload and reload it could cost an entire day.”
Finding qualified escorts for oversize and overweight loads can be a guessing game, Higgins noted.“ We do some escorting with our own vehicles but we’ re also fortunate to have a good relationship with Patriot’ s Contracting in Cambridge, Ohio,” he related.“ They’ ve been very reliable
Low trailer deck heights are essential for Jay D Enterprises for navigating low underpasses across western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and in West Virginia
every time we call on them to provide pilot car services.”
One of the biggest challenges that Jay D Enterprise faces, according to Higgins, is with securing multi-state heavy haul permits.“ There’ s no uniformity between states and no cooperation between agencies,” he explained.“ Even the time frame for getting permits differs from 30 seconds to days so it’ s hard to even plan hauls until everything is in place.
“ From our side, the heavy haul planning process starts with the customer and that can be a challenge, too, when it comes to getting correct dimensions and weights,” Higgins continued.“ We handle nearly all permitting and route planning in house and strive to establish the simplest processes with realistic timelines.”
For Jay D Enterprises, effective planning, the right equipment and drivers and supplier support are what make every specialized heavy haul successful. That lesson, learned through experience, goes hand in hand with playing the long game, a practice that continues to pay off in the end.
www. cranehotline. com • February 2025 29