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HTS Logistics
Heavy Equipment Transport & Hauling

Heavy Equipment Transport & Hauling

Excavators, dozers, cranes, loaders and farm machines, booked from East Northport, NY

Quick answer

How do you transport heavy equipment?

On a trailer matched to its loaded height and weight: a flatbed or step deck for compact machines, an RGN (removable gooseneck) or lowboy for most construction equipment, a multi-axle lowboy for the heaviest. A machine over 8 ft 6 in wide, over the state height limit once loaded (13 ft 6 in in most states) or over 80,000 lb gross needs a permit in each state crossed.

Updated October 2026 by the HTS Logistics broker team (FMCSA MC# 1178470).

HTS Logistics is a licensed property broker in East Northport on Long Island. We do not own trucks: for each machine we book a carrier whose trailer fits it and order the state permits and escorts the route calls for. That includes equipment bought at Ritchie Bros and IronPlanet auctions or rented through Cat Rental.

The machine pages below carry model-by-model figures from manufacturer documents, 47 machines in all, checked in October 2026. This page covers what applies to every move: the trailer, the permit and escort lines, the steps, the cost and what to check before you book.

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Heavy equipment transport by machine and job

How each kind of machine ships

Ranges across the 47 machines in our data, as each manufacturer publishes them, with loaded height estimated on a deck about 2 ft high:

Width, loaded height, weight and usual trailer by machine type, 47 machines
Machine type Machines in our data Width as hauled Loaded height (est.) Weight Usual trailer
Compact track loaders Bobcat T770 and Cat 299D3 6 ft 8 in 8 ft 9 in to 9 ft 0 in 10,515 lb to 11,464 lb Flatbed or step deck
Excavators 11, Cat 305 CR to Cat 395 6 ft 6 in to 12 ft 9 in 10 ft 4 in to 19 ft 8 in 12,688 lb to 207,400 lb Flatbed or step deck for minis; RGN or lowboy from the 20-ton class; multi-axle lowboy over 100,000 lb
Crawler dozers 13, Deere 450 P-Tier to Cat D11 6 ft 1 in to 14 ft 4 in 11 ft 1 in to 16 ft 11 in 17,816 lb to 134,755 lb Step deck for compact dozers; RGN or lowboy; multi-axle lowboy for the Cat D10 and D11
Motor graders Cat 140 and Cat 160 8 ft 4 in to 8 ft 9 in 13 ft 4 in 41,947 lb to 43,768 lb RGN or lowboy
Wheel loaders 7, Komatsu WA380-8 to Cat 992 9 ft 6 in to 15 ft 10 in 13 ft 1 in to 20 ft 3 in 40,686 lb to 233,430 lb RGN or lowboy; multi-axle lowboy for the Cat 992
Articulated trucks Volvo A40 and Cat 745 11 ft 2 in to 12 ft 6 in 13 ft 11 in to 14 ft 4 in 69,225 lb to 72,995 lb RGN or lowboy
Rough terrain cranes 3, Link-Belt 100|RT to Tadano GR-1000XL-4 10 ft 11 in 13 ft 10 in to 14 ft 7 in 88,450 lb to 92,210 lb RGN or lowboy
All terrain cranes Liebherr LTM 1100-5.2 9 ft 0 in 13 ft 1 in on its own tires 132,277 lb Drives on its own axles under permit
Crawler cranes Liebherr LR 1160.1 and Manitowoc MLC165-1 9 ft 10 in 12 ft 5 in to 12 ft 6 in 77,162 lb to 84,000 lb Base unit on an RGN or lowboy, parts on other trailers
Farm tractors Deere 8R 410 and Deere 9RX 640 8 ft 6 in to 9 ft 9 in 13 ft 8 in to 14 ft 11 in 28,000 lb to 56,320 lb RGN or lowboy
Combines Case IH Axial-Flow 8250 and Deere S790 12 ft 11 in to 13 ft 0 in 15 ft 1 in to 15 ft 4 in 42,845 lb to 49,141 lb RGN or lowboy, with the header on its own trailer

The top of the excavator, dozer and loader ranges is the Cat 395 and Cat 992 fully assembled and the Cat D11 as an assembled tractor on its tracks; all three travel partly disassembled.

Across all 47, 37 are wider than 8 ft 6 in as hauled, 22 stand taller than 13 ft 6 in on that deck, and 29 weigh more than the 45,000 lb we use as the planning ceiling for a standard tractor and RGN inside 80,000 lb gross. 20 are over on all three.

When does heavy equipment need an oversize permit or an escort?

A permit is needed as soon as one measurement, taken with the machine on the trailer, passes the legal limit: 8 ft 6 in wide, 13 ft 6 in high in most states (14 ft or more in much of the West) or 80,000 lb gross. Each state on the route issues its own, and the full set of legal load limits covers length and axle weights too. Escorts mostly follow width, and the lines sit far apart:

What a machine's hauled width triggers on state highways, with examples from our data
Width as hauled What it takes on state highways Machines in our data at that width
8 ft 6 in or less No width permit. New York City streets allow only 8 ft. Bobcat T770 and Cat 299D3 track loaders (6 ft 8 in); Deere 450 P-Tier dozer (6 ft 1 in)
Over 8 ft 6 in to 12 ft A width permit in every state. No width escort yet in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut or Ohio; California adds one over 10 ft on its brown routes and over 11 ft on blue. Komatsu WA380-8 loader (9 ft 6 in); Cat 966 loader (10 ft 7 in); rough terrain cranes (10 ft 11 in); Volvo A40 truck (11 ft 2 in)
Over 12 ft to 13 ft One escort in New York (NYS certified), Connecticut and Florida, and on the Massachusetts Turnpike; at least one on every California route. Cat 745 articulated truck (12 ft 6 in); John Deere S790 combine with the header off (12 ft 11 in)
Over 13 ft to 14 ft Pennsylvania and Ohio add one escort; Connecticut and the Massachusetts Turnpike go to two once a load reaches or passes 13 ft 6 in. Cat D8 dozer with its 13 ft 3 in blade left on
Over 14 ft to 16 ft New Jersey and Texas add one, Florida requires two, Ohio counts the load as a superload, and Pennsylvania's permit rises from $46 to $97. Cat D11 chassis (14 ft 4 in); Cat 992 loader at the bucket (15 ft 10 in)
Over 16 ft Police escorts in New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Ohio and on the Massachusetts Turnpike; two escorts and a route survey in New Jersey; Florida limits the move to a 50-mile radius. Cat D11 11U blade (20 ft 10 in), which ships on its own truck

Width triggers only. Height, length and weight add their own, and toll roads such as the NYS Thruway and the Ohio and Pennsylvania Turnpikes set separate rules. State-by-state detail sits in our oversize permit rules by state; to test one machine's loaded size, use the oversize load checker.

How do you move heavy equipment? Six steps from quote to delivery

  1. 1

    Identify the machine exactly

    Make, model, serial number and configuration: shoes or tires, blade, bucket, boom and counterweight. The trailer, the permits and the quote are all built on those numbers.

  2. 2

    Decide what comes off

    Blades, buckets, counterweights, booms and combine headers come off when that takes the load under a limit or into a cheaper permit class. Each removed part is weighed and assigned to a truck.

  3. 3

    Choose the trailer

    Deck height first: on a deck about 2 ft high, a machine taller than about 11 ft 6 in passes 13 ft 6 in, so tall machines go on the lowest deck available. Axles come next, for the weight. Our RGN trailer guide covers the removable gooseneck most machines ride on.

  4. 4

    Permit every road owner on the route

    Each state issues its own permit, and on many routes so do other road owners: the NYS Thruway for its toll road, New York City DOT for city streets, and counties such as Suffolk for county roads. Escorts are booked wherever a dimension crosses a state's trigger.

  5. 5

    Load and secure

    For any machine of 10,000 lb or more, federal rule 49 CFR 393.130 requires at least four tiedowns and every accessory, such as a bucket, blade or boom, lowered and secured.

  6. 6

    Deliver inside the permit

    The carrier follows the permitted route in the permitted hours, which by default means daylight only in most states and no Sunday travel in New York, and unloads at a site the rig can reach.

How much does it cost to transport heavy equipment?

The price is the carrier's rate per mile times the miles, plus fuel, a permit for each state where the load is over size or weight, escorts, special crossings and loading time. For scale: September 2026's national flatbed spot average, fuel included, was $3.61 a mile, and specialized trailers, permits and escorts push heavy equipment above it.

Our heavy equipment transport cost guide works three moves line by line, from a legal-size mini excavator over 500 miles to a wide, overweight machine in Pennsylvania, with dated sources for every rate and fee.

What is the cheapest way to transport heavy equipment?

Make it a legal load. A machine inside 8 ft 6 in wide, 13 ft 6 in high on the trailer and 80,000 lb gross needs no permits or escorts, is not held to the daylight-only hours that bind oversize loads, and can ride the simplest trailer that fits. That makes the removal decision the biggest lever: taking off a blade, bucket or counterweight pays when the permits, escorts and trailer class it saves cost more than the truck that carries the part.

Seven machines in our data are legal on all three counts as published, all of them compact: Komatsu D51PXi-24, Deere 550 P-Tier, Deere 450 P-Tier, Cat 305 CR, Cat 308 CR, Cat 299D3 and Bobcat T770. Everything larger is a trade-off, and the cost guide's ways to lower the cost of shipping heavy equipment cover dates, holiday blackouts and site access as well.

Heavy equipment transport near me: Long Island, New York City and the port

We are at 78 Daly Rd, East Northport, NY 11731 and book moves Monday to Saturday, 24 hours, at (631) 683-8275. Our Google Business Profile shows 4.5 stars across 22 reviews as of October 2026.

On Long Island the plan starts with the parkways, which are closed to trucks, and with Suffolk County's own trip permit for county roads, needed over 12 ft wide or 80 ft long. Our page on heavy equipment transport on Long Island covers the routes, bridges and crossings.

New York City streets allow only 8 ft of width, so most machines need a NYC DOT permit for each trip into or out of the city. Machines arriving by sea start at the terminal instead: see imported machinery pickup at the port for Ro-Ro and breakbulk cargo.

How to choose a heavy equipment transport company

Six checks to run on any heavy equipment transport company before you book, including us:

  • Check the authority. Every carrier and broker has a USDOT number you can look up on FMCSA's SAFER system. Ours is USDOT 3535360, with broker authority (MC 1178470) granted in February 2021.
  • Know who hauls. A broker arranges the move and a carrier hauls it, and federal rules bar a broker from presenting itself as the carrier (49 CFR 371.7). Ask for the hauling carrier's name and USDOT number before pickup.
  • Look for the bond. Brokers must keep $75,000 of financial security on file with FMCSA, either a surety bond (form BMC-84) or a trust fund (form BMC-85), under 49 CFR 387.307. HTS Logistics meets it with a BMC-84 surety bond for the full $75,000.
  • Match the insurance to the machine. Carriers we book must hold at least $1 million of auto liability and $1 million of general liability, plus $100,000 of cargo coverage. Cargo cover pays up to its limit, so a machine worth more than that limit needs higher coverage or your own equipment policy.
  • Get the quote itemized. Linehaul, fuel, each permit, escorts, crossings and loading should be separate lines, so two quotes compare line for line and a missing escort shows up before the move.
  • Ask who orders permits and escorts. We order them for each load we book. Permits are issued for a specific truck, load and route, and for a Pennsylvania super load only the hauler may apply (67 Pa. Code 179.1; 75 Pa.C.S. 3108).

Heavy equipment transport questions

What is the difference between heavy haul and heavy equipment transport?

Heavy haul is any oversize or overweight load, including transformers, steel and project cargo. Heavy equipment transport is the machine side of it: dozers, excavators, loaders, cranes and farm equipment. The trailers and permits are the same, but a machine can usually be made smaller by removing a blade, bucket, counterweight or header, which changes how it ships and what it costs.

What size heavy equipment can be hauled without a permit?

Anything that stays inside 8 ft 6 in wide, the state's height limit once on the trailer (13 ft 6 in in most states) and 80,000 lb gross. On a standard tractor and RGN that means a machine of roughly 35,000 lb or less and no taller than about 11 ft 6 in. In our data that covers mini excavators, compact track loaders and small dozers such as the Deere 450 P-Tier.

What is heavy equipment haulage?

Haulage is moving a load by road, priced mostly by the mile. Heavy equipment haulage adds what a regular freight load does not need: a trailer matched to the machine's height and weight, state permits whenever it is over 8 ft 6 in wide, the height limit or 80,000 lb gross, and escorts when it crosses a state's width or height trigger.

How accurate are spec sheet dimensions for planning a move?

They are a starting point. Each figure describes one standard configuration, and the documents do not always agree with themselves: Komatsu's PC360LC-11 brochure prints 36,509 kg beside 80,320 lb, which are not the same weight, and Deere's 750 P-Tier sheet prints 11 ft 6 in for a height its own metric figure puts at 11 ft 0 in. We confirm the actual unit, its options and its serial-plate weight before permits are ordered.

Do you move machinery inside a plant or set it in place?

No. Rigging work, such as moving a machine across a shop floor or setting it on its foundation, is done by rigging contractors. HTS Logistics arranges the road move between sites: the carrier, the trailer, the permits and the escorts. If the machine cannot drive onto the trailer, we line up a crane or forklift for both ends and price it separately.

Sources

Facts on this page were checked in October 2026 against the sources below. Rules and rates change; we confirm current requirements on every move.

  1. Caterpillar 950 (950 (14C) Wheel Loader Technical Specifications, AEXQ4425-00 (11-2025))
  2. Caterpillar 966 (966 (14C) Wheel Loader Technical Specifications, AEXQ4419-00 (11-2025))
  3. Caterpillar 980 (980 (14C) Wheel Loader Technical Specifications, AEXQ4428-00 (11-2025))
  4. Caterpillar 992 (992 Wheel Loader Technical Specifications, AEXQ2899-05 (05-2026))
  5. Caterpillar 140 (140 Motor Grader Technical Specifications, AEXQ4601-00 (09-2026))
  6. Caterpillar 160 (160 Motor Grader Technical Specifications, AEXQ4599-00 (07-2026))
  7. Caterpillar 745 (745 Articulated Truck Technical Specifications, AEXQ3096-03 (06-2025))
  8. Caterpillar 299D3 (299D3 Compact Track Loader brochure/spec sheet, AEHQ8203-02 (01-2021))
  9. Komatsu WA380-8 (Komatsu WA380-8 brochure AESS882-0326-V6 (Komatsu America, ©2026))
  10. Komatsu WA500-8 (Komatsu WA500-8 brochure AESS891-0326-V6 (Komatsu America, ©2026))
  11. John Deere 744 P-Tier (John Deere 744 P-Tier Wheel Loader brochure MW744PAU (24-09))
  12. Volvo A40 (Volvo A40 product guide, Ref. No 20064352_D / English-22 / 2025.01)
  13. Bobcat T770 (2026 Bobcat Full-Line Equipment Specifications B-1000 (08/26))
  14. John Deere S790 (John Deere Operator's Manual OMHXE122585 (S760/S770/S780/S790): 'Dimensions (S780 and S790)' OUO6075,000434B-19-20161007; 'Specifications (S780 and S790)' OUO6075,000434F-19-20170621; reference diagrams H106999/H107000)
  15. Case IH Axial-Flow 8250 (Case IH Axial-Flow 260 Series brochure CIH25071701 (caseih.com download), Dimensions table; same values in the 250 Series brochure CIH21092101 (2022, hosted by dealer redmac.com.au) and the EU 250 brochure 18C2044FOO (08/2018, hosted by izmocars))
  16. John Deere 8R 410 (John Deere 8 Series tractors brochure YY2614153 (EN, EU market, ©2026), 8R and 8RX specification pages; weights from deere.com US spec data (baseCode 8161RW / 8331RW) and US brochure 4867854)
  17. John Deere 9RX 640 (John Deere 9 Series brochure YY2314127 rev1 (EN, EU), 9RX specification page; plus US 9 Series brochure (9-series-tractors_brochure_EN) and deere.com spec data baseCode 9540RW)
  18. eCFR: 23 CFR Part 658, truck size and weight
  19. eCFR: 49 CFR 393.130, securing heavy vehicles, equipment and machinery
  20. eCFR: 49 CFR 387.307, property broker surety bond or trust fund
  21. eCFR: 49 CFR 371.7, broker misrepresentation
  22. FMCSA SAFER: HTS Logistics company snapshot (USDOT 3535360)
  23. NYSDOT: NYS Certified Escort Manual 2025
  24. NYC DOT: permits for over-dimensional vehicles
  25. Suffolk County: hauling and oversized vehicle permit
  26. N.J.A.C. 13:18 Subchapter 1, NJ oversize and overweight permits (NJDOT-hosted rule)
  27. 67 Pa. Code 179.10: permit conditions and pilot cars
  28. 67 Pa. Code 179.1: definitions (super load)
  29. 75 Pa.C.S. 3108: certified escort vehicles and super loads
  30. PennDOT: hauling permit fees effective July 1, 2025
  31. CTDOT: oversize/overweight permit FAQ (escort table, superloads)
  32. MassDOT: 700 CMR 7.00, Turnpike and Metropolitan Highway System
  33. ODOT: Operational Guide for Vehicles Operating with a Special Hauling Permit
  34. TxDMV: escort and equipment requirements
  35. F.A.C. 14-26.012: movement conditions and escorts (Florida)
  36. Caltrans: Single Trip Pilot Car Map Legend (June 2021)

Get a heavy equipment transport quote

Send the machine's make, model and serial number, what stays on it, and the pickup and delivery points. We check it against the manufacturer's figures and each state's limits before we quote.

  • FMCSA-licensed property broker, MC# 1178470
  • Permits, escorts and route surveys arranged for each move
  • Carriers checked for authority, insurance and safety record
  • Commercial shippers, dealers, contractors and auction buyers

Prefer to talk? Call (631) 683-8275.

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