Truck Transport Services
Truck transport companies typically help vehicle manufacturers to ship new trucks from assembly plants to dealers and distributors around the country. They are often also used to transport used trucks from one location to another in situations where it may not be convenient or cost-effective for the owners to drive a truck to its new destination. Truck transport services are very different from standard automobile hauling services. For one thing, the vehicles they transport are much larger and much heavier than the smaller and more standard-sized passenger vehicles hauled by most automobile transport companies. In most cases, the customers of truck transportation services also are manufacturing companies and commercial enterprises rather than individual consumers.
Saddle-Mount Transportation
Truck transport companies offer a variety of options for hauling a truck. One of the most commonly used approaches for transporting a truck is called ‘decking’ or ‘saddle-mount’ transportation. This is a shipping option in which up to five separate trucks are hitched together using devices known as saddles and booms. These are devices that allow multiple trucks to be towed simultaneously by one vehicle.
With saddle-mount transportation, trucks are towed with their front wheels hitched to a saddle or a boom while the back wheels remain on the ground. With decking, multiple trucks are towed with their front wheels on the ground but with their back wheels hitched on to a boom. Saddle-mount transportation is often used to ship trucks that are less than 12 feet in height and weigh around 8,000 pounds.
Lowboy Trailers
Another commonly used truck transport option is to ship them on a lowboy trailer. A lowboy trailer is designed to carry small to medium-sized trucks and truck chassis with all their wheels off ground. In some cases, a lowboy trailer is simply a low-slung, flatbed truck that is customized to carry trucks. In other cases, a lowboy trailer can also be gooseneck trailer, which, basically, is a trailer with part of its body covering the wheel wells.
A lowboy is a mode of transportation that is often used to ship trucks that cannot be hauled using the saddle-mount method because of axle length or other design considerations. For example, if you are looking to transport a garbage truck, mail truck, fire truck, ambulance, ice cream truck or similar sized-vehicle, the moving company will typically use a lowboy trailer to haul it for you.
Preparations for Shipping a Truck
Truck transport companies typically take a number of steps to prepare a truck for shipping. If the truck is being decked, the driver of the transportation vehicle will often remove the exhaust stack from the vehicle that is being hauled. In many cases, the driver will also remove the axle shaft from the rear end of the vehicle to ensure that the back wheels roll freely when being hauled. If the trucks are being shipped from a manufacturing plant, the transporter will drive to the facility and pick the load up from there. On the other hand, if you are shipping a personal vehicle, the truck transport company will typically come to the facility where the vehicle is parked, or some place close by to make the pick up.
A truck transport company can make the job of shipping a truck to a different location much easier, regardless of the size of the vehicle that needs to be transported or the destination to which it needs to be shipped. Keep in mind that many car shipping companies will also offer truck shipping services.