Routing the load…
Lowest fixed deck · tall + heavy
Lowboy
transport, quoted to the line.
The low fixed deck buys you a foot and a half of height versus a flatbed — the difference between a permitted move and a legal one for tall machinery.
Deck height
18–24 in
Freight height
to ~11 ft 6 in legal-ish
Capacity
40–80K lbs typical
Loading
Crane / ramp / dock
How this equipment runs
Lowboy Transport.
A lowboy's deck sits as low as 18 inches off the road, against 60 inches for a flatbed. That four-foot difference is the whole point: a 10-foot-tall machine on a flatbed is a 15-foot overall height — permits, route surveys, bridge clearances. The same machine on a lowboy comes in near 12 feet and may move as a legal load. Lower deck, fewer permits, fewer escorts, lower total cost.
Lowboys carry the tall-and-heavy class: crawler cranes in sections, large gensets, industrial presses, mining components. Where an RGN's detachable neck is for drive-on machines, a fixed-neck lowboy is usually loaded by crane or from a ramp — and gives back some of the RGN's tare weight as usable payload.
Height is the spec that kills schedules. A load that's an inch over a route's controlling clearance doesn't ship until the route changes or the load does. We confirm loaded height physically — not from the spec sheet — before the permit applications go in, because a machine on its transport blocking comes in different than the brochure says.
Frequently asked
Lowboy questions.
Lowboy vs RGN — which do I need?
Drive-on machines → RGN. Craned or dead loads where height is the constraint → lowboy. The lowboy's fixed neck is lighter, so more of the rated capacity goes to your cargo, and the deck can sit slightly lower.
How tall can my load be on a lowboy?
Rule of thumb: 11 ft 6 in of freight stays near the common 13 ft 6 in–14 ft legal overall heights. Above that it's a permitted move — possible almost anywhere, but route-surveyed and often escorted. We check the controlling clearance on the actual route before quoting.
Do lowboy moves always need permits?
No — that's the reason to use one. A load that fits inside legal height, width, and weight on a lowboy moves like any other truckload. Permits enter when a dimension exceeds the state's legal envelope; the lowboy's job is keeping height inside it.
Got a lowboy load?
Quote it now.
Line by line, no TBDs.
Lowest fixed deck · tall + heavy. Permits, escorts, and route checks included. A named coordinator quotes it the same day.