D&J Towing handles equipment offloading for contractors, ranchers and equipment owners when a machine shows up on a trailer that cannot unload it, or has to come off at a site with no dock, no ramp and no level spot. We load machines for their next move too, and either way the job starts with three things: the ground, what is overhead, and the exact spot the machine has to end up.
Most machines are easy to load at a dealer's yard with a dock and a flat lot. The trouble starts at the other end, where the ground slopes, the street is narrow and the machine has to go somewhere the trailer cannot.
A dealer, rental yard or private seller sends the machine on a trailer that has no ramps, or ramps that cannot sit safely on your ground. The driver is ready to leave and the machine is still up on the deck.
Have ready: the delivery time and who is hauling it in.
A sloped lot, a gravel drive over soft fill, or a mountain street that is the only flat ground for a block. The unload has to happen somewhere the machine and the truck can both stay put.
Have ready: photos of the drive and the street out front.
The machine is needed at the back of the lot, inside a shop bay or past a gate, not at the curb. Where it ends up decides where the truck stops and how the unload is planned.
Have ready: gate and door widths, and the final spot marked.
The same job in reverse. A machine leaving a job, a ranch or a yard has to get onto a trailer from wherever it sits, and the ground under it matters just as much going on as coming off.
Have ready: where it is parked and whether it runs.
If the machine also needs to travel from one site to another, the haul and the unload are planned as one job. Start with the move itself.
Construction equipment haulingChoose whether the machine is coming off or going on, then pick the ground it will sit on. You will see what that spot needs, what to do before the truck arrives and the one line to tell dispatch.
Not sure which fits? Describe the spot when you call and dispatch will ask the right questions.
The easiest landing. Compacted gravel or dry, firm dirt holds a machine and a loaded truck without rutting. The one catch is fresh fill: it can look solid on top and give way under a track.
Tell dispatch"Gravel pad about (size) feet across, and a truck can get within (distance) of it."
Flat and hard, which helps, but steel tracks can scar asphalt and concrete, and a street brings traffic and parked cars into the job. If the truck has to stop in a public street, check with the town or county about what they require.
Tell dispatch"Paved street, (one, two) lanes, machine on (steel tracks, rubber tracks, tires), cars (can, cannot) be moved."
The hardest landing. A machine on a grade wants to slide or tip, and a tilted deck adds to the angle. The usual plan is to unload on the flattest ground within reach and set the machine at its final spot from there, but the method for your slope is confirmed by dispatch before a truck is sent.
Tell dispatch"Slope runs (down from the street, across the lot), and the flattest spot is (where)."
Soft ground is where a delivery turns into a stuck truck or a sunk machine. Lawn, pasture, new fill and spring mud can carry a pickup and still fail under a loaded trailer. Ground that is frozen early in the day may not be by the afternoon. If a machine is already sunk, it is a job for heavy equipment recovery first.
Tell dispatch"Ground is (lawn, pasture, fill, mud), and the firmest spot near the road is (where)."
Here the door decides it. Measure the opening top to bottom and side to side, then measure the machine to the top of its cab, rollover frame or exhaust stack. Floor drains, trenches and a lip at the door all count too.
Tell dispatch"Door is (width) by (height), the floor is (concrete, dirt), and the machine is (height) to the top of the cab."
An offload is short once it starts. Most of the work is getting the site ready, so here is the order it runs in and what your side of it looks like.
Check the ground, look up for wires and branches, measure gates and doors, and decide who will meet the truck.
Move parked cars, trailers and stockpiles, open the gates and mark the landing spot. Keep kids, pets and onlookers away.
The operator looks over the route and the landing spot with your site contact before anything moves, and agrees on hand signals.
One spotter, in the operator's sight, gives the signals. Everyone else stays clear of the travel path and the swing of the machine.
Bucket or blade fully lowered, controls in neutral, engine off, parking brake set, and chocks on any incline. You look it over before the truck leaves.
How it comes off depends on your site. The machine, the trailer it arrives on and the ground at the landing spot decide the method. Dispatch confirms the method for each job before a truck is sent, so you know what to expect when it pulls up.
Offloading puts a heavy machine in motion in a tight space with people close by. The questions dispatch asks about wires, the ground and who will be on site come from these four rules: one from Colorado law and three from OSHA's construction standards.
In practice they come down to looking up before you pick a spot, keeping one person in charge of signals, and leaving the machine parked the way it should sit.
Colorado law bars work where a person, equipment or materials could come within 10 feet of a high-voltage overhead line, meaning over 600 volts, unless that danger is guarded against through arrangements with the line's owner.
Source: C.R.S. 9-2.5-102 and 9-2.5-101OSHA says any overhead wire is treated as energized until its owner or the utility says it is not and it has been visibly grounded, and that a person is assigned to watch clearance when the operator cannot judge it by sight.
Source: OSHA 29 CFR 1926.600(a)(6)A vehicle with an obstructed view to the rear needs a reverse alarm loud enough to hear over the site, or it backs up only when an observer signals that it is safe.
Source: OSHA 29 CFR 1926.601(b)(4)Buckets, blades and similar equipment are fully lowered or blocked when not in use, the parking brake is set whenever the machine is parked, and on an incline the wheels are chocked too.
Source: OSHA 29 CFR 1926.600(a)(3)There is no flat rate for getting a machine off a trailer, because a level gravel pad and a sloped mountain lot are different jobs. Dispatch prices the job once it knows the six things on the worksheet, and an offload that is part of one of our hauls is quoted with the move.
D&J Towing is a family-owned company that has worked out of Evergreen since 1984. Our operators include WreckMaster and I-TECC certified professionals, and we take cash, Mastercard and Visa. For a delivery days or weeks out, you can also email the details, with photos of the landing spot, to djtowing699@gmail.com.
Have a delivery date and a spot that worries you? Call dispatch with the machine, the trailer and a description of the ground, and you will get a straight answer before the truck is booked.
Offloading is one of our services, whether the machine arrives on our truck or someone else's. Whether a given delivery is a fit depends on the machine, the trailer it comes on and the ground at your site, so call dispatch with those details before the delivery date.
Yes. Loading is the same job in reverse, and the same questions apply: what the machine is, where it is sitting, what the ground is like and what is overhead. Tell dispatch whether the machine runs and where it needs to go next.
Firm ground, as level as the site allows, with room for the truck to approach and nothing stored in the way. Look up as well: Colorado law keeps work at least 10 feet from high-voltage overhead lines, so pick a spot clear of wires.
Yes. Have one person there who knows exactly where the machine has to end up and can make decisions, plus the machine's key if it will be started. Keep everyone else clear of the work area until the machine is parked.
It depends on the machine, the trailer it arrives on, the ground and slope, how far the machine has to go to its final spot, the access and clearance, and the timing. Call dispatch with those details for a quote.
Tell dispatch what is coming, what it arrives on and where it has to land. A call a few days ahead leaves time to sort out the ground and the wires before the truck pulls up. Already on site with no way down? Call now, any hour.
