How is heavy machinery transported?

First: how much it weighs and how big it is once loaded

Everything starts with the datasheet. Operating weight tells you how much the truck carries; transport dimensions (length, width and height with the boom or blade stowed) tell you whether it fits the route. Add the platform height to the machine height: that total is what passes, or doesn't, under a cable or a bridge.

In the group's catalog, according to the manufacturers' datasheets, weights range from 2,625 kg for a Bobcat E26 mini excavator to 118,300 kg for a Komatsu PC1250-11R mining excavator. Note: weight changes with different attachments (another bucket, a ripper, a hammer). Ask the advisor for each model's transport dimensions in the exact configuration you'll move.

Four ways to move it

The method comes from the weight, whether the machine runs on tracks or tires, and the distance.

• Lowboy: a dropped deck that keeps the load as low as possible; loaded by rear ramps or, with a detachable gooseneck, from the front. It's the normal way to move excavators, dozers and large loaders.
• Flatbed or tilt-bed truck: for compact and mid-size equipment within the allowed height, such as skid steers, backhoes or small rollers.
• Trailer behind a pickup: for compact equipment. According to its catalog datasheet, the Bobcat E26 still travels this way; confirm the pickup and trailer are rated for that weight and have brakes.
• Under its own power: only wheeled machines over short stretches. According to Bobcat, the E55W drives on the street at 30 km/h between urban work fronts; motor graders, loaders and backhoes also drive, with lights, signage and whatever your traffic authority requires.

Why tracks don't travel on the street

An excavator or dozer can travel inside the site, but moving them on paved roads isn't a good idea: steel tracks damage asphalt, the undercarriage wears while traveling and speed is so low the trip turns into engine hours without work. Between sites, they ride a lowboy. Wheeled machines are a different story: over short stretches and with whatever authorization your country requires, driving can be simpler than loading.

Large machines travel in parts

Beyond a certain size, the machine doesn't fit within a highway's limits in one piece. Depending on the model, the bucket, boom, counterweight, blade or ripper are removed, travel on several trucks and are reassembled on site with a crane and technicians. It's normal for production excavators like the PC800-8 (78.3 t) or the PC1250-11R, and for large tractors like the D275AX-5E0 (56 t). The disassembly and assembly sequence is defined by the manufacturer for each model: confirm it with the advisor before planning the move.

Prepare, load and tie down

Most damage in a move happens while loading, unloading or because of a poor tie-down, not on the highway. Each machine's operator's manual has its transport procedure and tie-down points: follow it before any habit. Loading is done by a trained operator, guided by a signaler, with the platform on firm, level ground, the truck's brake applied and the ramps clean and aligned.

• Clean mud and rocks from tracks and frame: they add weight, fall onto the road and hide damage.
• Climb slowly and in a straight line; don't correct steering on the ramp.
• Center the machine to spread weight across the axles as the carrier indicates.
• Lower the bucket, blade or attachments until they rest on the deck.
• Engage the swing lock (excavator) or articulation lock (loader, motor grader).
• Shut down, remove the key, disconnect the battery if there's a master switch, and close doors and hoods.
• Tie down with chains and binders at all four corners, only at the marked points: never on cylinders, hoses or pins.
• Check binder tension after the first few kilometers.

Route, permits and schedules

If the load exceeds the width, height or weight the road allows, the move usually needs a special permit, and sometimes an escort, a set route and restricted hours. Requirements change by country and type of road: check the current rules with your country's traffic authority or with the carrier, who usually handles them.

Check the full route before loading: bridges and their capacity, power lines, overpasses, tight curves and, above all, the last stretch to the site. A lowboy needs a firm road and room to maneuver; in the rainy season, a dirt access may not hold it. The group's special solutions ask exactly that in the quote: whether the site is reached by a firm road for a lowboy, a rough road or only by water.

Coordinate transport with the purchase

When you buy or rent a machine, the move is part of the deal and should be in writing. Ask in the quote whether transport to your site is included or quoted separately, who hires the lowboy, who insures the machine during the trip, where it's unloaded and who receives it. For used machinery sold by the group, freight is quoted by destination; for buyers in other countries, it's quoted EXW at the yard, FOB at the port of departure or with freight to their port.

On receipt, inspect the machine before signing: photos, hour meter, accessories, manuals and no damage from the move.

Where to quote machinery and its transport

Grupo ConstruMarket serves El Salvador (Zaragoza, Antiguo Cuscatlán, San Miguel), Guatemala as CMARKET (Mixco, Río Hondo, Xela), Nicaragua (Managua) and Panama (Panama City). In the quote, state the model, site location, what the access is like and when you need it; the advisor confirms that configuration's weight and transport dimensions and how delivery is coordinated. An advisor will contact you during business hours.