I’m not sure there’s a piece of equipment more cruelly abused than a tow dolly. To confirm, just call your local U-Haul and ask. People seem to automatically assume they’re capable of carrying anything, following the time-honored philosophy of “Don’t mind the mule, just load the wagon.” Well, big-rig wreckers can’t do that, because their livelihoods depend on smooth, safe recoveries. Thankfully, Big D’s Fabrication out of Wisconsin makes these 44,000-pound-capable units meant to lug everything from loaded dump trucks to semi-trailers over long distances.
I first saw the rollers while scrolling through Facebook, and if you clicked on this story, there’s a good chance they intrigued you, too. I mean, they’re huge chunks of steel painted in all different colors with polished semi-wheels mounted on each side. They just look like they work hard.
That’s because they do, of course. Cody Henninger, whose family owns Big D’s, tells me they’re often used for carrying immobile quad-axle dump trucks. The dollies also come in handy when towing garbage trucks, which can stand 13 feet, 6 inches tall on the ground, making trailer transport nearly impossible. Meanwhile, these only raise the load height by five inches.
“The garbage trucks will break rear-end housings and they’ll break axles in half, or they’ll lose wheels,” Henninger said. “Every state is a little different. In Wisconsin, you can run a tandem [axle] with a pusher so here, they can weigh 43,000 pounds legally.”
As you’d expect, this requires some seriously strong hardware. Henninger explained that the axles are built in-house out of solid 7-inch steel round stock. Measuring 103 inches wide on the inside and 134 inches wide on the outside, the dollies boast a big footprint as well as an empty weight of 4,200 pounds. Clearly, these are meant for those big jobs you hear truckers talking about at the Denny’s inside Flying J.
Look closely at the tray and you’ll notice holes bored out of the steel. Operators can insert frame forks or shipping container locks through those, to carry whatever the job requires. Big D’s even shared a few photos of a Kenworth with no wheels riding backward on a dolly with the rear end supported by a wrecker truck’s wheel lift. Talk about versatility.
And if you need proof that they’re capable of handling a full 44,000 pounds, check out these shots. Big D’s tested the heftiest units by pulling a 50-ton rotator that weighs 44,300 pounds at the rear tandems.
Big D’s also builds 40,000- and 25,000-pound-capable models, in case customers’ needs aren’t quite so extreme. They’re both pretty stout in their own right, weighing 2,400 and 1,750 pounds, respectively. All of the manufacturer’s dollies share similar designs that are apparently patent-pending; some other shops have already tried ripping them off, but they were quickly called out online. The drivers who use these seem to swear by them.
The new, most capable dollies cost $22,500 and can be painted any PPG AUE color. If you want, Big D’s will also sell you a lifting sling for easy transportation. These are specialized tools for seriously tough tasks, and if you know anything about heavy-duty transport, then you’re already aware that nothing comes cheap. Nothing good, anyways.
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