Can you haul heavy equipment without a permit?
Yes - you can haul most heavy equipment without a permit as long as the loaded truck and trailer stay inside the legal limits: 80,000 lbs gross, 8 ft 6 in wide, 13 ft 6 in tall (14 ft in many western states), and your state's axle-group weights. A skid steer on a 20-foot flatbed, a mini excavator on a step deck or a mid-size machine on a gooseneck all move legally with no permit. The permit kicks in the moment any single dimension or weight goes over, and for tracked machines that usually means width - most full-size excavators run 9 ft 6 in to 11 ft wide once the tracks and sticks are set.
TL;DR
Under 80,000 lbs gross, 8 ft 6 in wide and 13 ft 6 in tall, heavy equipment moves with no permit.
Track width, not machine weight, is what pushes most excavator and dozer moves into permit territory.
State axle limits catch overweight moves before the 80,000-lb gross cap does.
Costs for a permitted move: $15-$50 per state in fees, plus escort and fuel surcharges.
Measure loaded height and width at the yard, not from the spec sheet.
Can you haul heavy equipment without a permit?
The rules are federal minimums with state tweaks on top. Here is where the lines sit in 2026:
Limit | Legal value without a permit | What usually breaks it |
Gross weight | 80,000 lbs | Full-size excavator plus a heavy RGN setup |
Width | 8 ft 6 in (102 in) | Track frames, blade removed or not |
Height | 13 ft 6 in (14 ft in many western states) | Machine on a high deck, stacks or exhaust |
Length | 75-80 ft typical combination | Extendable booms left mounted |
Axle groups | State bridge-formula limits | Machine placed too far forward or back |
Run inside all five rows and you haul without a permit, on any open-deck trailer - flatbed, step deck, gooseneck or lowboy.
What heavy equipment actually fits legal
Skid steers and compact track loaders - 6,000-10,000 lbs, under 6 ft wide. Legal on a 14k-16k equipment trailer with a one-ton dually, no CDL question either if the combined rating stays under 26,001 lbs.
Mini excavators up to about 10 tons - roughly 20,000 lbs loaded with trailer, inside legal width. Step deck or gooseneck job.
Mid-size machines (14-20 ton class) - 30,000-45,000 lbs. Legal weight on a lowboy or heavy gooseneck, but check width: many run 8 ft 6 in to 9 ft 6 in on the tracks.
Full-size excavators, large dozers, articulated trucks - width and weight both push past legal. Permitted move, and often an RGN with the neck pulled.
The pattern is simple: the smaller machines are weight questions you have already answered, and the big ones are width and axle questions that need a permit office.
Weight is legal, width is not: the permit trigger
Weight catches new carriers first, width catches them second and costs more. Federal and state width limits give you 102 inches, and that is deck to deck with the load sitting on it. A 20-ton excavator with a 9 ft 2 in track shoe spread is 2 inches over before you touch a strap. Same machine, no permit option: pull the tracks? No. You either route it as an oversize move or the customer needs a different machine class.
When the move goes permitted, plan for it properly. Permit fees and escort rules are their own line items, and oversize permit costs run $15-$50 per state in 2026, plus escort charges that scale with route length. On wide machines, escorts come down to state thresholds - the pilot car rules for heavy haul loads break down when one is required.
Height and axle weight: the limits nobody measures until it is loaded
Two checks happen at the yard, not at the permit office:
Loaded height. Machine sitting on a lowboy deck at 18-24 inches plus a 12-foot-tall machine is already pushing 14 ft 6 in. Measure the actual loaded height with a tape off the deck, because spec-sheet heights are machine only and exclude the trailer deck and tires.
Axle weight. A legal-gross load can still be illegal axle by axle. Place the machine so the heaviest point sits over the trailer's axle group, not the neck, and check the state bridge formula spacing on long wheelbase machines.
When the move needs a lowboy instead of a flat deck
Some no-permit answers are really deck-height answers. The same machine that loads legal on an RGN can push over-height on a flatbed because you bought three feet of deck height you did not need. Deck height is the cheapest way to buy legal clearance, which is why lowboy and RGN setups dominate heavy equipment work even below the permit line. The lowboy deck height and load-height limits article covers the deck-to-limit math in detail.
Related questions
Can I haul a skid steer without a CDL and without a permit?
Yes to both, if the combined gross vehicle weight rating of truck and trailer stays under 26,001 lbs and the loaded machine stays under 8 ft 6 in wide and 13 ft 6 in tall. Most skid steer setups on a 16k trailer clear all of it.
What happens if you haul heavy equipment without a permit when one is required?
Expect a fine at the scale, an out-of-service order in the worst cases, and a re-route or unload order on the spot. Fines vary by state and by how far over you are, and they land on the carrier, not the broker. The cheap insurance is a phone call to the state permit office before you load.
Do I need an oversize permit for a wide-load banner?
No - the banner is the consequence of a permitted move, not a substitute for one. If the load is legal width, no banner. If it is over, the banner plus the permit plus any state-required escorts.
More on heavy haul and oversize moves
Find equipment loads that fit your trailer
Whether you haul legal-width machines or permitted wide moves, the freight has to be on the board first. OpenDeck, powered by Load Work, filters flatbed, step deck, RGN, lowboy and gooseneck loads by trailer type, weight and length, with broker ratings and contact details before you dial. Check the Load Work Pro and Enterprise plans on the OpenDeck pricing page, finish signup on the Load Work platform, and start pricing the next machine move.
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