Crawler Cranes

Capacities up to 825 Tons

Crawler cranes are designed for heavy lifting on soft or uneven ground across the country. Their wide tracks give strong stability and allow safe lifting at higher heights and heavier loads. These cranes can move onsite without being taken apart, making them ideal for long-term projects. At Southway Crane & Rigging, we offer crawler cranes ranging from 80 to 825 tons. Safe lifting depends on load charts, but the stability of these cranes allows them to handle heavier loads at greater lifting heights. For example, they can lift about 50 tons at close range and up to 150 tons at 100 feet. Projects like dams, refineries, and large industrial sites rely on this type of crane for safe and steady performance.
Crawler Crane Industrial Work

Operated or Bare-Rental

We offer operated rentals with certified NCCCO operators who handle lifting work, rigging, and daily maintenance. We also provide bare rentals, where your certified team operates the crane using our manuals and guidelines. Both options are suitable for heavy industrial work such as turbine installation. Operated rentals are often preferred for projects requiring simplified coordination and compliance, while bare rentals are chosen by teams that want full onsite control. Operated rentals help simplify compliance, while bare rentals give you full control through your own team.

Maintained & Certified

We keep all crawler cranes regularly maintained and certified to meet safety standards, ensuring they are always ready for use. Built-in monitoring systems help detect issues early. Our cranes are equipped with heavy counterweights up to 300 tons and adjustable lattice booms to match different job requirements. Even on soft ground, stability is maintained due to very low ground pressure (5–10 psi). This makes them suitable for demanding environments where terrain conditions are unpredictable or unprepared. With proper maintenance, we maintain over 98% fleet uptime on major construction projects.

Rental Process

We make the rental process simple and easy to follow. Simply share your project details with us so we can prepare a lift plan and give you an accurate quote. You can then choose between operated or bare rental, and we also include transport options. This step ensures the correct crane configuration is selected based on load requirements, site conditions, and project timeline.

We recommend booking in advance, usually 2 to 4 weeks for standard equipment, and 6 to 8 weeks for heavier cranes, to make sure availability is secured. Once confirmed, equipment is delivered using lowboy trailers. Onsite assembly is completed in 1 to 3 days with the help of an assist crane. After setup, we run full safety tests before starting operations, and we also help with permits if needed. This ensures the crane is fully inspected and ready for safe operation before any lifting begins.

We offer flexible billing options, daily, weekly, or monthly, so you only pay for the time you need.

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Technical Specifications | Crane Capabilities | Load Charts

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Frequently Asked Questions

Choose a crawler crane when your project requires heavy lifting on soft, uneven, or unstable ground conditions where stability is paramount. Crawler cranes excel in long-term construction projects lasting weeks or months, especially when the equipment needs to remain on-site throughout the duration, such as bridge construction, industrial installations, or foundation work where the crane must operate on freshly prepared or unpaved ground.

Crawler cranes offer substantial lifting capacities ranging from 30 tons up to 825 tons, making them ideal for heavy-duty industrial and infrastructure applications. The capacity you need depends on your load weight, required reach radius, and boom configuration, with each crane’s specific load chart determining safe lifting parameters for different working angles and distances.

Crawler cranes are best suited for large-scale infrastructure projects including bridge construction, wind turbine installation, power plant assembly, highway development, and industrial facility construction. These machines excel where you need exceptional stability combined with heavy lifting capacity, particularly on projects with challenging ground conditions, extended timelines, or requirements to move loads across uneven terrain without road transportation between lift locations.

Basic crawler crane setup typically requires 2 to 4 hours for smaller capacity units, while larger capacity crawler cranes can require several hours to a full day depending on the specific configuration needed. Setup time includes positioning the crane, verifying ground conditions and load charts, extending tracks to proper width, and conducting pre-operational safety checks to ensure the machine is properly configured for your specific lifting requirements.

Complete on-site assembly of a crawler crane typically takes 1 to 3 days, as these machines are transported in components on multiple trucks and require an assist crane for assembly. The process includes offloading components, assembling the crawler base and upperworks, attaching counterweights, installing boom sections, and conducting load testing, with the exact duration depending on crane size, boom configuration, and site accessibility.

We recommend booking crawler cranes at least 2 to 4 weeks in advance for standard projects to ensure equipment availability and allow adequate time for lift planning, permit acquisition, and site preparation. For complex projects requiring specialized configurations or during peak construction seasons, booking 6 to 8 weeks ahead is advisable, though we also accommodate emergency and short-notice requests when equipment is available in our fleet.

Crawler crane rentals typically have a minimum duration of one day for basic lifts, though most crawler crane projects span several days to multiple weeks given the substantial setup requirements and transportation costs. We offer flexible rental terms including daily, weekly, and monthly rates, with longer rental periods providing better value for extended projects where the crane remains on-site throughout the construction phase.

Crawler cranes can operate on slopes up to 1.5 to 3 degrees depending on the specific model and manufacturer specifications, with their wide track base providing superior stability compared to wheeled cranes. For slopes exceeding these limits or working on particularly soft ground, we utilize crane mats, ground preparation, and engineered solutions to create stable operating conditions, always adhering to manufacturer load charts which specify capacity derating based on ground angle and conditions.

Crawler crane operations typically require OSHA-compliant certified operators with NCCCO or equivalent certification, along with permits that may include road closure permits for crane transport, heavy haul permits for component delivery, and local construction permits depending on your jurisdiction. Southway Crane & Rigging provides certified operators with our operated rentals and can assist with identifying necessary permits based on your project location, scope, and local regulatory requirements to ensure full compliance throughout your lift operations.