For more than 35 years, Miller Transfer & Rigging Co., has taken on the big loads, hauling automotive presses, subway cars and power generators across the country.

"If you're a manufacturer needing to move heavy machinery, that's what we do every day," said Jim Unger, Miller Transfer president. "Loads of 152,000 pounds, for example, are uneventful for us."

The Rootstown, Ohio-based company has handled loads weighing as much as 325,000 pounds, using 19 Kenworth T800s in 4-axle and 3-axle configurations. The Kenworth tractors are powered by Cummins engines ranging up to 530 hp, pulled through Eaton Fuller 18-speed transmissions with 2-speed auxiliaries. Miller Transfer's heavy-duty trailer fleet includes 16 multi-axle trailers and a pair of dual-lane transporters.

In a recent job, Miller driver Roger Berg loaded a 27-foot-long, 12-foot-wide, 150,000-pound automotive press component onto one of the company's 13-axle trailers in Lansing, Mich. The load arrived a few days later in Lordstown, Ohio, for installation in a giant press at the General Motors factory.

Heavy Equipment

"We start with a conventional Kenworth T800 and spec everything from the heavy-duty frame on up, " says Ron Christoff, director of maintenance for Miller Transfer. "We were able to work with the Kenworth staff to get all of the specs we were looking for in our trucks. They were very helpful."

Miller's fleet of equipment includes flatbeds, dropdecks, multi-axles (50-150 ton), and dual lane transporters, which are 18 feet wide.

Earning Their Stripes

Among the interesting loads Miller Transfer has handled was moving three 76,000-pound boilers from Pennsylvania to Salt Lake City, Utah, to heat the Winter Olympics Village in 2002.

Three years ago, Miller hauled two 10,000-pound plaster tigers from Connecticut to the opening of Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers baseball team. When rain wore away the tigers' stripes, Miller hauled the figures to an Ohio plant for repainting and refinishing, then got them back to Detroit in time for the next baseball season.

All in a day's work for the prime hauler of heavyweight goods.