Piggyback delivery

A forklift that rides with the freight

The industry calls it a Moffett the way tissues are called Kleenex; the generic names are piggyback or truck-mounted forklift. A compact rough-terrain machine hangs on a mounting kit at the rear of the flatbed, and at the delivery it drives itself off, places the freight, and lifts itself back on. The factory number for mounting or dismounting is under a minute; the honest planning number is 60 to 90 seconds each way including pinning and a walk-around.

That one machine changes what a delivery needs at the other end: no dock, no site forklift, no crew waiting. The driver unloads to the laydown area, photographs the placement, and is gone.

Where it earns its surcharge

Jobsites with nothing to unload with: lumber, drywall, roofing, pavers, sod, fencing, rebar, scaffolding, unit loads of 2,000 to 5,000 lb (907 to 2,268 kg) that no crew hand-carries economically. A liftgate puts one pallet at a time at the bumper, on pavement; the piggyback carries freight 50 to 300 ft (15 to 90 m) from the truck, over curbs, to where it will be used.

Multi-stop mornings are the signature play. The machine rides along, so one flatbed makes five or eight ground deliveries before noon with a one-minute mount cycle at each stop, 15 to 30 minutes on site against the hour or two a hand unload takes.

The 4-way variant turns all its wheels 90 degrees and drives sideways, which is how a 20 ft (6.1 m) bundle of lumber or rebar walks through a garden gate a normal forklift could never turn inside.

And it is the answer for unattended sites: gate code only, nobody there, freight placed and documented, truck gone.

The ground decides, and we ask about it first

A loaded machine is roughly 12,600 lb (5,715 kg) on three pneumatic tires. Firm ground carries that without a mark. Saturated fill, fresh grading after rain, and loose sand do not, and a piggyback buried to its axles needs a wrecker or a site machine to come out, both billable by the hour.

So booking a piggyback delivery here comes with questions, and they are not small talk: has it rained in the last 48 hours, is the surface paved, gravel, compacted or fresh fill, how far is the drop point from pavement, how wide is the gate. Ground protection mats can bridge a known soft stretch, and a shorter carry to the nearest firm ground beats a stuck machine every time.

The driver's judgment at the tailgate is final. When the lot is soft, freight goes to the road edge or the driveway apron, staged and photographed, and the site's own equipment makes the last move when the ground allows it.

What it will not do

Single picks are limited to roughly 4,500 to 7,000 lb (2,041 to 3,175 kg) at a 24 in load center depending on the machine, and capacity falls as the load center deepens. A machinery skid past that is a crane truck job, full stop.

Lift height tops out at 120 to 144 in (3.05 to 3.66 m): first-story eave height, not a second floor and not a roof. Shingles go to the driveway; loading the roof deck is a conveyor or boom service.

Published gradeability is 30 percent, and that is a traction figure for the bare machine, not permission to traverse a slope with a raised load. Overhead, the rule is the same as any mast: 10 ft (3.05 m) from power lines, and the drop point gets checked upward before anything goes up.

Weight, length and the law

The machine is dead weight against the 80,000 lb (36,287 kg) gross limit. With a 7,080 lb (3,211 kg) machine mounted on a forklift trailer, the freight payload runs about 43,300 lb (19,640 kg); the machine costs roughly two to four pallets of pavers in revenue weight. A max-payload lane where every pound is freight is a plain-flatbed lane, and quoting it honestly means saying so.

Behind the trailer, the mounted machine projects several feet and is flagged and lit as a projecting load under Florida law. Route legality is the carrier's problem, not the shipper's; it is part of what the rate buys.

How to book it

Ask for a piggyback delivery through the quote form and say what the ground is: paved, gravel, dirt, or unknown. Add what arrives and in how many unit loads, the drop address, and whether anyone will be on site. Multi-stop runs are priced as a morning, not as separate deliveries, which is where the machine beats every alternative.

Every rate is confirmed in writing before the truck moves.

The machine travels with the load, so these runs are not limited to the tri-county. A piggyback delivery goes anywhere in Florida the freight goes, and the questions about the ground travel with it.