When most people think of towing, they picture a pickup truck with a flatbed towing a standard car. But heavy-duty towing is an entirely different discipline. It calls for specialized equipment, experienced operators and a completely different approach.
What is heavy duty towing?
Heavy-duty towing is the recovery and transport of commercial vehicles, heavy trucks, buses, construction equipment and other vehicles that exceed the weight or size capacity of standard tow trucks. At Olympic Towing, heavy duty covers vehicles of 11,793 kg and above: typically Class 7 and Class 8 vehicles such as semi-trucks and tractor-trailers, dump trucks, concrete mixers and city buses.
How it compares to light and medium duty
- Light duty (under 4,536 kg): cars, SUVs, motorcycles and light vans. Learn more.
- Medium duty (4,536–11,793 kg): box trucks, commercial vans, RVs and fleet vehicles. Learn more.
- Heavy duty (11,793 kg+): semi-trucks, tractor-trailers, buses and heavy commercial vehicles. Learn more.
The equipment required
Heavy-duty towing relies on purpose-built equipment such as heavy wreckers, integrated tow trucks with underlifts, rotators for complex recoveries, and high-capacity winches and rigging. Moving a vehicle that weighs tens of thousands of kilograms safely depends on matching the equipment to the vehicle’s weight, configuration and condition.
When do you need heavy duty towing?
- A semi-truck or tractor-trailer breaks down or is involved in a collision.
- A loaded commercial truck needs to get to a repair facility.
- A heavy vehicle is stuck in mud, snow or soft ground and needs a controlled winch-out.
- A truck has overturned or gone off-road and needs planned recovery.
- Heavy equipment needs moving and can’t be driven. In that case float transport may be the better fit.
What to tell dispatch
The more detail you share, the faster we can send the right equipment:
- Your exact location (highway, direction, nearest exit or intersection)
- Vehicle type, make and approximate weight, and whether it’s loaded
- What happened and the vehicle’s current position
- Where the vehicle needs to go
If you’re not sure whether you need heavy-duty or standard towing, call us and describe your vehicle and situation. Our dispatch team will match the right equipment to the job. Olympic Towing is available 24/7 at 416-356-2900.
