Crawler Crane Rental in Arlington, TX
A crawler crane rides on steel crawler tracks instead of tires, and around Arlington it earns its place on long jobs with heavy or repeated picks, where the crane is built once and stays put. What decides it here happens before the first lift: the trailer loads it arrives on, the space and people to assemble it under OSHA's rules, ground that can carry it, and notice to the FAA when the boom will stand tall. Link-Belt lists 55 to 285 ft of boom for its lattice 248 HSL, while its telescopic TCC-800 "Transports fully rigged at 99,500 pounds" with one overflow load. Below are both kinds with their makers' figures, the published national rates, the rules on a Tarrant County site and what a written quote needs from you.
$300 to $1,500 an hour for crawler cranes (national rental marketplace crane cost guide, April 27, 2026) · full pricing guide
Crawlers come in two builds. Lattice-boom models such as the Manitowoc MLC100-1 (110 USt, up to 61 m of main boom in its product guide) and the Link-Belt 248 HSL (200 USt at 12 ft) are built for big charts and tall booms; see Link-Belt's 248 HSL specifications. Telescopic crawlers such as the Link-Belt TCC-800 (80 USt at 9 ft, 38.6 to 120.1 ft of boom) and the Liebherr LTR 1100 (100 t at 2.50 m) put a power boom on tracks. Manitowoc defines headline capacity as the figure "obtained at minimum radius with basic minimum boom length", so the working number comes from the chart at your real radius. OSHA bars traveling with a load where the crane's maker prohibits it. The work that suits one keeps a big crane in place for weeks.
A national equipment-rental marketplace's guide to crane costs (April 27, 2026) prices crawler rentals at "$300 to $1,500/hour, or upwards of $2,000 per day for larger units," puts an operator at $50 to $150 more per hour, and notes hourly minimums that "can range from three to eight hours." ThePricer.org (updated November 12, 2025) lists add-ons that matter here: escort trucks for counterweights, mats where soil bearing is low, and separate charges for riggers and signal persons. Neither prices crawler transport or assembly; all are national figures, not Arlington prices, and the crane cost page compares them. Under the Texas Comptroller's Rule 3.294, "Receipts from the lease of tangible personal property without an operator are taxable", while a single charge for a crane with its operator "shall be presumed to be the performance of a service", except where the job itself is a taxable service. Inside Arlington the combined rate is 8.25 percent.
Subpart CC of OSHA's construction rules (29 CFR 1926) covers assembly in sections 1926.1403 and 1926.1404, ground in section 1926.1402, and the operator, who under section 1926.1427 must be "trained, certified/licensed, and evaluated"; NCCCO, one accredited certifying body, says its LAT (Lattice Boom Cranes) designation "includes lattice boom crawler cranes and lattice boom truck cranes". Texas sets its own 6-foot limit near high-voltage lines in chapter 752 of its Health and Safety Code, and anyone working closer "must notify the operator of the line at least 48 hours before the work begins." The FAA wants Form 7460-1 at least 45 days ahead for anything over 200 feet above ground, and TxDMV permits the oversize loads the crane arrives on. Our Arlington crane permit guide gathers these rules.
The big jobs around Arlington are measured in thousands of tons. Walter P Moore, AT&T Stadium's structural engineer, describes arches spanning 1,225 feet and a roof carried by 14,100 tons of structural steel, and the Rangers say Globe Life Field took 19,000 tons of steel. The City of Arlington said on April 21, 2026 that the Cowboys will invest at least $750 million in AT&T Stadium, with work done by 2043, and on October 23, 2026 that the 480,000 sq. ft. E-Space plant at Arlington Municipal Airport had topped out. QTS's September 2026 page lists a 165 MW+ campus in Irving, where the City of Irving's data center rules require a Conditional Use Permit for new ones (see crane work in Irving), and Defense News reported in October 2026 that Lockheed Martin is spending $300 million to expand its Grand Prairie plant (see Grand Prairie crane rental). Weeks on site mean weather: the NWS Fort Worth/Dallas office lists April as DFW's windiest month and May as its busiest for thunderstorms.
For a written quote, send the heaviest load and its weight, where it is picked and set (radius and height), the boom or jib you expect, a site plan with the assembly area and haul access, what you know of the soil and anything buried under the set-up area, overhead lines, the address, the start date and how long the crane stays. We price it in writing at no charge before any work, line by line with any tax. If your company supplies the operator, tell us who; section 1926.1427 applies to that person. ASME P30.1 sorts lift plans into standard and critical; see rigging and lift planning.
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Crawler Examples: Capacity, Boom, Height and Transport
Four crawlers from three makers, two lattice and two telescopic, with the figures each maker publishes. Read each capacity with the radius printed beside it, and the transport column as the reason a crawler needs trailers, permits and assembly time. Liebherr's page is metric, so its figures stay metric.
| Maker and model | Maximum capacity | Main boom | Highest point | Transport (maker's figure) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manitowoc MLC100-1 (lattice) | 110 USt | Up to 61 m | Not listed (60 ft fixed jib) | Heaviest piece 91,500 lb |
| Link-Belt 248 HSL (lattice) | 200 USt at 12 ft | 55 to 285 ft | 348.4 ft tip with fixed jib | Main load 88,300 lb without tracks |
| Link-Belt TCC-800 (telescopic) | 80 USt at 9 ft | 38.6 to 120.1 ft | 184.5 ft tip height | 99,500 lb fully rigged, one overflow load |
| Liebherr LTR 1100 (telescopic) | 100 t at 2.50 m | 11.50 to 52.00 m | 83 m hoist height | Two standard low loaders |
Numbers are the makers' own maximums, read from each model page or product guide. What a crawler can pick on a given day depends on its chart for the boom length, radius and counterweight rigged that day. These are sample models chosen to show the class, and none of them is a crane we own.
Signs Your Arlington Job Needs a Crawler
A crawler pays off when the job runs long enough to repay the trucks and the assembly, the site has room to build it, and the ground can carry it. You can check each of these on the drawings or on a site walk.
- The pick list runs for weeks from one crane position, such as steel framing on a large plant, warehouse or campus building.
- The heaviest load or the longest radius goes past what a truck or all-terrain crane's chart allows at the reach you need.
- Loads have to travel on the hook across the site, which OSHA bars wherever the crane's maker prohibits it.
- The top of the boom or jib will sit higher than 200 feet above ground level, which brings FAA notice under 14 CFR 77.9 on any site.
- The set-up area is open clay that drains slowly after rain and will need mats to spread the crane's weight.
- There is space to lay out and assemble the crane clear of overhead lines, and a route trailers can use.
OSHA Sections 1926.1403 and 1926.1404: Putting a Crawler Together
OSHA treats a crawler's assembly and teardown as regulated work in its own right. Section 1926.1403 makes the employer obey every manufacturer prohibition and follow either "Manufacturer procedures applicable to assembly and disassembly" or its own procedures, allowed only if it can show they meet section 1926.1406. An assembly/disassembly (A/D) director runs the job, and OSHA wants that person to be both a competent person, one "capable of identifying existing and predictable hazards" with "authorization to take prompt corrective measures", and a qualified person, proven by a recognized degree, certificate or standing, or by extensive knowledge, training and experience; a competent person working with one or more qualified persons can fill the role instead. The director reviews the applicable procedures immediately before work starts.
OSHA's assembly and disassembly rule lists twelve hazards the director must address, from site and ground bearing conditions, blocking and assist-crane loads to stability upon pin removal, being struck by counterweights, loss of backward stability, and wind speed and weather. Overhead wires come into it before anything is lifted: section 1926.1407 has the employer find out whether any piece could get "closer than 20 feet to a power line" in the assembly area, and no part may go below a line the utility has not deenergized and visibly grounded. Once the crane is built, section 1926.1412 calls for a qualified person's inspection "to assure that it is configured in accordance with manufacturer equipment criteria."
Ground Under a Crawler: Tarrant County Clay, Mats and Level
A crawler needs ground that OSHA section 1926.1402 calls "firm, drained, and graded" far enough to meet the maker's support and level requirements, and the rule lets supporting materials close the gap, naming "blocking, mats, cribbing" among them. Makers set the bar in their charts; one Manitowoc capacity document says "The crane must be leveled to within 1% on a firm supporting surface." The Handbook of Texas describes Tarrant County's Grand Prairie belt as shallow clayey soil over alternating limestone and marl. The USDA's write-up of the Houston Black clay, which it places in "The Blackland Prairies" and the "eastern part of the Grand Prairies", lists "High shrink-swell potential" and "very slowly permeable" soil that cracks 1.3 to 10 cm wide at 30 cm depth in dry periods.
NWS Fort Worth/Dallas recorded both faces at DFW in 2026: 8.07 inches of rain in June against a normal of 3.70, then 67 days without measurable rain from July 16 to September 20. OSHA assigns ground preparation to the project's controlling entity, and that same party has to share what its drawings and soil reports show below the set-up area, "such as voids, tanks, utilities." Liebherr tells crane users that any doubt about the ground's bearing capacity means commissioning a ground study. Along creeks, the City of Arlington counts storing machinery in a regulated flood zone as development, and development there needs the City's Floodplain Development Permit.
Boom Tips Over 200 Feet: FAA Notice Near DFW and Mid-Cities Airports
A boom or jib topping 200 feet above ground level must be reported to the FAA wherever it stands; a shorter one must be reported where it breaks the sloped surfaces rising from runways. 14 CFR 77.9, the FAA rule on when notice is due, covers "Any construction or alteration that is more than 200 ft. AGL at its site" and anything above a slope of "100 to 1 for a horizontal distance of 20,000 ft." from airports "with its longest runway more than 3,200 ft." DFW International lists four runways at 13,400 feet each, and the City of Grand Prairie gives Grand Prairie Municipal a 4,000-foot runway, so that slope applies around both; the City of Arlington's airport pages do not print Arlington Municipal's runway length. 14 CFR 77.13 applies the obstruction standards to temporary construction, "including equipment".
At full height Link-Belt's 248 HSL reaches 348.4 ft with its fixed jib, over the line on any site, while the TCC-800's 184.5 ft tip turns on the slope. The filing is FAA Form 7460-1, due "at least 45 days before the start date of the proposed construction", and a Determination of No Hazard may include limitations and marking and lighting recommendations. For jobs close to Grand Prairie Municipal, Arlington Municipal or DFW, we run these tests and read the city's airport rules before the date is set, then say whether a 7460-1 must go in and what the city asks.
Lattice Crawler, Telescopic Crawler or an All-Terrain Crane
The choice turns on how long the crane stays, how heavy and high the picks are, how much room there is to assemble, and whether loads must move on the hook. Each option below carries one maker's figures, so you can weigh the trucks and assembly time against the weeks the crane will work.
Lattice-boom crawler
Built for heavy charts and tall booms: Link-Belt rates the 248 HSL at 200 USt at 12 ft, with a 348.4 ft tip on its fixed jib. It arrives in pieces; the main load alone is 88,300 lbs without tracks, plus a 20,000-pound A counterweight and six 15,000-pound biscuits. It suits long steel and plant jobs with room to assemble under an A/D director, as OSHA section 1926.1404 requires.
Telescopic crawler
Keeps the tracks but trades the lattice for a power boom. Link-Belt's TCC-800 ships fully rigged at 99,500 pounds plus one overflow load, while Liebherr moves its LTR 1100 on two standard low loaders. It suits mid-size picks on a job long enough for tracks but too short to justify building a lattice boom.
All-terrain crane instead
Drives to the site on its own axles: Tadano lists a 52.8 mph maximum travel speed for its AC 4.070-2, and Link-Belt says its 175|AT "transports to the job with a full 81,000 pounds of counterweight in just two overflow loads". For a job measured in days, with firm ground for outriggers, weigh an all-terrain crane against the crawler's transport and assembly.
However you decide, the price comes to you in writing first, naming the crane, whether it comes with an operator or bare, the minimum call or rental term, the trailer loads and the permits and escorts they need, and the mats and rigging, each with its own charge and any tax.
Crawler Crane Rental FAQs
What does a crawler crane rental cost?
A crawler runs "$300 to $1,500/hour, or upwards of $2,000 per day for larger units" in a national equipment-rental marketplace's April 27, 2026 crane guide. Those are national figures, not Arlington prices, and they leave out what sets crawler jobs apart: trailer loads and permits, assembly and teardown, mats, and standby when the site is not ready. The guides name those charges without dollar figures, which is why we price every one of them separately in writing.
How many truckloads does it take to bring in a crawler crane?
It depends on the model: Link-Belt's TCC-800 ships fully rigged at 99,500 pounds with one overflow load, and Liebherr ships its LTR 1100 on two standard low loaders. For lattice models the makers give the big piece: 88,300 lbs without tracks for the 248 HSL's main transport load, 91,500 lb for the MLC100-1's heaviest piece, its rotating bed with boom butt. All three outweigh the 80,000-pound gross TxDMV allows without a permit, and TxDMV's Fort Worth District restriction 17801 for every Tarrant County highway reads "Curfew: No width, no height, and/or no length during the hours of 07:00 - 09:00 AM", repeated from 04:00 to 06:00 PM, Monday through Friday.
Does a crawler near DFW or Arlington Municipal Airport need FAA approval?
It may need notice filed, and the FAA answers with a determination, not an approval. 14 CFR 77.9 reaches "Any construction or alteration that is more than 200 ft. AGL at its site", plus anything that pierces the sloped surfaces around runways, which at DFW's 13,400-foot runways reach out 20,000 feet. Form 7460-1 has to be in "at least 45 days before the start date". Ask us early: before an airport-area job we test the boom height against these surfaces and tell you if a filing is needed.
Who is responsible for preparing the ground for a crawler crane?
The controlling entity is, under OSHA section 1926.1402. OSHA defines it as "a prime contractor, general contractor, construction manager or any other legal entity" with overall responsibility for the project, and its Cranes FAQ confirms the general contractor carries the duty when it holds that role. That party must also pass along known hazards beneath the set-up area, and when the A/D director or operator finds the ground lacking, OSHA requires "a discussion with the controlling entity". Every crane quote we give starts with questions about the ground and access.
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