49X Is A Canadian Heavy Weight Champion

Angus Donald, founder of Donald Rigging in Calgary, Alberta, has felt right at home in the trucking industry since he was six when his father took him to a local lot and told him to pick out a truck for the family business. He recalls it was a 1976 blue and white pinstriped cab, from a truck brand his father stood by.

A few years later, Donald’s calling for heavy haul trucking was solidified when he first laid eyes on a rig pulling a 96-wheel hammock trailer. He recalls, “There was this bright orange truck and a massive trailer coming around the corner with black smoke and a big compressor on the back, and I knew right there this is the place I need to be.”

In 2005, Donald started his own rigging company with his wife, Bonnie, and another business partner. Like his father, he was fiercely loyal to an established truck brand and his business grew quickly along with his fleet. “Our clients started to ask us to do the transportation of oversized loads from oil and petroleum vessels to heavy machinery, so that’s where the trucking really evolved,” says Donald. Donald Rigging now operates a fleet of 24 vehicles, from picker trucks to prime movers to on-highways, loading, hauling, and unloading up to 800,000 lbs. for clients across western Canada.

He credits the team and ownership at RJ Western Star in Calgary for introducing him to a new way. Donald says that he had never had dealer owners pay the kind of attention he received from the Western Star team in all his years.

“When I met Rob, the owner, he was just a down-to-earth super guy. I could go up there with him and talk trucks and everything else, and he's on my level, he's not talking down to me…and that gets my loyalty.” Donald values business relationships built on respect and a sense of partnership. Remembering his father, Donald adds, “Between the Western Star team and the trucks, I believe Dad would understand.”

His first Western Star test drive made a lasting impression.

One little ride is all that it took to convince Donald to, as he puts it, “set my ego aside and try something different.”

Donald currently rolls with two Western Star 49Xs. “We’ve got one with that new power hood with a bigger radiator, big front tires, and rear axle with air suspension in the back. We really pushed the engineers to see what we could do on this truck, and they nailed it.” Equipped with an Allison 4700 RDS and 52K rear ends, it’s spec’d to pull 300,000 lbs. Donald calls his prime mover a beast of a truck.

Prefab buildings, massive electric motors, construction vehicles, transformer stations, oil vessels, oversized compressors, and other heavy hauls of all shapes and dimensions have been hoisted or “jacked and slide” onto trailers behind Donald’s 49X and transported safely and efficiently.

And let’s talk about some grueling conditions in the northwest Canadian bush. Donald has hauled big loads on 96-112 wheel platform trailers through ice-cold conditions, slippery hills up and down, tight curves and narrow bridges while running as much as 235 feet long! “Our big Western Star did a great job. It wasn't black smoke; it was white smoke because it was so cold up there,” smiles Donald.

The rugged Canadian wilderness creates a different kind of business climate as well. Four of Donald’s top ten clients are also competitors, which is evidence that everyone needs to lean on each other in these conditions to get the job done. Donald remarks, “It's about being ethical. We're not trying to pick the clients. We'll go help a competitor do a job, but I can call on them to help me out as well. As much as competition is good… being partners in the industry is pretty awesome.”

So, what do Donald’s drivers think of the 49X? “I asked a driver to take the 49X up to Fort McMurray… about a 10-hour drive because we were working on his everyday truck,” says Donald. “Let’s just say since then, he’s been driving it ever since.” Donald cites the creature comforts of the latest Western Stars that make drivers feel relaxed, which reduces the stress of the job.

Aside from the Western Star trucks, Donald also values the service after the sale. “When I spend this kind of money on a truck, what I need is service. If I have a great product and I can't get service, it doesn't work for me. So, when I decided to start buying into the Western Star product, that product needs to produce great service but also give me great service.”
Donald says his Western Star technician crew gets it. “When a big prime mover goes down, it's got to be fixed right, meaning right away.”

Donald reports that nearly half of his employees have been with him for over 10 years.

Donald’s business motto is, “We're big enough to look after you, but we're small enough to care.”

According to Donald, Alberta has long been devoted to another truck brand, but you're starting to see more Western Stars across the region now because they're proving they can do the job. Donald says, “And I'm no different. I'm one of probably five other companies just in Calgary that are switching to Western Star.”

What’s ahead for Donald? A few months ago, his company's long-term success attracted a large buyer, Omega Morgan, a well-known name in the industry with locations across North America. Donald remains deeply involved in the business. “Now I'm running the company, and we're part of this really cool organization, and they want to keep taking us to that next level. So, I'm very excited to see where we go from here. It will be interesting to see where we’re at in five years and how many Western Stars we have.”