6925 Commercial Avenue
Billings, MT 59101
SERVING 48 STATES SINCE 1946.
Hi-Ball Trucking specializes in open deck over-the-road transportation. We offer a suite of services that include OTR, maxi, heavy haul, and an in-house freight brokerage. Based in Billings, Montana and run by the Smith family for generations, we guarantee quality customer service with safe, certified, efficient trucking. With offices in both Billings, MT and Bozeman, MT we are here to help and pride ourselves on running a fleet of quality equipment backed by a staff with years of experience.
OUR SERVICES
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Hi-Ball Trucking is equipped with an over the road fleet of flatbeds and step decks. These are 3 axle tractors with spread axle step decks and flats that can all scale 48,000 lbs or more in all 48 states
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Need heavy machinery moved with ground pickup and delivery? Hi-Ball has you covered with a variety of multi-axle combinations to handle machinery up to 100,000 pounds.
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Hi-Ball offers a fleet of maxi flatbed and maxi step deck trailers. All of our maxi set ups are 4 axle trailers and 4 axle trucks and can handle payloads up to 68,000 pounds (state dependent).
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Bonded and insured, we only broker to trusted carriers that are put through a strict vetting and onboarding process.
RED & READY TO HAUL
OUR HISTORY
75 years of trucking and customer service.
HI-BALL TRUCKING traces its beginning to May 22, 1946 when Bill Fisher bought the oilfield operation known as The Galloping Swede from the former Governor of Montana, J. Hugo Aronson. Having operated in the area of Cut Bank, MT sine 1932, the business continued in Cut Bank, only under a new name of HI-BALL CONTRACTORS. Wanting to maintain the colorful image Aronson had operated under, Bill named the company after an old railroad term “Hi-Ball” used to tell the train on the track that a stop was not needed in the next town and they could continue on at full speed.
In 1948, HI-BALL TRUCKING moved to Billings, MT and in 1956 it became one of the first USA carriers to apply for and receive operating authority from Alberta, Canada. HI-BALL TRUCKING was also the first trucking company to service the new oil fields in Alaska at this time. The trucks were driven to Fairbanks and loaded onto planes for a final destination to Brooks, Alaska.
Perhaps the most interesting service HI-BALL TRUCKING provided was in 1961 when four trucks were sent overseas to the Spanish Sahara Desert for 8 months of oilfield service - hauling over 6 million pounds of equipment on nothing more than a track of sand.
Harold J. Lohrenz bought the company in 1969 and incorporated it to HI-BALL TRUCKING, INC. and operated it for the next 16 years. On May 21, 1985, Ron Smith bought the company and broadened the authority to include all commodities and all states, including Hawaii. Operating authority was granted from the Province of British Columbia in 1990. Ron’s son, Trent Smith, would then become the owner in March of 1994. Although once confined to working the oilfields of Montana and nearby states, HI-BALL TRUCKING could now transport extensively in the USA and Canada for both the public and the United States Department of Defense.
After successfully owning HI-BALL TRUCKING for 31 years, Trent Smith sold the company to his son, Tanner Smith, on January 1, 2025 to continue the Smith legacy in the trucking industry. With the purchase of HI-BALL TRUCKING, Tanner became the 5th generation in the Smith family to operate a trucking company.
Bill Fisher chose not to name the company after himself, hoping it would continue long after his name ever could. HI-BALL TRUCKING has indeed stood the test of time across multiple generations and ownership changes and has been built on a strong foundation of efficacy and professionalism. HI-BALL TRUCKING looks forward to continuing full speed ahead far into the future, keeping stride with the constant changes hitting the road each year.
