Tow Trucks, Wreckers and Car Hauler Discussion

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HotRodPC

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:rofl: So how you like that shaking them off??? I try not to have to do that in front of the customers. I do usually keep a milk jug of water in the truck side box, and will wet the deck sometimes to shake them off. When I get back from this engine fire run I'm going on right now, I'll tell about this tow I had today. 01 Blazer lost his lower front right ball joint, and that crushed the top ball joint when it dropped. Those are fun loads on rollback.
 

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put some dawn dish soap in your water, makes it a lot slicker. they slide right off. I bought a set of the wreckmaster skates that work well, but dawn and water works best
 

HotRodPC

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put some dawn dish soap in your water, makes it a lot slicker. they slide right off. I bought a set of the wreckmaster skates that work well, but dawn and water works best

Yes, got the Dawn too. Actually the generic Dawn. Gotta small Dawn bottle in the top of the tool box, that get's refilled when needed from the big bottle of generic Dawn that works just as well. It doesn't take much Dawn. About a teaspoon if that in front of each wheel, splash about a cup of water in the Dawn in front of each wheel, then be careful or you'll have a roll away. Using Dawn and Water, DO NOT unhook your winch line for a shake off in most cases.

I also have a pair of Wreckmaster skates that I used today in fact on this 01 Blazer that lost it's A frame, and just used them on this engine fire AWD Volvo Wagon with the wheels turned hard left and up against a car stop, that was said to have keys left in it. NOT !!!
 

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I did a AAA on the side of the highway that the customer told me they left the keys in the ignition switch NOT. It was also locked so I unlocked it popped the shift linkage loose off the shifter and winched it onboard lol. Got to the drop told the mech about how I got it on and he said put it all back and I will charge the customer to unlock if they don't show. All for a damn flat tire.
 

HotRodPC

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So this 01 Blazer lost his A frame and the right front wheel was kinda folded under it, not quite, cuz the tire was still in the fender well which you must be careful with, cuz the wheel will move when you drag it, then the wheel will start tearing out the fender and/or fender well and you then have a damage claim.

Done right, and using tricks of the trade, you don't have to move the front wheels but maybe the last 6 inches to get it on the deck, and the folded under wheel is on a skate at that point, so that wheel does not move at all, and the skate moves about 6 inches onto the deck then chain down and snug the winch.

So how the hell do you load a car onto a roll back without dragging or rolling the wheel? This was front wheel damage, and the wheels were cut hard right cuz he was backing out of parking stall when it dropped. So imagine how much room I had on the sides to get lined up and angled to compensate for the steer wheels cut hard right. I tried to straighten out the left good steer wheel, but connected by tie rods, it would not turn due to the location of the right wheel and steer knuckle. Not much room at all for a X cab Medium duty with a 21'6" in deck. So I got the best angle I could with the room I had and backed up to the rear tires, set the deck right up to the right rear wheel, left wheel is still about 1.5 feet from touching the deck due to the angle of the Blazer. Hooked up the winch line, and snugged it up and stopped. Got in the roll back, cut the steer wheels a bit to the left, to sorta match the steer wheels of the Blazers angle. Block the left front wheel from turning, put the skate in front of the right damaged side's wheel. That must be blocked very good for this trick. You don't want the Blazer to move at all and with the right wheel dragging and the left wheel blocked, it'll hold the weight of the roll back since you're winch line is snugged up to it. Then turn off your Air Brakes, or hand brakes if Hydro, and slowly start winching the roll back under the Blazer. The roll back is moving, but the Blazer's front wheels are staying put. The Blazer trans is in N of course and the rear wheels are rolling up the deck and the roll back is turning at the same since you set the front steer wheels to match the angle. It's that simple. You winch the roll back under the Blazer, til it just about hits yours blocks/skate then go pull your air brake or set your hand brake on the roll back. Reason you do that, once the Blazer is on the deck 100% you have nothing holding your roll back from rolling away. Then you winch it just enough to get the whole wheel on the left side on the deck, and the right wheel in this case too if it's riding the skate real nice and not damaging the fender wheel. Get it on just enough and chain or strap it down. Don't bring it on the deck any further than you have to. Cuz when you go to drop it, you're going to gently slip it off the end of the deck, sometimes even a little shake, to get the front damaged wheel off, then your're going to drive out from under it, just like reversing the same procedure of sucking the roll back under the damaged vehicle.

This same procedure is used when doing FWD vechiles that are nosed in up against a wall on into a car stop like at a 7-11 when you can't get in front of it if you don't have keys or can't get it out of gear so the front wheels turn. Also used when doing repossessions so your not making noise skidding tires when you don't have the keys to get inside the vehicle or get it out of park. If their E brake is on, you Dawn and water the deck so the rear wheels will slide without making noise skidding on your deck. It's a cool trick. You oughta practice it a couple times in the yard. And when you practice it, turn the towed vehicles wheels a bit to the left or right so you can practice setting your steer wheels on your roll back to do this. Also keep in mind, you don't have to set the roll back steer wheels near as much as the towed vehicle. When you have a 19-21 foot deck, just a little turn of your steer wheels, that deck moves very fast to the left or right in comparison to the towed vechile. You don't turn the roll back steer wheels near as much as you'd think you should.
 

smurph20

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Yea yea yea admin power lol. It WAS there.
 

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You ever watch someone PPI with a rollback? I have a friend that does it quicker with a bed than 2 of us can with go jacks and a wheellift
 

HotRodPC

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You ever watch someone PPI with a rollback? I have a friend that does it quicker with a bed than 2 of us can with go jacks and a wheellift

I PPI all the time with a roll back. I've done a few subs on some AWD involuntary repos too where guys with Self Loader Conventionals can't get them. That's where I use the skates the most and roll the truck under it, get it on deck and drive off with only 1 soft strap and ratchet so I don't make alot of noise throwing chains. Get to a safe place 1/2 mile to a mile away provided I'm not being followed and throw the chains before hitting the highway. That's really fuggin fun in an apartment when the parking lot makes a roll back tighter than a nats ass. The repo man is usually in a plain car and goes in first and we use little hand held 2 ways radios and he's in position to be my eyes and back me up so I can do it quick. I did about 4 of those for the last company I worked for. These guys I'm working for now, try not to get involved in involutary repos, but will do some voluntaries occasionally.
 

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Got a $30 tip on a AAA call today. Member needed a car moved from old house to new house as they were moving. Car was a `66 Jag XKE, non functional, in a garage I couldn't get to because of the angles. I broke out the nylon straps and winched it out to where I could get it (required 2 resets) and took my time getting it loaded. When we got to the other end I was able to drop it in the new garage and pushed it in the last 18". He couldn't believe I could get it that close or that I would show that much care for his car. Here it is on our big rollback.
 

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HotRodPC

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That's a nice car. That's the type of customer most likely to tip.
 

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we PPI out of a couple places now, I love doing it, means I can make someone elses day worse than mine. In reality what's more fun than legal car theft?

junk business has slowed down so much here I don't get 3-4 cars a week now. I hope something picks up soon or I'm going to have to go find a job
 

HotRodPC

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we PPI out of a couple places now, I love doing it, means I can make someone elses day worse than mine. In reality what's more fun than legal car theft?

junk business has slowed down so much here I don't get 3-4 cars a week now. I hope something picks up soon or I'm going to have to go find a job

:rofl: Legal car theft is fun as hell. Although I usually feel a bit guilty but soon get over it. I've been there before myself. And I was working with the bank calling them weekly giving all I could to hold it and they were lying to me the whole time and using my staying in contact to locate my truck. They did eventually get it, and I did get it back too, 4 days later. Bastards !!!

I'd get asked, Do you want to do a repo? I'd ask, Volunatary or Involuntary? Bossman says, Voluntary. I say, Nawww, give it to Dougie, I don't feel like driving all the way up there and not have any fun. He about ****. Ohhh so you're saying if it were Involuntary, you'd do it? Oh hell yeah !!! Who want's to do a boring ass voluntary??? That's when I started getting more involutaries cuz bossman told the Repo company, I gotta guy that loves involuntaries. :happy175: Pretty simple really. Just gotta be quick. I always knew well ahead of time what year make and model the car and EXACTLY where the hook points were so I could hook in the dark with the 1 AAA battery pen light FAST, help with the 2 way radios and a plain car guy. Had my bridle set, already had the winch line slacked out about 1 or 6 foot past the deck depending on where the hook points were. Also had bossman put a toggle switch on my back up beeper and shut it off for repos. Jumped out of the truck with 1 soft strap for the tail end. Get the idle up high so the bed moved fast as possible and rock and roll.

I about got a guy fired from his job once. I went into his new place of employment and asked if Jack was here? Naww, he just works the weekends, he's a part timer. I said Ohhh, so he's still stealing cars then. His Coworkers not knowing what I meant, HUH?? DOH !!! Yeah, I've known him to be stealing cars for years, he's pretty good at it and I needed him to see if he could get me a paticular car. So let him know I came in looking for him if I don't get a hold of him first, or I'll come back this weekend. I go back in that weekend and he's there. I walked in, found him and asked if he's still stealing cars. He said he quit stealing cars about 6 months ago, and that I about got him fired cuz his coworkers weren't aware he used to repo cars for a living. He gave it up due to insurance premiums getting up to high, and many good accounts were wanting 2 million in liability coverage now instead of 1 million. That's just ridiculous. And they wonder why a Repo now days can be $600-$1000 depending on how much look time they have on it.
 

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This might actually belong in the good deeds thread but I thought I would post it here. I was on my way home yesterday and looking forward to watching the bird fight last night (GO HAWKS). Boss called up as I was about 10 minutes out and asked if I would take another call. I was looking forward to the game but double time is kinda hard to pass up so I took the call. I head out to find that the owner of the vehicle has parked out on the pier and his vehicle won't start due to an electrical problem. OK, no sweat, that's what the tow truck is for, right? As I approach the pier I notice the sign advising that there is a 4K/axle weigh limit and I have the big roll back. There was no way I was staying under 4k/axle with his 6.5K van on my deck so I need to start by pulling him off the pier. The owner is an older gentleman who is cold, the fog started rolling back in early. The owner notices the extra effort and care I put into loading his van and we get set to take off to his home, close to 30 miles. Turns out he has had a rough couple years since his wife died and he just needed someone to talk to. I turned down the radio (Didn't want to miss my Seahawks) and listened to him tell his stories. I finally got to his home and got him unloaded in his driveway. He then took the time to show me his pride and joy. I didn't catch the year, but he has an immaculate Model A. He found it in Montana and is very proud of the fact that everything is original. It only has 522 miles on it. It wasn't a big tip or anything like that, but I did enjoy listening as he felt the need to talk and to see the pride as he showed my his baby.

Sometimes it really is about the journey.
 

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