Tow Trucks, Wreckers and Car Hauler Discussion

[ScottyB]

I hear you on that one. I think I am driving my boss nuts with all the questions I ask on my way out the door, but I haven't damaged one yet. My first, and so far only, accident response had three of us responding to a hit an run. I had the big wheel lift so it was decided that I would grab the truck towing a travel trailer. The plan was made among the veterans that I would tow the truck and trailer together back to the border where ICBC would come claim it back into Canada. We got it all hooked up and then the senior guy came back and said the truck is 4wd. We hadn't caught that up to that point.

At that point, I towed them in tandem to a local business right around the corner where we disconnected the trailer and dollied the truck. The truck was totaled, but much of the power train was easily salvageable. I've talked to guys that have said to just throw the t-case into neutral and go but from what I have heard that isn't the right way to do it AND it isn't the way the boss wants it done.

I am not as quick as the boss wants and some of that will come with time, but I tend to be methodical in what I do. I spent too many years pulling a flatbed to not double check my load before I roll out. The big thing now is not the things I know but all the things I don't know that I don't know. (Such as why it seems half my jumpstarts of on friggin Prius'.)

I am getting quicker on the easy stuff though, so that is good.

 

[HotRodPC]

Yep, don't be afraid to ask all those "dumb" questions. If bossman acts frustrated with some of the questions, just tell him, now that you're in the biz and have talked to others, you've heard horror stories of damaged vehicles over very minor overlooks or unknowns. For example, I didn't even know Juke came in an AWD model. If it was not for that damn Pure Drive badge on the back of the car as I walked around it doing a safety check, I'd have never known and would trashed a power train. And many guys don't even do a safety walk around either. Sure, it takes and additional 30-45 seconds to do and 95.5 % of the time you're not going to find a thing wrong, but it's 4.5% of the time that you might find or notice something that can same more damage, an expensive powertrain mistake and at worst, maybe even save a life. Something come flying off the back of a car you're not familiar with but towing, and someone hit it or swerve to avoid and cause a major accident and someone gets hurt badly or killed. It's bad enough working a fatal knowing someone lost their life right there where you're at, but I can't imagine working a fatal that was for my own irresponsibility. So do ask the questions. Get in the habit of doing a walk around on your towed vehicle, and even your on deck vehicle for that matter. You're looking for things that can fall off the vehicle, like a taillight or turnsignal that's hanging by a wire. Take it off and throw it in the car, bumpers or covers that might be draggin the ground and can eventually fall off, strap them on, bunjie cord, or zip tie them on securely, looking for exhaust or driveshafts that might be hanging low and can grab a pot hole or high surface in the road. Also look at the tires that are on the ground, are they rubbing on something or have a cut in them that may cause a failure, and for christs sake make sure you have lug nuts and wheel studs. I have done this safety check before and found a wheel had 3 broke studs and only 1 lug nut holding the wheel on. Luckily the other one was 2 away from the 1 good one, and I robbed a lug not off the untowed wheels, and then took it real easy knowing I only 2 of 5 lug nuts. Sometimes it's PROBABLY safe to go, but you can do something like take surface streets instead of the interstate. Might take another 10 minutes but so what. Going 40 is better than 65 with only 2 lug nuts. I cheat where I can, like only using 1 safety wheel strap on the driver side to the L arm. Only 1 safety chain from the bed to the front of the towed vehicle. Now if it's a heavy vehicle, I won't cheat. I'll do straps on both wheels and both safety chains. Reason being, what happens if your wheel lift breaks and you drop an L arm and it's the one you have strapped? Sure the damage is going to be bad, but at least it's going to be damage to ONLY the towed vehicle and not another motorist.

I always use at least 1 safety measure on deck too. If your winch line breaks or your winch breaks and free spools, you rear chain(s) will loosed of course, probably have your Mini J drop out of it, and now you have a car on deck rolling off the back of your truck into traffic. This isn't pretty and chances are it might damage the wheel, or stabilizer bad, but whatever you can get a safety chain to catch a roll off from happening, you'll be able to live with a bent stabilizer or scratched wheel vs dropping the vehicle off your truck and totalling it and whatever else it hits.

This is my J Hook bridle. I rarely use it, but I like to have it for major damage vehicles or big full grown 3500HD or F450's and such. I use my cluster hook bridle 95% of the time. Stuff like the river truck, I used the Big J hook bridle cuz there was no getting to the hook points. But here you see what else I use the J hook bridle for. Not pretty, but effective if the winch free spooled or winch line broke. It's not tight at all, but it's only going to roll about 4-6 inches and stop, and you can bet I'll feel the jerk and SLOWWWWLY come to a stop and get pulled over. It has paid off 1 time in the past since I don't put the vehicles in P or set the E brake unless I drove them up on deck, and can drive them off deck. Otherwise I won't don't want to be a monkey jumping up on the bed to re release everything, or get out a tool to bypass the shift interlock on one that doesn't have any power at all. I'd rather just safety chain it than get up and down on deck 2x and hurt my back more than it is already.

 

[ScottyB]

We have ratchet straps with hook clusters for the safety tie down. One of the other drivers told me that he just uses the winch and when I mentioned that to the boss (not to ge the other guy in trouble) he was concerned and made sure I understood what the other ratchet straps were for and how to use them. I'll admit I have cheated a time or tow on a short haul, but if I am going more than a couple miles or getting anywhere near hiway speeds I'll through the safety on there. I actually find myself doing it more than I thought I would. I try to avoid hooking the wheel unless it is already totaled. People get a bit touchy about their wheels. (I've even seen that on interweb forooms. There's one that deals with older GM trucks and some of those guys get reall touchy about wheels. Sheeeesh!) If nothing else I'll just use the wheel straps. We keep em laid out ready to deploy anyway so why not.

I've had customers look at me funny when I was loading their car on a wheel lift and got everything ready to go, then got all the way on to the ground to double check ground clearance, etc. I used to think in terms of "How would you do it if it were your car?" but I changed that to "How would you do it if you had to pay to fix it today?".

 

[HotRodPC]

We have ratchet straps with hook clusters for the safety tie down. One of the other drivers told me that he just uses the winch and when I mentioned that to the boss (not to ge the other guy in trouble) he was concerned and made sure I understood what the other ratchet straps were for and how to use them. I'll admit I have cheated a time or tow on a short haul, but if I am going more than a couple miles or getting anywhere near hiway speeds I'll through the safety on there. I actually find myself doing it more than I thought I would. I try to avoid hooking the wheel unless it is already totaled. People get a bit touchy about their wheels. (I've even seen that on interweb forooms. There's one that deals with older GM trucks and some of those guys get reall touchy about wheels. Sheeeesh!) If nothing else I'll just use the wheel straps. We keep em laid out ready to deploy anyway so why not.

I've had customers look at me funny when I was loading their car on a wheel lift and got everything ready to go, then got all the way on to the ground to double check ground clearance, etc. I used to think in terms of "How would you do it if it were your car?" but I changed that to "How would you do it if you had to pay to fix it today?".

You've got the right idea, and yes, people are picky about their wheels. And don't think for a minute when you're hauling a POS that they are not concerned about how their truck is handled. As I'd be one of them. My ugly ass blue truck didn't have a ding or dent in it, only a tiny spot of rust and MY INTENT is get it painted someday. It looks like hell now, but that does mean it's OK to smack the side of it with a winch hook or J hook.

You got the right attitude about caring for their customers vehicles and treating it like your own of if you had to pay to fix it.

Taking extra precautions like use skates, or greasing the deck to slide one off, or pad a bumper that might drag etc, those are usually the customers that will tip you $5-$20 or so. I've got a $50 tip once for towing a POS 77 Corvette. It had scuffed up fibreglass all over it, interior trashed, was about 6 different colors and a real POS. I treated it just like it was a New one. Took it to their residence which happened to be a ratty ass POS looking trailer house. Used as much care to unload it as I did to load it. The guy asked if he needed to sign anything, I said, NO it's all covered by roadside assistance and we're good to go, and he ran up to the driver door and said Thanks for all the extra precautions, and you made it look so easy to do but took the added few seconds of time, this is the 3rd time it's been towed in the last year cuz it's a POS and that's the way the other drivers treated it too, like a POS so this is for you. It was a $50 bill. I even said, Thanks bud, a 20 spot would be great, but do you realize this is a $50, he said, I know exactly what it is, you earned it and I recently hit a $500 lottery ticket so it's no problem.

Lucky your boss bought those cluster hook straps. I like'em but have not yet had a boss that will buy them saying they're not buying anything they don't have to cuz drivers lose ****. And yes, drivers that don't care lose lots of ****. 1 8 Foot Cluster Grade 70 chain with a J hook is $80, so a pair is $160. Those ratchet cluster straps depnding on the width are usually about a $100 a set. Many times a boss don't care how fast you are, he cares about you keeping a clean driving record to keep his insurance premiums down low as possible, not losing equipment, not damaging customers cars, not damaging the tow rig, and doing things like checking the oil in the motor, trans, hydros, and tire pressures.

Sounds like you're going to do just fine. I learn and figure out new stuff all the time, and so will you.

 

[Jims86]

He said H2. H2 can be had for $58K brand new, and used as low as $30K with some age and mileage on it in great shape. H1, you won't touch for anything less than $100K I'd like an H1 if it had a Cummins in it.

I know what he said, i was adding that the H1's are a total beast when it comes to towing.

 

[towjoe]

I bought some of those ratchet strap cluster hook tiedowns. I put 4 of them on my car trailer we use for the out of town runs. one of the best things I think I've ever bought since the wireless tow lights.

 

[ScottyB]

I do like the idea of wireless lights, but I don't buy the equipment so I will keep using what the boss provides.

 

[Jims86]

Need proximity alarms with those remote lights....lotsa guys leave them behind. I always had a set of my own lights, with extension line,L.E.D heads, and large, round rubber bottomed magnets.
Always took them with me at the end of my shift...pissed off the next guy getting in the truck, because he had to use the abused, employer provided lights, that didnt work worth a ****.

 

[towjoe]

My hookers all K30's with hydrolic beds

 

[ScottyB]

Yesterday I ended up going on a recovery out in the sticks. F-250 had a transmission/t-case failure 4.5 miles up an old logging road. Had a pretty good view but a last minute quickie photo didn't do it justice. The road going down was fun. Went down about 5 mph all the way down. Made that little trip with the small rollback. Also got a shot today of our big wrecker.

 

[HotRodPC]

My hookers all K30's with hydrolic beds

I wunt 1 !!!

 

[RetroC10Sport]

Yesterday I ended up going on a recovery out in the sticks. F-250 had a transmission/t-case failure 4.5 miles up an old logging road. Had a pretty good view but a last minute quickie photo didn't do it justice. The road going down was fun. Went down about 5 mph all the way down. Made that little trip with the small rollback. Also got a shot today of our big wrecker.

Seems HR pulled in a Ferd with the exact same trouble at his last job.

 

[HotRodPC]

Yesterday I ended up going on a recovery out in the sticks. F-250 had a transmission/t-case failure 4.5 miles up an old logging road. Had a pretty good view but a last minute quickie photo didn't do it justice. The road going down was fun. Went down about 5 mph all the way down. Made that little trip with the small rollback. Also got a shot today of our big wrecker.

Nice Medium Duty Rig !!! Great for Motorhomes and busses, etc. This is the only Medium Duty Conventional I've operated. This was the last company I worked for.

 

[HotRodPC]

Seems HR pulled in a Ferd with the exact same trouble at his last job.

, I sure as hell did. Catastrophic Failure. 2nd to the last run I did in the Peterbuilt for that company. Picked it up in Ft. Smith, AR

 

[ScottyB]

This one wasn't quite so catastrophic. I did have to drag it onto my deck though. :cringe: Fortunately, he was able to drive it off so I didn't have to worry about trying to shake it off. Our 4wd wrecker would have been nice on that one but it was down with a blown wheel seal. (That and I still needed a quick primer in removing drive lines. :O ) Still, neutral would have been nice to have. I'll see if I can't grab pictures of the other trucks today. State Patrol annual inspection is today though so boss is a bit tense. Hopefully I can stay out of the office today.