Tow Trucks, Wreckers and Car Hauler Discussion

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Mr Clean

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HotRodPC

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once towing gets in your blood it's like a bad disease, you just can't get it out of your blood. Don't worry tho, we're in recovery and love it lol

That's a fact. It's a job you have to love to be able to do it. I've been running my nuts off due to the recent storms. Lots of laying in ditches to hook up bridles for winch outs etc. And some gravy **** too. Getting winch out calls to pull people out their damn driveway. Bad part is, in residential neighborhoods, there isn't much room to position your truck if you're driving a 22 foot bed with an X cab Medium Duty like I am. And if not done right, all you're doing is pulling the roll back into the vehicle rather than moving the vehicle.

I got to help a rookie doing one with another company 2 days ago. Luckily I was there to save his ass. Told him, NO dude. Don't even do that. If you do, you're going to end with your roll back sliding into the car and then the car going thru the garage door. The driveway had a steep downgrade. The street and the driveway both covered in at least 1 inch thick of smooth as a baby's ass ice. Ended up getting the roll back up against the curb sideways and using a snatch block to turn the winch cable almost 90 degrees and pull the car that way. The car was stuck in the ice since the snow and sleet had fallen around the parked car.
 

ScottyB

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That's a fact. It's a job you have to love to be able to do it. I've been running my nuts off due to the recent storms. Lots of laying in ditches to hook up bridles for winch outs etc. And some gravy **** too. Getting winch out calls to pull people out their damn driveway. Bad part is, in residential neighborhoods, there isn't much room to position your truck if you're driving a 22 foot bed with an X cab Medium Duty like I am. And if not done right, all you're doing is pulling the roll back into the vehicle rather than moving the vehicle.

I got to help a rookie doing one with another company 2 days ago. Luckily I was there to save his ass. Told him, NO dude. Don't even do that. If you do, you're going to end with your roll back sliding into the car and then the car going thru the garage door. The driveway had a steep downgrade. The street and the driveway both covered in at least 1 inch thick of smooth as a baby's ass ice. Ended up getting the roll back up against the curb sideways and using a snatch block to turn the winch cable almost 90 degrees and pull the car that way. The car was stuck in the ice since the snow and sleet had fallen around the parked car.

Thanks for the tip. I was out sick yesterday but go back in today to icy conditions. Gonna be busy, I'll bet.
 

HotRodPC

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Thanks for the tip. I was out sick yesterday but go back in today to icy conditions. Gonna be busy, I'll bet.

I forget what you said you were operating now. If you're working a convential, scotch blocks work real well in ice. I had to use the conventional with scotch blocks to get an F250 4x4 off of a creek bank that was nosed in on top of huge ass rocks. Even then, we had to anchor the front of the conventional to my roll back to keep the nose end on the ground.

These are a different style than we use. The ones we use actually have teeth on the bottom end that will dig into ice or asphalt.
[yt]A5f-Ei9TaKw[/yt]
 

ScottyB

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I forget what you said you were operating now. If you're working a convential, scotch blocks work real well in ice. I had to use the conventional with scotch blocks to get an F250 4x4 off of a creek bank that was nosed in on top of huge ass rocks. Even then, we had to anchor the front of the conventional to my roll back to keep the nose end on the ground.

These are a different style than we use. The ones we use actually have teeth on the bottom end that will dig into ice or asphalt.
[yt]A5f-Ei9TaKw[/yt]

I spend most of my time in a rollback right now but need to start spending more time in one of the conventionals. I stay with the rollback mostly because I do a lot of residence to shop tows. There is less wear and tear on the dolly using a rollback. Too many 25 mile tows over interstate but I do need the practice. I don't think we have any scotch blocks but we do have some metal wheel chocks. I know, not the same thing. You use what you have though, right? :D
 

HotRodPC

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Chances are they are just a different style of scotch blocks. If not, even wheel chocks help alot. We've got the kind with chains on them that attach to the bed of the truck. So as you get pulled up on the blocks, the chains tighten and then the truck is pushing down onto the scotch blocks and making them dig in even harder and the truck pushing even harder in downward motion making the truck itself squat and dig into the blocks too.
 

ScottyB

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OK, Work trucks that are white and full of stainless and chrome are about as useful as **** on a boar. Fine for a show truck but a pain in the ass for a daily worker.

That is all...
 

HotRodPC

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OK, Work trucks that are white and full of stainless and chrome are about as useful as **** on a boar. Fine for a show truck but a pain in the ass for a daily worker.

That is all...

That's a fact. Although, I do prefer Stainless or Aluminum for fuel tanks on Medium Duty instead of steel. You go thur many more filters on Steel tanks.
 

ScottyB

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That's a fact. Although, I do prefer Stainless or Aluminum for fuel tanks on Medium Duty instead of steel. You go thur many more filters on Steel tanks.

They can be painted, not polished. I washed 3 of the 4 trucks Wednesday and at the end of the day had to take the big rollback up the freakin mountain so it was covered in dirt and sand again. Of course none of that really matters, it snowed at sea level last night (still snowing actually) so all the trucks are probably going to get dirty today. :( Guess I know what I am doing Monday.
 

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Yikes!! Nothing like a good snowfall to show you how much of a freakin rookie you are. Let's see, I made the boss buy a bumpercuz I did something wrong. I just about dropped an Envoy down a steep drive into a house, managed to avoid hitting the house but I think the owner had to change his shorts. Got to dolly two awd vehicles that broke axles. AND I managed to piss off a State Trooper. Nobody died though so I guess I'll chalk it up as a win.
 

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If you like wrecker photos as much as I do check out all the ones a new member from France Pacecal has added to retroC10sports Pace Truck page.....

Lots of square rigs...

Everything from the late 60s to eary 90s.

Challenger, Holmes, No Mar ect.
 

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Finally got to try the soap trick today. That worked out pretty slick (pun intended). Thanks for the tip.
 

HotRodPC

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Yeah sometimes to slick. Obviously you have to know what type of surface you're shaking it off onto cuz it can keep going further than you expect.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk
 

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