Tow Trucks, Wreckers and Car Hauler Discussion

[ScottyB]

How is this going? I really wish I had the option to go to school. I wouldn't mind going for Wreckmaster Certification just to say I did.

The class was a first class kick in the pants!! The first day was mostly classroom and much of that was Washington specific laws related to towing. We did some outdoor work with a rollback and I learned a few things there, mostly about maintenance.

The second day was were it really got fun. We started the morning with some more classroom and a test on the Washington specific laws (aced it). Then we went outside again to start working with wreckers. We started with the basics of wheel lifting and dolly use. Nothing earth shattering there either but I did pick up a few things. We then went over how to properly sling a car. This was informative and I feel a lot better about slinging cars.

Then after lunch we started working on recoveries. We started with a car on it's side and went to car on it's side next to a jersey barrier. After that we learned the California Roll for righting an overturned car. We ended that session with the car rolled over in a ditch. We also ran one line from a Class A wrecker through 3 total class a wreckers in order to move a 25 ton wrecker with brakes set.

We ended the day with another test (no results yet) and then went through the tow show checking out the products there. Some cool trucks there and a few cool products but nothing that really got me excited. I could have gone back today for the Tow rodeo but I had other things going today.

Yes there was a lot of classroom for the class but it was well worth it. I would love to go to the medium duty class in October but I have a feeling that will have to wait until next year.

The class was put on by the Towing & Recovery Association of Washington and is one of the better courses in the country. In Washington, Tow Operators are actually pretty heavily regulated.

 

[HotRodPC]

Hmm?!?! California Roll? I probably know the technique, but not aware of the name. So what is the Cali Roll?

Did you do any uprighting using a stick? You can use about anything for that method and it works good when you don't have alot of room.

 

[ScottyB]

Hmm?!?! California Roll? I probably know the technique, but not aware of the name. So what is the Cali Roll?

Did you do any uprighting using a stick? You can use about anything for that method and it works good when you don't have alot of room.

Back up to the car so you are parallel to the car and your wheel lift is just ahead of the bumper you wish to pull from. Think in terms of where you want the truck to be when the car is upright. Lower your wheel lift (obvious reasons).

Take a 5' chain and wrap it around the wheel furthest from you on the same side of the vehicle that is closest to you. (Lets assume you are wanting to pull away with the rear wheels on the ground and the passenger side is closest to you.) The chain would go around the rear wheel on the passenger side.

Take a 20' strap and run it through the chain bisecting the strap (two equal lengths of strap). Wrap it around the back side of the car and get under the roof. The strap should come up on the drivers side about a 1/3rd of the way forward inside the wheel base.

Hook your winch cable to the ends of your strap and raise your boom about 45 degrees and start winching it up. The will drop the front passenger side corner into the ground until the tire makes contact to bite. Once the car starts rolling up, don't stop the winch. When the car drops it should be in position to simply extend the wheel lift and hook it up.

It is harder to type it out coherently than it is to do it. You can actually flip the car and load it with only about 5 extra minutes than if it were already on it's wheels.

 

[ScottyB]

@HotRodPC

You mentioned something about the school. We call it school but it is a traveling 2 day class. It is put on by the Towing & Recovery Association of Washington. They are the industry advocates in this state. The instructors are all people who work actively in the industry in addition their work with TRAW. They work closely with the state to craft and interpret the rules and regulations for our industry in this state.

They take the training seriously to the point that the first 3/4 of the first day was all legal information on what we can and can't do.

I've seen the stick method done and I understand it. I haven't had to use it yet. I prefer using a recovery strap to chains when I can. They are lighter and have a higher rating. Also don't need a choker chain to keep the cable hook from sliding that way. I've used the strap on a full rollover and one on it's side and it worked great. It won't always work and so it is good to have other tools in your toolbox when things go bad. I also learned how to use the strap through the cab of a vehicle to lift and rotate it.

On a car that is rightside up, run your strap through the front floor (in this instance) so you have equal amounts out both doors. Close the doors on the strap and run the ends behind and inside the front wheels and out the front. If you need to, use a 4x4 to protect the strap or undercarriage like you would when slinging a car. Then hook it and you can grab the center front of the car to lift and pivot rather than dragging it around. Recovery straps are wonderful things.

 

[HotRodPC]

I'm wore the hell out. Been running since 8:30 this Saturday morning. Did a few locals then got one from Norman to Duncan, OK, then from there had to haul ass up the Turnpike about 75 miles to pick one up going West Bound, but it had to go East Bound back to a Tulsa burb. So once I got to it, then had to go 20 miles back West, to be able to get back on the Turpike going East, so all total, 40 miles out of route just to get turned around going the right direction then to Tulsa, then South of Tulsa to Broken Arrow, OK. Got home just before 10pm after making a stop at my dads to pick up the ARB 4.10 Air Locker front axle for the 85 K10 project. Got me an hour nap, then got a local call, and seen Moore PD making an arrest. Waited to see if it was mine. It wasn't but knowing who got it, I'm up next for PD rotation, so being almost 1am, no sense in going to bed now until I get my PD call.

 

[ScottyB]

Remind me later and I'll see if I can't find the pics I took of the job I did Tuesday. Drove 1.5 hours in our medium duty wrecker to grab a 1960's bus to haul back north to the recyclers. It was an interesting haul to be sure and had it's share of challenges. I'll see if I can't find the pics later.

 

[HotRodPC]

Sadly, another Tow Operator hit and killed this evening in Southeast Columbus, OH on SR 104. R.I.P Jack Carpenter of A&A Towing in Columbus. Condolences with his family and his A&A Towing brothers and sisters !!!

 

[ScottyB]

Sadly, another Tow Operator hit and killed this evening in Southeast Columbus, OH on SR 104. R.I.P Jack Carpenter of A&A Towing in Columbus. Condolences with his family and his A&A Towing brothers and sisters !!!

Rest In Peace, brother.

 

[ScottyB]

I figured I should resurrect this thread since I keep hijacking HRPC's pic thread without posting any pics.

Yesterday was a slow day. I pulled our small wrecker in at around 4pm and started tearing into some bad wiring at the rear of the truck. I found the broken wire and had to go back to the shop (1.5 blocks away) to get some wire loom to complete the repair. While there a AAA call came in for an extraction. I looked at the location and called the member because it wasn't making any sense. Girl got her Saturn stuck in an empty lot. Knowing the area, she couldn't be too badly stuck so I grabbed the small rollback. I could have grabbed the Medium duty wrecker but that seemed like overkill. The call is about 30 miles out but I ran upstairs and told the boss I would finish the repair when I got back (after hours) and he seemed to be happy with that. Twenty minutes out from the shop boss calls back whining that I grabbed a rollback instead of the wrecker as the rollback is not a recovery vehicle. Fine, he's torqued, again, nothing new there.

So I roll up on scene and hit the lights. As I suspected, there is nothing serious going on here. I walk up and introduce myself. We are standing on an empty lot that has been topped with 1.5"+ river rock. Nothing too complicated but it can be intimidating to a young girl in a small car who doesn't know what she's doing. I look at the front left tire and she sheepishly says "yeah, it's stuck pretty good, huh?". I took my foot and make one scrape from behind the tire then get in and back the car out with no problems.

Yeah, guess I grabbed the wrong truck.

 

[HotRodPC]

Yo bossman is fuggin wrong. I've recovered alot more **** with a roll back than I have a conventional. And roll backs CAN BE the RIGHT truck depending on the scenario. I know of 1 call I did, it would have taken a conventional 2 hours to recover a truck from where it was stuck in a creek bank and the direction he'd have had to pull it from. I got in it less than 10 minutes. I used my bed as a bridge across the creek, sucked him right onto the bed, brought it up and locked it down, then pulled off and set the truck down. Now of course your boss would say, NO that's wrong. Don't charge the $100 recovery with a roll back. Spend the 2 hours doing it with a conventional so you could charge him $400.

 

[ScottyB]

Yo bossman is fuggin wrong. I've recovered alot more **** with a roll back than I have a conventional. And roll backs CAN BE the RIGHT truck depending on the scenario. I know of 1 call I did, it would have taken a conventional 2 hours to recover a truck from where it was stuck in a creek bank and the direction he'd have had to pull it from. I got in it less than 10 minutes. I used my bed as a bridge across the creek, sucked him right onto the bed, brought it up and locked it down, then pulled off and set the truck down. Now of course your boss would say, NO that's wrong. Don't charge the $100 recovery with a roll back. Spend the 2 hours doing it with a conventional so you could charge him $400.

I get what he is saying about not being the right truck for recovery, but this was never going to be a recovery call. I knew the place where she was stuck and there was the possibility of some mud but she wasn't far enough in to be a serious issue. I've loaded tows that were stuck worse in driveways than this was going to be. Young girl, there was never going to be a tip. I could have hooked it up just to make her feel better but I couldn't help myself. She was absolutely floored that I just got it and drove it out when she thought it was stuck really good. I laughed about that one all the way back to the shop.

 

[HotRodPC]

I love the ones that call for a tow cuz it won't start. I ask, have you tried to jump it? Yes, that didn't work either. Jump in to put in N so I can push it back out of the space and notice it's already in D. Hmmmmm, bet if I put it in P it'll start? Sure enough. fires right up. Had 2 of those. Laughed all the way to the next call. Still got the pay since it was only a 5 mile tow which pays the same as a jump start so I charged it as a jump start since I didn't move it.

Do be careful THINKING YOU KNOW an area. I got the same call last weekend. It's only 20 feet off the pavement. Cool, no problem, I'm on my way. Here's what I see when I get there. A $55 Agero winch out right??? NOOOOOOOOOOOO WAY IN HELL. I got the GOA, told the customer he prolly needs a police report since he has full coverage insurance. He called USAA, they didn't want the police involved because there was other county property damaged that would be claimed if police got involved. So he gives USAA adjuster my # from when I was out there. I told the adjuster it's a $600-$800 recovery of Law Enforcement was to call me on it depending on how quick we got it and how many men. He asked if I'd be willing to quote him a price to go get it. I said sure, now that you asked, but it's illegal for me to solicit, so now that you asked me for a quote, I'll do it for $500. Done deal, go get it !!! Took me an hour to get it. So 45 minutes drive time, an hour of labor..... you see where I went with that. But I knew this location too and knew it couldn't be that bad. ******** !!! That boy caught some air for about 50 feet rolled and landed on it's side in a creek bed about 80 - 90 feet from pavement. This call came in at about 5:10am.

 

[ScottyB]

Difference in this case is I spoke with the member before leaving and had a very specific location. There was only one spot there she could have got stuck without putting it in the bay. Boss was thinking they had to have "jumped" the parking lot.

 

[HotRodPC]

Difference in this case is I spoke with the member before leaving and had a very specific location. There was only one spot there she could have got stuck without putting it in the bay. Boss was thinking they had to have "jumped" the parking lot.

Well, bossman is part right. You always prepare for the worst and take what you need for the worst. Sadly, many times you hope for the worst too since that's how you make money. I was totally caught off guard on the above 20 feet from the pavement needing a winch out. Needless to say, I was given bad info from the motorclub dispatcher when I took the call.

 

[ScottyB]

Like I said, I get his point on it. I just had a problem with the idea of a medium duty wrecker for a Saturn in a vacant lot. I did do some research before running the call though so I was fairly confident in what I did. Still funny to just drive the car out when it was pretty stuck like that.

Good thing it wasn't a Prius, I might have had to clear the rocks from both front wheels before driving it out.