ESC

Sunday 6/23 just after 11 am Bob and Paul Sr were called to a two vehicle crash at Route 100 and 401. Luckily there were no major injuries. The vehicle was pulling out and did not see the motorcycle. The driver of the vehicle stopped directly in the other of the motorcycle when they saw it coming.

 

Our operators pulled the motorcycle off of the vehicle and loaded it onto our flatbed. The Lexus was also towed from the scene.

 

I spoke to the motorcycle operator yesterday and found out that he was not injured in the crash.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

On 6/29/2019 at 1:21 PM, OntGC said:

Hi folks,

I am new to the forum and looking for some advice on screw eyes and tow hooks for a variety of poorly equipped vehicles. 

I work at a wilderness reserve in Canada and am constantly pull cars out of ditches, snow banks, mud etc regardless of the signs that we post barring 2WD cars from certain roads. 

There seems to be a 50/50 chance these little city cars will actually have their screw eye tow hook in the luggage compartment or glove box. Do any of you folks have advice on where to get a number if different hooks for different vehicles? I don’t mind shelling out a bit of money for them but dealers are looking for $80 a pop in some cases and I don’t think I’ve seen two hooks that are alike (some are female, some male, some left hand thread, some normal). 

Any help would be appreciated, having a good tow point makes recoveries a lot fast and cleaner—and not relying on the operator with the bald summer tires on steep winding winter roads are would be great. 

Alternatively, if you have any suggestions for creative and safe tow points that won’t relieve the car of its bumpers, that would be great too. 

Thanks!

GC

Most of the tow hooks/screw eyes are NOT rated for recovery and should not be used to pull a vehicle out of the mud.  Be very careful using them.  To be honest I dont even use them to load a car in most cases.  Too many issues with them for me plus you never know what the last guy did to it causing an accident waiting to happen.

Things have changed a bit.   I am still set at $95 hook, no free miles and $4 per mile.  I have the app set on my phone and I take what jobs work for me and decline the ones that dont.  They still call for updates at times even though I update things in the app.  They pay with credit card within the hour.  Still low volume, but for the rates, I make it work for me.

We had to cut a section a while back and I had only a sawzall... it cut through the rail section like butter.   I had been expecting it would tear up blades in a hurry but I didn't have anything else on scene. 

We ended up using Maxxima Led strips from our local lighting supplier. They were actually a few dollars per strip cheaper than we found online. They gave us a 5 year unconditional warranty as well. They were fast and easy to install. We installed them in my MPL40 and wired them direct to the marker light wiring that was already in the boxes. This way they come on when the running lights are on and turn off automatically. No more silly pin switches.

Last night I was out around 11 pm in the pitch black and I took this picture to show how bright they are. We used an 18” strip. We just ordered more to install in all of our trucks.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I ordered stick on led lights on a roll from a miller dealer, Bresslers in Morgantown PA for all my wreckers and rollbacks. What a difference, lights it up like daytime.

Very nice. We are 20 min east of Bresslers.

We ordered some 18” led strips today from a local lighting supplier to try them out. They recommended them highly. Going to try out in one truck before ordering enough to do them all.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I am tired of my dim lights in my MPL40 toolboxes... when the switches work.  Time to make some changes.  We are going to remove the junk switches and wire toolbox lighting to the parking lights.  I want to run LED and we are thinking of strips.   Looking for something high quality and trouble free.   Something that comes in a bulk roll would be nice too as I wouldn't mind being able to customize it and do all 7 of our trucks but I am open to suggestions.

On 5/10/2019 at 5:18 PM, Njsss said:

Yes, condor-MPL.    What’s wrong with the Jerrdan?   Only reason i choose the Condor was cost

Ill snap some pictures next time I use mine, but it is very similar.  The Condor has the part that flips over and helps secure the wheel where the Jerrdan does not.  Its really tough to load a bike without an extra set of hands where the Condors that we have on our flatbed seem to be a bit easier.  I think next time Ill order the Condor attachment for the MPL40 instead to have that extra bit of support.

The truck needs to go from 37 Pottstown Pike, Chester Springs Pa to Preble Ave, Madison Maine. We may end up transporting it the entire way and needing a backhaul for the trip home. If you need a backhaul going north, let us know.






Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We picked up an old truck for a good customer today and brought it to our yard in Chester Springs Pa (southeastern PA) for now. We have been given a limited budget to get it to Madison Maine in upcoming weeks. So far timing is rather flexible. We are looking into all options to get this truck moved safely. If anyway is headed north empty or maybe has something they need moved from ME coming south maybe we can make things work. Any help or sharing would be greatly appreciated!!

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Is that a Condor for the MPL?  I have the Jerrdan Motorcycle kits for our MPL40s... they work well, but the condor would be a bit nicer I think.    It always drives me nuts when guys see us pull up with a wrecker to tow their bikes and they give us a hard time.  Just let us do our jobs!

Call towmate.  They sell a hard wired transmitter that will work great for you.

This morning I received an email from NSD. I think we have all noticed some changes lately in the quality of NSD dispatches. I thought it was nice for NSD to acknowledge the issue and hope that they make moves to correct things.

 

Overall I have had good luck working with NSD. Fair rates and typically good jobs for the most part. We have seen a big jump in volume in our area lately with their addition of the Avis/Budget contract. I stay in regular contact with Patrick when anything comes up and he has been able to get things straight for us as needed. I hope the forward progress continues.

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

okay... i get that places are often too tight for a flatbed, but there are times you need to shake a car loose. how TF else are you going to get a vehicle off that won't shift? and you don't always have a wrecker, or the vehicle may not be suitable for towing on a wrecker.

Skates, gojacks, dish soap from the dollar store even. All good ways to safely unload a car from a bed when stuck in park. I have used a snatch block at the end of the bed, doubled back to the front to winch the car off as needed. Rocking or shaking the bed back and forth is hard on the truck and the hydraulics as well as the car not to mention it doesn’t look very professional.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We use dollies and add $50 to the fee.  We have a lot of Audi, BMW, VW around here with a lot of electrical issues.  I don't mess around, we just dolly them and charge accordingly.

This is the first that I noticed this post.  The title of laptop being down made me assume it was a question about which laptop to buy or something of that nature, so since im not really much into computers I overlooked the post.  I think I am up for renewal around March anyway.  Send me an invoice and ill renew early to get some funds coming your way.

On a sidenote, we have one of our guys coming to the tow show for the first time- His name is Bill. He is now signed up here as a member as of last week.  Ill make sure he stops and shakes your hand at the meet n greet on friday night,  The rest of our crew wont be making it down this year.

I would like to know the weight of the towed unit, as well as what series dodge (3500/4500/5500) is its.  The added wheel base with the tunnel box makes a huge difference. 

 

I would have no issue with towing it with my truck.  I have a 2015 Dodge 5500 84" CA 4x4 with MPL40.   The Sprinters tow well behind it with no steering or braking issues.   I would expect much of this RV to be fiberglass and relatively light.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

30 minutes ago, dperone said:

Very informative stuff, I wish all vehicles were as tower friendly. I do love how all of the provider manuals have directions to wheel lift and dolly the car, but the owners manual says flatbed only. I'm sure that's going to cause many a headache for towers.

I was really impressed when we setup with Tesla.  They sent these files over to us and it makes things so easy.  I printed them and put them in a binder in each truck so we have easy access to the info.  The dolly instructions are great to be able to show the vehicle owner that it is ok to do.  Honestly, they are easier to just wheel lift and dolly in my opinion.  Id rather not have to dig into the battery and power them up and all, it seems like a waste of time to me.  Many of the Tesla owners have had an "assistant" or someone meet us with the vehicle.  But the owners are more trouble than the car for sure.

1 hour ago, Louwo said:

That's great. Ty very much. It's only in time when we will come across one here. Towed a few but for 2 flat tires. Drives like a electric forklift just faster.

The manuals are nice because of the little tricks that the Teslas hide.  The most common reasons that we have towed them is dead battery, or flat tires.   The process of getting to the battery when the car is dead is a pain without knowing the little tricks from the manual.  Also the Jack mode that uses the cas touch screen comes in handy to raise the clearance for loading.  I am actually working now to print these and put them in binders in our trucks for our guys.

We have been towing for Tesla for a while now, and they provide us with only manuals for towing procedures for the Tesla models that really come in handy.  I figured some of you might want that info.  Don't be intimidated by a Tesla, towing them is pretty easy.  Dealing with the owners of the vehicles on the other hand, that can take a pit of patients.   Charge accordingly!

 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B_QYILiBIslrV3ZCTnRGOW1SOFk

This is something that I have been very curious about.  We have stopped to help other tow trucks, and especially recently had a few stop to block the lane for our guys.  This has raised a question for me about the liability and all if something goes wrong.  What if our truck is hit out there blocking for someone else??  So far, we have figured that I would worry about that when and if it happens, as our intent is to do the right thing and help to keep another operator safe.  But you know we will be in the law suit over it.  Doing the right thing sure could turn into a nightmare in a hurry.  We are looking more and more into putting a specific traffic control unit into place, but that comes along with a while new set of problems.

So far, I think the new setup is great.  Some nicer features than the old board.   I am just curious... why the new site and all.  Why not just upgrade tow411.net?  I thought it seemed odd to have tow411 and towforce.

I hope you got the recovery on that one!     Its incredible how many crazy situations we come across as towers.