GRUMPS The Towman

I am not one to transport customers even before this Covid crap.. It is simply not my job. I am not a taxi. The added risk of liability is my number one reason behind it. People these days are so quick to sue anybody over anything. I got a buddy who owns another company in town who is going through the wringer right now because some bozo he gave a ride to claims he slipped getting out of his truck and screwed his ankle up. Supposedly he has had 2 surgeries already and claims he will never walk right again. Worse part is, My buddies already through the roof insurance rates went up even more and STILL wont cover this guys claims stating they do not provide coverage for passengers. Motor clubs dont pay enough for the services they already get from the industry. theres no way they would pay enough to offset the costs of running a crew cab rig.

Hmmm... What should be a $25-$35,000+ truck ( condition dependent ) on a auction site going for $19,000?? And this guy didnt think there was anything seriously wrong with it?? Come on... Just the sight of the quickie spray bomb paint job on the front bumper to the point there is overspray all over the wheels/tires Said to me they are hiding something with this beat to death turd...Maybe it is just me but I wouldnt ever even think about buying a used truck sight-unseen off some auction site. Especially with the mindset that I am gonna go get it and just drive happily off into the sunset... Not to offend this guy in any way but I really hope you decide to go another route with your "dream".. You simply dont seem to have the right mentality for this industry...

Strike 1 - Stand in between the casualty and the truck and talk with the customer, Strike 2 - fail to secure the customer in the truck, leave him out to wander around the loading zone and traffic Strike 3 - continuously work on the road side of the truck, turning your back to traffic multiple times, leaving yourself NO escape route other than to dart into oncoming traffic should someone impinge on your poorly designated work space. Strike 4 - Touch everything and anything with your dirty nasty work gloves including but not limited to the car body, steering wheel door panels and gear shift and then sit in the casualty AFTER you have laid on your back on the side of the highway. Strike 5 - Allow the customer to wander up behind the half-loaded vehicle that is not secured and stand there with his back to traffic while you chat with him about the weather. I have seen numerous videos of this guy including a video of a vehicle breaking free off his winch and free rolling off the deck, and many people stand up for him stating he is a seasoned professional. If this is the procedures of a professional then we are all screwed and should just go lay down in traffic now. My conclusion is there is a serious case of "it wont happen to me" here. Maybe he is seasoned, but I see No sign of professionalism here or in any other of his videos. Just my opinion of course and we all know what those are worth these days....

I have 4 crossings in my city that are almost identical to this one and have recovered my fair share of cars and trucks off them. Blocks and cribbing are your friends on these. I carry a fair amount of 4x4's, 2x4's and planks. usually I will low line the vehicle, winch it up on to the cribbing and walk it to me while rotating the cribbing. If I can manage to back to it with my tires on the rail ties, ( the rail road has told me it is ok to do ) I will do that and load the casualty onto my deck but that isnt always possible if the vehicle isnt in line with where I will be. I wont drive onto the pack gravel surrounding the rails though.

HA!!! The shoe is on the other foot now Mr.DOT man... LMAO Just kidding, Nice work.

So...... If I am understanding correctly, This whacko, Believes that because she sees tow trucks around her regularly transporting Me/Be's similar to hers, That they are stalking her and intend to do her some sort of harm?? Maybe I am just using too much COMMON SENSE but, Any chance there is a Me/Be dealership / repair shop somewhere in that particular area??... So, we have the Bloods, the Crips and the " Hooks " now?? What in the hell is this country coming to??.....

I agree with DerlynZ, Start at your junction boxes and work your way back. But from your description, my educated guess is you have a couple broken wires / pinches in the deck slide harness which depending on where on the deck slide, can be a real pain in the A$$ to get at. Good luck. Let us know how you make out.

WOW!!! He really hammered that thing.. Hope everyone was ok. Just curious DerlynZ, Whats the speed limit through there? I see traffic lights so I assume it is not highway speeds..

My rule of thumb has always been to keep people back as far as the amount of line I have out OR the distance of the overall length of my truck in circumference . Whichever is longer or logical. Being in a college town and performing a fair amount of ppi work at times, I get recorded all the time by people that are usually not even directly affected by the work I am performing. I have had occasions where I am heckled, called names etc.. I look at it simply, If what I am doing has nothing to do with the person talking s#!t or recording me, I just totally ignore them. As long as they stay back away from my work zone and dont touch me, my truck/gear or the vehicle I am loading, they can say or do whatever they want. It in no way hurts my feelings that they will play their little video for their friends and call me all sorts of names. I am not out there to impress anyone. If any of them there start asking me questions, I ask "is this your vehicle?' if they respond no, then I say nothing further to them. It is way more important to pay attention to your work to prevent damage or injury then to get all worked up because some bozo is calling you an asshole or saying your mother is a bitch etc.. The old sticks and stones thing,...

Personally, I would tighten it untill the crossbar moves smoothly with some slight resistance with me leaning my body weight against it. I have never dealt with the adjustable ones, but ones I have re-bushed and /or done welding repairs in the throat / plate, that is how I have always tried to get them. Not to bash you or your truck in any way sir, but It may very well be worn out already being a Kilar..

Walk along the rail, Stand behind the un-secured car with the deck tilted, winch it up against those wheel-stop thingys and put it in park... Good enough and Off we go.... I knew I have been doing way too much work for the past 26-28 years.. I am sure glad I found this tutorial on how to really load a car.. Now all I need is a leather fanny pack And I too can be "one of the boys"

Lmao.. putting Customers keys in a pocket is a BAD combo.. I have learned my lesson on that many a moon ago.. Lol

AMEN!!!

Very nice. It is awesome to see someone using a sling set up and using it properly. I can attest to the fact that the new Jerr- Dan sling bars dont have enough adjustability to them. On the self loaders, all the way in is way too close to the fold-up. Theres no way he would have been able to turn with that van in all the way. You have to run them out a bit. The short wheel base Rams give it a weird look but it takes the weight real good. Ive been over scales with my partners swb truck and one on the sling. I was actually surprised at the amount I had on the nose. It really didnt look like I had that much on the nose but the scales dont lie.

My ultimate initial goal has always been to get or keep traffic flowing around the scene. I have always had a big thing about secondary accidents. I always will go out of my way to work from an off angle if necessary just to keep a lane moving. Usually, the first word out of the officers mouth when I arrive is "we will shut down the road" and my response is usually ( if it can be safely done ) is I will work it from here etc. to keep that lane open. Yes, It might take a few extra mins at times but it is worth it.

True words of wisdom spoken by a true professional. Like I have said many times This Industry Requires a Pretty moderate level of common sense to become a real professional operator. I whole-heartedly agree with tow zone when he stated doing a "Quick clear" Means securing at a minimum to get out of harms way. Now, I see that as get it FULLY on the deck, get at least one solid point of rear securement and get off to a safe area to complete your tie down. I do it all the time. I dont want to be out in traffic for a second longer than I have to be. But, there are others I know will think dragging it up, slamming it in park and taking off is considered "minimum securement". Or if it is severely damaged, Just pulling it on board and since the front end is blown apart, it wont go anywhere. I see this all the time. And the saddest part is I see this from other companies in town that have LOST vehicles off their trucks before. They STILL do it... Maybe it is just me, But I gotta say, the general tasks of our industry are not terribly difficult. Which is why I find it so baffling that there are so many out there that will take a job that is not out of this world difficult to do properly and STILL cut corners and screw around.

Beautiful car. You dont see too many around here any more. Thats one sexy looking truck too btw..😀

Rest easy brother. My thoughts are with this operators family and friends. I pray the man responsible for taking his life never sees the light of day again. This madness MUST STOP.

Rest easy Brother.. We will drag those chains from here. I am curious as to how he ended up getting struck by the Train. Was he loading one near the crossing Or did he not take a good enough look before crossing over? How fast was the locomotive travelling? Those un-gated crossings can be real dangerous if moderate speed trains use that line. We have a good amount of un-gated crossings in the city but there is a STRICT 5mph train speed limit in that area. you can see and hear them coming Long before they approach the apron. Yet, there are still plenty of morons around here that try to beat the locomotives all the time.

Since I am in NO WAY computer literate, I send myself the pic from my phone to my email, save it to my computer then use the choose files thingy that Tow Zone mentioned. It has been a few weeks since I have posted any pics so I dont know if my round about, antiquated way still works or not.. LOL

Ditto to all that ESC said. The boys at team Ed's would be my number 1 pick for a refurb job. Just dig in to some of the old posts on here in company equipment of some of their own rigs that they have done. They knock it out of the park every time. Detroit wrecker would be my number 2 if they were still in the refurb biz.. They are really killing it with there own designed rigs so I understand why they are no longer doing that type of work. I am seriously considering a Detroit built rig for my next one.

Here, the only tow truck you might see without any business lettering are repo trucks And I only know of one guy that has no business lettering on his rig. But even those must display D.O.T. numbers, M/C Numbers and License plates etc.. Even if it is a tow truck for private use only like hauling personal equipment, race cars etc. They must say NOT FOR HIRE in bold lettering where the D.O.T. numbers would normally be displayed. I am with you. If I see a rig with absolutely zero markings, They are probably up to no good. Very Glad to hear they busted this douchebag.

First off, Nice work. That was a whole ton of B.S. to deal with before even seeing what you had to work with. It sounds like you hit them with a good price that your satisfied with and that is what matters. You certainly made the right call by explaining to the customer that Agero wouldnt pay on that and they would have to lay it out. If you would have tried to run through Agero, You more than likely would have took it up the rear. Been there, done that.. It is those hard core ones that can be real profitable or a real loss depending on how you can sell it to the customer. Again, Nice Job.

Had a guy here locally get killed while stealing a cat off a Subaru in someones driveway last winter. Same deal, Jack gave up and the car fell on him. This dude must have been the major player in town because after he bought the farm, cat thefts dropped 75%. Either that, or all the other scumbags got scared... I felt bad for the poor lady who came out to go to work the following morning and found a dead guy under her car in her driveway.

I dont care how much the Cops are breathing down my neck.. I refuse to break the law or perform my duties un-safely for ANYONE. That includes cops.. I am NOT treating someones vehicle like that no matter how tore up it is Nor am I beating on my equipment to appease some meter maid/traffic cop.. It falls back to my saying of "I dont tell cops how to do their job, so dont tell me how to do mine" .