GRUMPS The Towman

After 9 months of planning, designing, building and setup, the latest chassis out of my familys race shop is ready for the track. This sunday will be her first trip around the dirt oval. I am super excited to see what she has !!

City P.D. called late last night for a vehicle into a pole. Upon arrival, I was informed the driver was heavily intoxicated, and ran from P.D. when they attempted to stop him a few blocks back. The intersection he flew through just prior to crashing has a very deep and off angled approach ramp and when he struck it, the Volvo went airborne, Up over the center median, Onto the curb and struck the pole. The impact sent debris including the entire left front wheel / hub and half the strut assembly 150' further down the road where it struck another responding P.D. vehicle.  After verifying with the utility company that the pole was intact, I rigged the casualty up, rotated it around and loaded it off the curb onto my deck. Fluids and debris cleanup took longer than the recovery. On my way down the hill, I stopped and retrieved the wheel / hub assembly as well. 

Took this call last week from the city P.D. The woman driving this Mini Took a corner a little too hot, Clipped a parked car and rolled over onto its roof. There was significant damage to the Mini's front suspension from the Impact. My rollover stick made quick work of it and had it back on its wheels in no time. Spun it around, Loaded up and cleaned up some debris. The customer wanted the casualty towed to her home where she paid cash for the job. I was back in service within an hour.

You mean you didnt just drag it across the side of the building, Taking the gutter, soffit and half the roof with it, Let it slam down onto the ground Then drag it up onto a rollback / flatbed upside down, Throw a ratchet strap over the middle of it and off you go?? ( I have been watching too many of the local fly-by-night bozos lately I think...)

Seriously, Another Excellent, well thought out, Tricky recovery executed by some real pros.. 

Great work Guys !! 

11 hours ago, Orcas Tow said:

Maybe you, me & Grumps can go partners in that one Ed, for sale & whats its lifting capabilities?

Depending on the particular model / year Huey, She can externally carry around 5,000 lbs give or take which is pretty impressive for a relatively small, 2 rotor bladed bird. Now, if we could only get our hands on a Chinook...

Excellent work on the recovery Orcastow. It is always a good feeling when you can get one to drive away on its own. 

And Ed, Gimme a call after you get that Huey wrapped in Team Eds colors... Its been Awhile but, I can give you some lessons on it. I am sure it is like riding a bike... LMAO.

Still here and kicking... I havent been on as much as I used to but hoping my schedule allows for more TowForce time real soon

Wow!!! Excellent work.

I assume they sailed in off that road the fire truck is on in the top of the 7th pic.. Maybe a guardrail or something sent them airborne. Must of been really hauling A$$..

Hope everyone was ok. 

Welcome aboard Trent. You are certainly on the right track working and learning from Orcas Tow as well as joining on here. 

Good luck and don't hesitate to ask questions. We are all here to help and learn from one another. 

Dad had one back in the day. Had the pop up camper tent top. As a 8-9 year old kid, I thought it was the coolest thing on the planet. Lol

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.