GRUMPS The Towman

21 hours ago, EdsTowing said:

I have said this many times when someone tells me that "The police wanted me out of there immediately" or whatever... I assure you of one thing. If something goes wrong...and something ALWAYS goes wrong... That Officer will not stand on the right side of the Judge and explain that he told you to operate like that. You will be on your own...PERIOD. Personally I believe that most of the tension & urgency on an incident are self inflicted. Train & practice with your guys to do thing the right way. But don't lower your standards for anyone...

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.

On 3/18/2021 at 9:06 AM, someotherplace said:

"because they're looking legit" --- sorry; if I see a tow truck with no markings and no license plates, I see a likely thief.  Don't know about other states, but in Texas it's law that the truck be marked conspicuously.  The requirements of info displayed and even the size of lettering is stated in the law.  Not that there's much enforcement of it, selective to be sure, but the more people are aware that it's law then the more can be aware of people operating illegally and easily differentiate them from actual honest, legitimate, hard-working tow operators.

 

Richard

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. 

You forgot the $40-$60 in wear and tear / maintenance / logistics costs on top of your $200 fuel and $40 food expenses.. Now it is COSTING you money to work for those bozo's...

Real Good call on the pass of that one. 

It is still a huge mystery to me that there are plenty of guys out there who will jump up and run jobs like that for these clubs and do it with a smile on their faces because they THINK they are making money.. 

I do some work for clubs.... AT MY RATES, ON MY TERMS..

Maybe thats why they dont call me all that much... LOL

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" .

All I can ask is WHY??? 

Under what kind of situation would warrant or justify loading that like that then taking off down the road? 

Ridiculous...

There is nothing "safe" or even legal about any of this. Gross overload, Poorly secured with straps not rated for that kind of load when they were new and look like they should have been replaced months ago. This looks like one of those cheap Kilar decks that have those weak poorly built bed locks... The mud flaps are on the ground.. I mean what else did this guy need to see to maybe realize this was a bad idea? 

Saddest part is that someone probably took this pic and plastered it on their facebook or something to "show off" what they can do.. The only thing it proves to me or anyone else with a brain is that this guy is an idiot. 

I have heard that NJ has its fair share of "rugged areas"...

I gotta tell you, I dont miss living down that way at all..

Especially this day and age of "defunded police and any/all lives but yours matters"..

Just stay safe and keep your head on a swivel down there NJSS..

It is not quite "Irish" green but hey, It is green... Lmao.

Heres my old 95 IH 4700 / Jerr Dan 21' aluminum deck. This was my first roll back when we first bought out the business.

Still have her and I am hoping to get her up and running again this spring.

Theres certain areas of " Da Bronx" that EVERYONE has to watch their back.. 

I grew up there so I know how it used to be.. I dont know, maybe things have changed.. I doubt it though.. Lol

1 hour ago, Moose said:

First, we hope for a speedy recovery. But, for the life of me I don't know what he was thinking stepping into the roadway without looking. Was he not expecting moving vehicles. While it doesn't appear he stepped far out, it would have been passed a line if there was one. Hope that someone responsible is identified in this tragic event. There has to be major damage to the vehicle.

Absolutely. He is a pretty big dude.. That car has to be smashed good.

Part of my weekly maintenance routine is to re-spool and oil my line. Any long pulls usually do require a re-spool as well. As far as crushing, I havent had that issue since I started using the super swedge line. As far as kinks or over wraps, As long as it is not a sharp kink or there is any broken strands the super swedge will straighten itself out after a re-spool with tension on it. I have been running the same line on my truck now for almost a year. It is ready for replacement but Mainly because my hook end is really starting to show some serious wear. I use the self locking ends on my roll back and over time they wear out and start to get a lot of slop and play in them. I will be changing it out here in the next week or so.

5 hours ago, sweetk30 said:

one thing to remember if at all possible ........... NEVER GO IN A ACTIVE DOT CHECK FOR A TOW  .......... you might be the next victim .

 

Lol. I am not worried about it. My rigs are legit and very well maintained. They can look all they want. They wont find anything. It will only cost me some time.

I have never been inspected while responding to tow one out of their area. They usually leave us alone Especially when they need us to get the O.O.S. ones out of the way for the next "victims"

I will admit that having 100' on my roll back can be a pain at times and it does take a bit of attention to keep it from messing up. So I can understand your frustration and returning to just a 50' line. I am basically a 1 man band so I keep myself well over equipped to deal with any situation without having to call for help or someone to bring me different gear or another truck. 

The main reason it is different on a roll back is there is no fixed sheave to constantly guide the line like there is on a boom. No matter what direction you pull off a boom, it still has that 6' or more of a fixed point to hold it straight from the sheave. Even adding a snatch block on the deck at times is too little too late depending on the pull. On a roll back we pull right off the drum so the line will naturally go where it wants to. 

My thoughts are with you and I pray you make a full recovery. 

I do have to ask WHY were you standing on the road side of your casualty vehicle with YOUR BACK TO TRAFFIC?????? This is a perfect example of what NOT to do on the side of the road. NEVER turn your back to traffic EVER!!!

Nobody cares about us out there. No SDMO law will ever make them care. Their Facebook post, Snap, Text or Burrito they are eating while driving oblivious down the road is more important than we are...  YOU need to care about yourself and PROTECT yourself at ALL TIMES 

This was a totally preventable incident.

I do hope the driver involved either turns themselves in or is caught. 

Not to defend Agero, ( I have my own reasons for thinking they suck ) But come on man, If your really going to complain about "damage' the first thing is to actually have PROOF that there is damage... I dont see a damn thing in your little video

And Btw, You get what you pay for.. The guy or company that towed it probably made $34-$50 to tow it.. you think he really cared about your car for that rate?.. Probably had 5 more calls waiting stuffed down his throat that he had to get to as well.

I recall my fathers 750 having the same issue back in the day. Turned out being the drum was "warped" ( for lack of a better term ). basically it was worn down and mildly grooved causing the shoes to not make full contact with it. It was hard to see really with the eye but once compared to the new one you could see a vast difference. At first he had just installed new shoes which actually made it worse because they were not worn into the grooves and warped areas on the drum like the old shoes thus causing less surface contact with one another. My guess would be with the new shoes, drum and all adjusted up, you will be all set.

Gorgeous rig btw. 

24 minutes ago, sweetk30 said:

Best thing i was told if you cant get it easy with no damage extra just pull the wheel first . Then set on a plank or 4x4 as a ski . 

I agree. If it is really wonked and everything is twisted up then that is my play as well. Pulling the tire will prevent tearing up the fender or bumper cover etc.. This one here I got pretty lucky with as the way it was jammed in there, the wheel would still roll backwards so it helped a lot on this one. the key is to first try straightening the "good' wheel and securing the steering wheel so nothing moves around on the bad side. then if you need to turn it, simply skate it which ever direction needed.  

I too used to keep my damaged lines after cutting away the damage until one day you realize they have been laying around for 2-3 years, You have 3 or 4 of them and you havent touched them since you rolled them up on the rim or into a tire. Nowadays When I change one out, It gets cut up and thrown in the scrap bin.

I would urge caution on using the guard rail cable on recoveries Stubborn. Although they look like any regular winch line many of them have nowhere near the load limit of actual winch line. they are not constructed in the same manner as true winch wire rope and not to mention you have no idea what it's W.L.L. really is. Not to say it wouldnt do the job, but I dont know if I would trust it on any real hard pulls or tricky rigging.

I am somewhat cheap myself but, I am also not a fan of things breaking on me when I need them the most.