GRUMPS The Towman

Welcome. Well in my opinion, what your looking to do with it is kind of a broad spectrum. If your simply looking for a rig to move trucks and trailers in and around the shop, An old single or twin screw day cab tractor with a good used 20-25 ton Zacklift or bang bar attachment would suffice just fine. ( thats what we had back in the day as a yard dog ) The short wheelbase of a run of the mill road tractor makes wiggling around the yard and into the shop easier as opposed to using a full-on long wheelbased wrecker. But if your planning on going out and towing trucks off the road back to your shop,to the dealer, etc... Thats a whole different realm. Now you need to be better equipped to handle a variety of different trucks, trailers, Loaded, unloaded etc... and drag them down the public roads. State, Federal and D.O.T. laws now come into the picture.... You get the idea It is one thing if you grabbed a hold of a loaded 10 wheeler for instance with your day cab/Zacklift ( if you could even pick it )and swing it around your yard and stuff it in the shop door. That same deal wont fly for even a 5-10 mile trip down the road. As a minimum actual road tow truck, I would recommend at least a 35 ton intergrated boomed rig. It would be a versatile truck for quick shop to shop type towing, it would give you a decent range of trucks you could tow legally, but isnt a million dollar+ monster recovery truck. You will have to know when to say NO though.

Took a call from one of my regular repair shop customers yesterday stating they had a customer way out in the back country who told them that her Honda van "just stopped going" and when she pressed the gas pedal, the light on the dash would start to flash. Now, both the tech at the shop and myself were kinda leaning towards maybe a mis-fire issue or something given her vauge description. The driver left the van there and caught a ride back to town. I was not super familiar with this road but I did know where it was so I headed out to get it. It is a steep, poorly maintained road but doable in any vehicle with decent tires. When I got up to the van, I began loading it up and as I got down to place my rigging, I caught a glimpse of the "tires".... Turns out, there is NOTHING mechanically wrong with the van.... The baloney skin tires werent up to the task of climbing this steep grade and the "flashing light" was the traction control system shutting the van down because she was just flooring it, trying like hell to get moving.... The T/C system is probably the only thing that kept her from loosing it and going over the bank and down the mountain "The HARD way".... After all these years, it STILL amazes me how some people are simply this ignorant and continue to travel around here with crappy or worn out tires... I loaded it up and brought it down the mountain to the repair shop. I hope and pray they can sell this woman some tires...

Awesome old school iron. Reminds me of Dad's trucks way back when I was growing up. Thanks for sharing these !!!

Nice job. I too deal with a Fed Ex contractor who runs around with either bald or tight tread summer tires year round. I always figured it was just this particular contracted company. Seems to be a Fed Ex thing as a whole If you guys are seeing the same.. These guys are constantly getting into trouble going places they really shouldnt.

I have seen some vehicles in the past actually still roll pretty good even in park with enough force such as getting dropped out of a wheel lift. The parking pawl will make this horrific ratcheting sound and eventually re-catch and stop. ( if it doesnt snap and disintergrate ). Or if it is a manual, It will simply roll the motor over (Forward or backwards depending on what gear it was in ) untill it has lost enough momentum to stop it. Again, Usually destroying all kinds of parts. It almost looks as if the pivot pin in the wheel lift may be seized. It just doesnt seem to be flopping around like I thought it would once the suv came out.. I dont really know. It is kinda puzzling to me. On a side note, Those older Nissan Pathfinders, Mitsu Monteros, Isuzu Troopers and the Honda Passports were actually pretty much one in the same with minor changes. It was back in the day when some Japanese manufactures "shared" base designs on certain models.

I watched it a few times, And yes,I agree 100% Safety chains woulda Kept it at least tied to him and would have dragged around the corner with him But what I cant seem to figure out how it came up out of the grids? It looks like he had straps on it. did it hit the deck while pivoting and get pushed out? ( seen that happen before).

Took this call from the post office annex today. This LLV lost the r/f lower ball-joint as he was backing out of a driveway, leaving him stranded right in the middle of the road. This road is up on the top of the highest mountain in the area and the wind gusts up there regularly exceed 40 mph. It was slightly warmer today ( thank god ) so it was only about 20 degrees up there. I got him moved back so we could open at least 1 lane and then had to wait for his replacement LLV to arrive. I took the wait time as an opportunity to snap a few pics.After the transfer of parcels, I completed the load and down the mountain I went .The last couple pics are to try and give you an idea of the view from up there.

Thanks. I try to help out the local charitable organizations and schools as much as I can. I ended up hauling this the day after that big snow storm ended, So I was a bit concerned about the salt/road spray getting all over it. ( hence why my truck looks disgusting ) but it turned out ok. Nothing got kicked up on it really. We are big time involved with the Cops,kids and toys project every Christmas and have been for 8 years now. We help transport all the donation bins throughout the county and give out discount road service/local towing cards that are used as prizes in the big raffles they hold. As a side note, this donation job I just did actually ended up causing a "riff" at home for me. See, the school doing it is the next town over and happens to be the "Arch rival" school of my sons and basically my wifes entire family all the way back to her great-grandparents. The Basketball teams ( which my oldest is a varsity member ) usually end up in the finals every year against one another which started the rivalry. I have never seen so many people at a high school basketball game as I have when those two schools play each other in the finals. Last year the state p.d. closed roads around the school so there was more parking. It was NUTS... So, when I came home and told my wife I hauled the Candor high schools project car, the look on her face coulda melted snow!!! lol Seriously, It is all in good fun.

I recently donated a 28 mile tow to one of the local high schools to transport their Fast Five kit car project car from their technology department where a group of kids have assembled the car to a body shop that has offered to do the body and paint work for free as well. I am told the car will compete in the SCCA races held at Watkins Glen this year with a pro driver that is involved with the project. The kids did a great job on it, It looks awesome

My god!!! What a mess.... And to top it off, Dude gets shot by the guy trying to "save" him.... Nice work. That was a big job.

Wow Ed, You guys got blasted good with this storm.. We took a good beating here too but from the looks of some of your pics, The work I put in looks like I barely did anything compared to you and your team. Excellent work as always Sir.

She fit on there nicely !!!

Love it.. My boys have been working with me since they could basically walk, But come on man, Get that girl some GLOVES at least !!!

Nice work.. It certainly looks like he was at it all day.. wow. Poor guy.. If he would have just stopped messing with it when he first got mired in, He wouldnt have sank it like the Titanic.. Lol. Some people just dont seem to get that.

I gotta say, That takes some serious BALLS. To be-bop around in a STOLEN tow truck, Then snatch cars up in heavily populated neighborhoods and hack the cats out of them like that... The local hoodlums around here have been snatching them out of brand new cars in the dealership lots.. Been a rash of wheels getting stolen too..It is CRAZY.

Usps does have some of their own trucks here too but they are primarilly used just for swapping them around between different annex's, post offices and such. They are basically just transporters. I got in with them years ago through a friends shop that was doing maint, and repairs with them. That was with the big annex in Ithaca. I got tied in with the surrounding villages and town post offices by speaking with the post masters at each one. I personally enjoy working with them. They pay well, the LLV's are not only simple to hook and relatively light, they are pretty rugged so if you have to get a little rough with them they can take it. A few of the rural routes around here use right hand drive converted Subarus and newer Jeep Wranglers. Like where you are, We have some roads and areas that would make anyone from not around here have a stroke just looking at it let alone driving on them. The LLV's wouldnt stand a chance.

Praying for a full and speedy recovery for our injured brothers. The ramp was purportidly CLOSED.... These types of incidents are becoming MORE common as of late.. How is it these people are intruding into/onto CLOSED roads and ramps??? That "false" sense of security we tend to get on closed roads and such ( I am guilty of it myself ) Is getting us hit all too often lately.. WATCH YOURSELVES BROTHERS!!!!! No matter where it is you are!!!

We have been lucky in a way I suppose. Between Covid, This storm and The fact the colleges havent opened yet, There really isnt all too many people out and about. I have spent majority of this storm pulling post office LLV's out of the snow banks all throughout the county..I just did my 14th one since yesterday about an hour ago.

We have been getting smashed here for the past two days with a snow storm that has dumped 16" on us so far. Now work has been some what steady but not crazy.. Most have been staying home and off the roads. Took this call from the city pd this afternoon. The driver of this highlander was going way too fast through this section of road, lost control and pounded a utility pole. Luckily, the 4 occupants were unharmed. It turns out, this was a family who flew up here from Texas and rented this vehicle at the airport to go see their daughter who is attending college here. This was their first time ever even seeing snow, let alone trying to drive in it. They made it a whole 7 miles from the airport before this...

If I am understanding you correctly, you are referring to towing a vehicle there straight from the accident? If that is the case, then It is up to the owner or driver of said vehicle as to where it goes. They must pay for it of course. Otherwise it goes with me to my storage yard untill the owner or insurance company decides what they want to do with it. And again, Payment is due at time of pickup (or delivery if I am towing it ).

You beat me to it Superior35. He has that bar WAAAY up there... Maybe thats why he chained it to the wheel lift?? But like Ed said, how can it pivot like that other than stress the chains BIG TIME.. Not to mention the winch lines are being used like sling straps, getting pressed against and rubbing on the lift gate. As they say in Mexico,... NO BUENO...

Nice work. It must be that time of season or something is in the air ( other than Covid ) because I have had 3 burnouts out in the middle of nowhere ( all stolen ) on seasonal roads in the past 2 months myself. ( I posted one under the heading "not the Xmas gift I wanted" )

Welcome to the forums Sir. I know of your YouTube channel well.. It is great content. I have jumped on your channel from time to time to get a quick rundown on certain vehicles that I was not familiar with over riding the neutral lockout / electronic shift systems. Saved my bacon on more than one occasion!!! Your Knowledge on that subject will be a massive asset to many on here.

My thoughts are with the Injured operator. Praying for a speedy and full recovery from his injuries. Now, I gotta say, In situations such as this where the driver involved in a collision seems to be whisked away by a friend, family, co-worker etc.. suddenly like this, 90% of the time they are off duty L.E. or some sort of big wig so to speak.. At least that is the way it is here usually. Had one a few weeks ago similar to this. I was loading one on the side of a highway and all of a sudden this Audi coming in the opposite direction skids out and slides into the ditch on the other side of the road about 40'-50' from where I was working. The officer that was babysitting my disablement job went over, spoke to the guy for about 10 whole seconds, made a phone call and by the time I finished loading my casualty, someone pulled up in a Malibu and took off with the other guy across the road. Another company was called to remove his car and later in the day I met up with that operator for coffee and he said that turns out, that guy was a lieutenant with the sheriffs office. No investigation, No tickets, Nothing. The guy could have been blitzed drunk for all we know and L.E. just let it slide... Apparently the Lt. guy even had the gall to ask the tow company for a "Break on" the winch out and tow... I dont know about any of you but, I am way more willing to give a discount or a "break" to some single mom in a Hyundai or an overworked guy driving a rusty old Chevy pick up Then some Cop that makes over $120.000 a year driving a brand new Audi. Now, I dont mean to "cop bash". I support true, professional Law enforcement officers who dont treat their badge like a free ride/do whatever ticket. This is just a sad, common observation I see all too often with a select few of them. The narrative of this posted incident reminds me of these situations.

Well, Technically, installing a winch remote will give you at least a "dual control for that function..Lol. Just be super careful with the road side controls ( I assume that is the side your controls are on ) That puts you right in the kill zone... Head on a swivel bro....