GRUMPS The Towman

I have mine wired onto a switch, mainly because I live in a residential area and I back down my long driveway. Sometimes I am in and out 4 or 5 times over the course of a night. It keeps my neighbors off my back. I probably should have it turned on more than I do, but Nobody has given me grief about it. I have gone through a few d.o.t. inspections forgetting to turn it on and they never say a word about it.

I am no way a pro when it comes to line swedging, But a buddy of mine has used a hand swedger in the past on his log skidder winch with positive results. I feel that The key to his success was he took the time to "spread" the strands apart and weave the terminated end strands into the line at the point of swedge. I dont recall the name brand of his tool though. I will have to ask him when I see him next.

Nice!! Did you wipe a lil Vasoline on your roof to slid her in there?? LOL😁

My thoughts are with all of you. Thank god No one was seriously injured. Although it is terrible, Remember, it can all be replaced/rebuilt... Lives cannot..

I Agree 100% on that statement. If your running a repair business affiliated with your towing, Doing ppi work can and will certainly hurt your reputation. Even the absolute best towers who follow the book to a T will get slandered and bashed by the knuckle dragging public simply because you tow illeagally parked cars. Remember, in todays society, It is always easier to blame someone else for why or how something happened. Although they are the ones who parked in someones space or blocked a hydrant, YOU are the asshole because you towed their car and then have the balls to demand payment. Business bashing is just a keyboard and mouse click away nowadays..

I remember back in the 90's that Stereo system and wheel/tire theft was rampant down where I grew up ( and was living at the time ) in the Bronx and Queens. It was mostly the popularity of aftermarket wheels and what not. I am assuming it is the high price of scrap metals nowadays that is driving this type of theft. There has been a rash of cat-converter thefts around here at the dealerships in the past few months. I am told the cats off a v8 ford truck are fetching around $700-$1000 at the scrapper... Thats a pretty good fix for any dirt bag junkie...

Lmao. Not around here.

I too swear by the Super Swedged line. I wont use any other line anymore on any of my rigs. Although, I will admit I have been contemplating trying out one of the new synthetic lines to see how they hold up.

Beautiful work on the tow. I feel terrible for the vehicle owner.. Doing That to someone is about as low as you can get.. Being that close to the door of the motel, I wouldnt be surprised if it was some sort of "inside job" type of deal...

Nice. You know, the more pics you post of that beauty doing these types of jobs and showing its versatility is certainly making me consider purchasing one.

Another one I use from time to time on big, messy jobs and such is "Well, This is gonna taste like s#!t"... LMAO

I will send a message to my regional rep and see if there is some info he may be able to provide.

Now that I think about it, I suppose my one liner is " Well, that's good for it" since I seem to say that at least 2-3 times a day when dropping my phone, laptop, notebook or tools etc... 😁 P.S. I use the "living the dream" line a lot myself...LOL

Agreed. NOTHING we can deploy or do is totally 100% fool proof or a gaurantee that no one will come along and run us over. I can honestly say that I dont think anyone on this forum would deny that fact. Hell, There are even reports out there of operators and other emergency workers getting struck on closed roads or totally shut down highways. Usually by worthless drunks such as in the story you have posted. That is not really the point we are trying to make on the subject. Unfortunately, the matter of an errant vehicle encroaching on our work site is a realistic risk of the occupation we have chosen. It is the efforts of good operators who work diligently to speed up and streamline their roadside procedures, Never turn their backs to traffic, work the curb side and Always plan an escape route that will make the difference and get these roadside fatality statistics to come down drastically. Not the SDMO laws, Not the DWI/DUI laws, Not increased police presence at scenes Our efforts and persistance to watch our own backs and plan ahead ( Like throwing down a few flares that dont need to be retrieved thus reducing our exposure time drastically ) will ultimately save lives... Our Lives...

Even better that you know some of the back story to the unit. And it has history in the company your with. I sincerely hope you will be able to take ownership of her. Please keep us updated on it. I am a total sucker for these old rigs and the history that goes along with them. Just Imagine if that truck could talk.... The stories it would tell !!!

Shes beautiful. And all that relatively preserved under that awning.. Although a huge fan, I am By no means a pro with the old school Holmes units. I will take a mildly educated guess and say it is around a 500 model??... I think I recall them having dual winches..

First off, I am happy to hear that your ok and nothing bad came from your "close call". I am a big fan of flares myself and use them regularly on jobs similar to what you described. Yes, it is an added expense but any smart business man works those types of expenses into their charges. The nicest thing about flares in my opinion is they are easilly and quickly deployed, and If the situation really dictates, It is not a big deal if you cant retrieve them. Cones are expensive so they must be retrieved, further exposing you to moronic drivers. I will normally at least put them out and throw them up on the deck, but there are occasions where conditions simply are too risky to retrieve them. L.E. leaves them out all over the place constantly so I dont feel too bad about littering if I cant get them. ( for the record, I know it doesnt make it right.) Like any other piece of equipment, common sense plays a major factor in their proper use. A couple years back, some knuckle dragger working for a fly by night tow company here threw a freshly extinguished flare up on the deck of his roll back while the wreck he just loaded was puking fuel all over the place... Take a guess at what happened next....

Sadly, No..Jobs like this certainly make me regret not adding at least a winch remote to the build sheet when I ordered her, But on the other hand, I can certainly use the exercise..Lol I have been thinking about adding one myself, but It just seems to be a lot of money for what amounts to basically a soleniod, some weld-on linkage and a transmitter..

Welcome Sir, It is a pleasure to have you on board!!!

Beautifully written Tow Zone. I plan to have my wife write it out with her fancy hand writing so I can frame it in my office. I feel safe to speak for most of our brothers on this forum in saying Thank you for taking the time to write this and sharing it with all of us.

Took a call from a customer last night who stated he was stuck down a long driveway after attempting to make a Door-Dash delivery. As I was taking his info over the phone, My buddy who runs the local AAA towing company called and told me the customer had originally called AAA for service and when he arrived, he found him approximately 300' from the road down a sloped, muddy camp trail. My friend didn't want to get involved with it through AAA knowing they don't pay well enough for him to return to his shop and gear up for that type of pull, so he turned the call down. He then told the customer to call me Knowing I carry enough equipment on board regularly to be able to reach him. I backed down in about 30' (which was as far as I dared) then After stretching my 100' synthetic line extension, the 100' off my drum and set up 2 10' recovery straps, I was able to get a hold of him. Once I got him up to me, I loaded him up on my deck not only so I wouldn't have to pull out to the road and re-rig to finish the pull, but also to put some weight on my back so I could climb out of the trail myself. I still ended up putting my truck in 4wd to get moving. I pulled out onto the road and set him down on pavement. The whole job took about an hour. The Customer paid cash, Was super happy to be free of his muddy prison, and I have a bunch of muddy gear to clean and re-pack. It has been just a bit too warm around here lately so the ground hasn't been able to frost over like it normally does this time of year. Everything is a sloppy mess. I just know there is a lot more work like this coming in the near future around here.

Maybe the customers tire pressure monitor never told him he had a flat so he "Justa kept on keepin on".... LMAO..😄

Kudos to the OPP for exposing this. Many L.E. agencies wouldnt do so simply to save face. Kick-backs and favoritisim happens here regularly ( mainly the small town, certain companies have family in law enforcement type ). And even when proof of this is brought to the higher ups, It falls on deaf ears..

Hello and welcome to the forums. As far as up charges and the mighty motor clubs go, If you use it, you can charge for it. In theory. But, If you have signed a contract with them, You will have to read through it with a fine tooth comb to make sure your allowed to do so. Some clubs require you to call them to make adjustments to equipment BEFORE you use it. This can obviously be a time-consuming and aggravating venture if your in the middle of doing a tow. Now, I will admit, I am probably not the best person to really help answer this question Namely because I no longer have any motor club contracts and any work I do perform for them is treated as a cash customer with full rates paid up front via c.c. . You being a repair shop and using your truck as a supplement income then maybe doing some contracted club work is the way to go. If you look through some of the motor club posts on this forum you will see my reasoning ( and alot of other towers on here too) for not doing any contracted work for them. So, long story short, read your contract carefully. I am sure they touch on the subject in there somewhere. Good luck Sir.

Personally, I have always felt that Collins dollies were by far superior to In the ditch set ups.. I have owned and used both and although I have never "tested" them to that degree, The few times that I have had failures were with the In the ditch brand I had. In the ditch seemed to require alot more attention and maintenance throughout their life as well.