BigBen835

Topic Originally Created on Tow411 in August of 2009: Hot summer day, (for Wisconsin), Wisconsin state patrol calls for flatbed to recover travel trailer in ditch eastbound median. Sent out a unit right away, The traffic is really backing up. All the light duty guys are out, soooooo I jump in a rollback and head out. Got to west to get there, I crest the hill and see a LONG back up, then I see THIS. Grab the mic, " Someone, anyone climb in my truck and head this way NOW!! Swing around at next exit, and head east lights blazing, jump on median shoulder. I arrive 15 minutes later, (had to go 3 miles) the trooper walks up and says "Get this out fast, its rush hour!!!" My response is "What am I going to do with me 21' carrier?" I get the deer in the headlights look, I'm sure we all know it. "What are we going to do, district is going to have a fit." he says. Relax I have "SUPER TATOR" on the way. He says "HOW LONG WILL THAT TAKE?". "Now, if you would have requested the proper equipment it would be here already." Needless to say, another 20 minutes my truck gets there with Dan at the helm. Trooper walks up again and says "Troop commander says you have 1 hour or we will have to do it tonite at midnight." No problem, yeah right! So, I do the only thing I could think of. Set up, lift it, swing it to rear, lock boom, and go 1/4 mile to scale entrance. I know this is probably not going to go over well with some, but it was crunch time. Just trying to keep the super slab flowing and our troopers happy. Created a 5 mile back up, and no secondary crashes. Midnight didn't sound like fun to me, I've been on days FOREVER!!! Its really dark then---LOL!!! Our fearless leader shows up during rigging process, and asks what the plan is, I tell him, and he gives me that look like your going to do WHAT!! But he did agree that it was the only option right now. Had to think fast & outside the box----alittle. This was 1 of 4 travel trailer rollovers in a 9 day period on this same 3 mile stretch of I94. Overall damage was moderate, no additional damage from lift. Insurance did total unit. Changed a tire with spare, aired one up, and off to the shop. Thanks for looking, be safe. Niemans Towing said: WOW nice job on clearing the road Jamie Dougherty said: You are a braver man than I. It looks like in the photo while you are driving it is already upright, If it was why not spin it and hook it properly on the shoulder? Just a question not trying to bash. JAMIE DOUGHERTY JANEWAY TOWING BigBen835 said: Thanks for replies, both left side tires flat, rims not so good. Again went a 1/4 mile to scale parking lot, and as I stated changed tires and towed properly. And if I would have spun it to the right or rear either way the whole interstate was blocked while hooking for tow. I figured some would not approve but TICK TOCK, TICK TOCK. LOL! Miracle1 said: Not your everyday practice, but it got the job at hand done I'm sure all involved were happy don't see a problem we've all done unorthadox things when in a pinch. stay safe Kenny Kenny Miracle ''Miracles Do Happen Here'' BigWheelRecovery said: Nice show of power that is a different recovery .Thanks Eric TowThis2002 said: Just asking - Did you unfold the under-reach and chain it to the crossbar to keep from swinging? That must have been neat to see driving down the other way(Westbound?)... Soonertator said: I think you did what you had to do. Some on here may criticize but I am willing to bet that the troopers wont even hesitate to call you next time they need some "out of the box" type help. Good job Blue Stripe said: Obviously there were no bridges along your route? LOL There lies the dilemma of doing it the right way, or keeping the state troopers happy. Keeping the state happy is very important. My idea would be to give the trooper 2 choices, we do it this way (the way you did) or I do it the right way here at the scene and its going to take longer. If they choose option A, explain to them that you will need him to escort (behind) you to where ever you're moving it to. Tell them its their responsibility to keep cars from attempting to pass this "wide load". If they can agree to that, then your road is clear in 10 minutes (or however long) Always leave the liability on the PD whenever possible, especially if they're asking you to do something out of the ordinary. Chris Flynn, WM 091008 Boardman Towing & Recovery

Topic Originally Created on Tow411 in October of 2008. Got a call from local sheriff dept. for a HD recovery of a partially loaded quad axle milk truck in the water. Described as 20' down, and approx. 30-40' away from road in @ 4-5' of water. Driver stated had @ 18000# milk on board. Total vehicle weight of est. 50000 lbs. I took my 75 ton, and Justin came in on his Sunday off to help with the 60 ton. Upon arrival the road was wide enough to get one side of the outriggers out and hug the far bank. The truck did a complete roll and came to a rest drivers side down. Driver was OK. The road had no shoulder on either side and near vertical rocky face. During the upright procedure the road cracked and more of the bank caved in. The local varmints had made a tunnel system under road. As the truck settled on its wheels the left side outrigger went thru. After that, a vertical lift was out, no good base. The adjacent property owner granted permission to her yard for a long winch thru swamp. Justin fit in the waders so he got elected to be in water. He spent 3+ hours in water rigging, spring fed and very cold. A 220' winch to yard and a little help from the 75 ton from the road, winch the 60 ton out of its holes, back to shop---- done. Truck was towed from scene to customers shop one mile away, to be unloaded into different tanker. Total time for recovery was 10 hours port to port. The scene was restored approx. 2 days later after the ground dried up a litlle. All grade 120 rigging used, for winch. I know someone will ask why the outriggers were out during winch, I don't know but the ground was so soft and wet there was no pressure on them. No equipment breakage, and a round of applause from on lookers. Comments & suggestions? Carter & Sons Towing said: Nice recovery, that swamp looks nasty. Also like the saying on the outrigger. Jason Morgan1 said: Nice truck and nice picks.Areend you afraid those stabilisers breake?The man ho put the gains around need an cleaning i think Michael212 said: Nice Job Ben Michael Myers 253.588.1757 ext 150 BigWheelRecovery said: NICE JOB GUYS ,,Thanks Eric Heavytowman12 said: Looks like a recovery most of us would like to have done. Nice work! WyomingTowPro said: Hey Nice job out there. gotta love a good challenge.... Do have a question. Based on the moisture.were u able to pull out of the yard on your own or did ur other truck assist u getting back to the hard surface?? Heavytowman12 said: Nice job , Nice looking rotator also, does your truck have a canadian spread. ? It looks wider than normal Richard Guttmann BigBen835 said: Yes, it is a spread, and no we had to pull it out with my truck. It was very wet, the side legs were down a few inches, when we started winching they were not touching the ground, but i had a pretty heavy lean to the left, that's why i put them out. I had one shot getting in and i was a little crooked. Once it started to come out it was a straight pull off rear. I never thought about them again. The ground was soooooo soft it was just peeling the sod up, no side load. The taillights we built in shop. Thanks for comments. wm060071 said: nothing like a good pull!! Stupid question but Did you have to pull the wrecker out. You can see that the out riggers went down at the beginning. But don't it make more sense to have them down for more surface contact!!! Or will they bend? That's awesome !!! TOWAHOLIC said: Cool job. that's the kinda jobs ya dream about. woulda been a cool pick too! NR8171 said: another stupid question> why not put the legs down on a pull like that? Bighook18 said: Great job...I have a question.. who was the "lucky" one to rig the front axle?? WOW.... "I always got my hook.." Todd Pell BigBen835 said: Big Hook, Justin fit in the waders, so guess what!!!! He had to rig everything by feel. He did a heckva a job, the water was 50--ish degrees. The bulk of the time was rigging and pulling lines. The water was just a few inches from the top of the waders. Literally no bottom just endless muck. I threw down the rigging, and started pulling cables thru the slop.

Topic Originally Created on Tow411 in May of 2007. Helped a fellow tower upright and lift this machine onto their trailer the night before. Slid off trailer during transport. This is the day after at owners farm unloading in some tight quarters. Pics don't show it very well but our 1060 is parallel parked in between shed and trailer loaded with scrap. Owner stated is was @48k the operator stated is was more like 52k. Picked off , lowered to closer to ground and rotated to rear. Our tator was not leaning, it kinda appears that way in one of the pics but it remained very level. Thanks for looking, Cya in ditch.