someotherplace

WOW...wonder if NC regulates non-consent tow rates? As much as I'd hate to invite government in where they're not needed, I doubt there's any case study that supports that kind of a rate for booting a semi!! As I've said many times, your actions today affect regulations tomorrow! Richard

Hah! Yes!! LOL.. mostly was just looking for your input as it's obvious your on-scene experience is far greater than mine; I only worked wrecks for a relatively short while before going full-time PPI. It seems my concern may be disproportionate to real-world statistics but if the chance for it to happen exists, that's enough for me. Richard

By the way, this is probably the best part of your post. Regardless of how vigilant we are of the dangers of our various roles in this industry, don't lose sight of your personal interactions with loved ones. We often come and go with the weight of the world on our shoulders. I try extremely hard to not come home in a crummy mood regardless of how trying the night has been. My leaving every night includes hugging and kissing my wife, telling her that I love her, and that I'll see her in a little bit (instead of "good-bye".) When I come home in the morning my rescue cat (from the impound lot) usually greets me, then I proceed in to kiss my wife good morning and then we sit down and visit over breakfast. It's a routine, but an important one to us. She's been in the truck with me quite a bit in the past and is very aware of how things can go. Richard

Mr. Resch, I was hoping to hear your thoughts on my previous response. Any? Richard

I bet you've seen plenty! In this case I don't believe the pivot was seized, but I can try to find out. I know the man that does the repairs and maintenance on this fleet. The units get greased at every oil change, and he greases the hell out of them. With that in mind though wear is wear, that unit is old, and has seen lots of work. At time of failure it had a midsized FWD car on the hook. I don't doubt it has been used prior to load things heavier than it should have from time to time, as that company has to haul whatever they're called upon to haul - commercial accounts, you remove the vehicle or they'll find someone else. They do have heavier duty trucks that get sent for those jobs, in general. Richard

With bars, clubs, and restaurants (dine-in service, anyway), schools, and many other businesses closed now - most people are home, and not many seem to be visiting others, which is a good thing at least health-wise. On the other hand, it's made my job doing PPI a bit sketchier. Definitely an increase in late-night activity on property. People are restless, bored, angry...fighting/arguing in parking lots, random gunfire, etc. Then there are just people hanging around by their apartments killing time, then I show up and they become the snitch network, banging on doors and alerting everyone to my presence. Some management has put their properties "on hold" which is expected and totally understandable. Others still need enforcement but doing so has become more difficult, and dangerous. Richard

Not good. I see these guys around town but don't know them personally. Had not heard of this incident until now. People can make all kinds of claims but I presume there will be a police report indicating whether the driver was at fault and if he had a license or not. Richard

I can definitely imagine it on a JD unit if it's got the "greaseless" pins. Terrible idea. I've seen Miller units with greaseable pins get neglected to the point that they sheared off the keeper bolt before seizing up in the bore. Not fun to remove either one of those messes. One thing I will say about that old unit is that I know it gets greased regularly; the owner has a full time mechanic in-house. Richard

I know this truck...it's a 22 year old light duty selfloader; I'm not faulting Miller, not even implying the unit has been abused - it's just seen 22 years and a LOT of use. Very surprising though to say the least. I haven't noticed any signs of impending failure, and the break looks clean although the pic quality isn't the greatest. Here it is: Richard

The area is suffering from flash flooding. It's a Ford...he may have broke down on dry land and then the flood caught him. Richard

That was my experience when deleting the add-on tank on my '95 3500HD; it had a wiring jumper and lift pump to move fuel from the add-on tank to the OEM tank. I just removed the aftermarket stuff and left the OEM tank/sender alone and they worked correctly. Funny you mention the Sneeker and Holmes bed on your '86 Ford. A friend of mine still owns an '88 F350 with a Sneeker topped by an actual wrecker bed, where most Sneeker installs are on dually pickups instead of chassis cabs. Does your bed have three shallow toolboxes at the tailboard? Those Sneekers aren't bad units (I had a brand new one installed forever ago on a '96 C3500 dually) but if I recall they are a 3500 lb capacity unit. The data plate should be on there with the info. About the only real issue my friend ever had with his old one are the hose fittings on the crossbar to the claw extensions; whenever the angles got too extreme they seemed prone to breakage. Couldn't tell what they had redesigned on my newer unit but that never happened to me. Easy enough to alter the wheelbase on your HD by chopping the frame as you planned, and drilling new holes for the spring mounts. A magnetic drill press might help as you have a LOT of holes to drill. You may need to fab a driver side shock mount bracket depending on whether the Sneeker clears the original or not. Not sure how you plan on attaching the Sneeker to your frame but a friend and I installed one on a '94 3500HD; he designed and built an entire subframe to sit on top of the truck and utilized many existing frame holes to attach the subframe. This gave the Sneeker higher lift capability than had it been positioned between the original frame rails. The only real downside I saw to it is that it added considerable weight to the truck, reducing load capacity a bit. Here's a couple pics; yes it is a genuine Sneeker though a prior owner hacked Jerr-Dan spoon receivers on in place of the claws. I just used it as a shop truck and then later it got a Dynamic self-loader. First pic was just testing, hadn't done hose management yet. It carried the weight pretty well.. Richard

Do yourself a huge favor fellas and download a camera app that puts the time and date stamp on the picture, and get all-around shots immediately when you reach the scene. Many of them have GPS stamping as well where you can select it to display the coordinates, or even better, the street address where the picture was taken. Another round of pictures when you drop off is also a wise move. Read reviews on the apps before you download to be sure you aren't getting some malicious crap posing as a legitimate app. It should be noted that most of this information is included in the EXIF data on each picture taken with a smartphone, but you need to download and use a specific camera app that will put this info IN the picture for everyone to see so there is no debate. Richard

Thank you...as far as I know, pretty much anywhere it is illegal for someone to ride in the towed vehicle. Even if it's a gray area when a tow truck is not involved, it's still not safe. Richard

A crash-compromised (or simply worn) ball joint would be a much bigger worry to me than a damaged wheel - you're hooked to what looks like a wheel in good condition, until the whole assembly - wheel/tire, rotor, hub, spindle - is flying at you under tension because the ball joints let go during the pull. Easily a 75-100 lb missile. In today's world of many vehicles with independent rear suspension, I'd say the risk is similar whether using a front OR rear wheel for the pull. My opinion, anyway! Richard

This, 100%. Even if someone is so opposed to throwing dollies, there were options on loading this vehicle that did not involve being in the train's right-of-way. Richard