someotherplace

Mr. Rivers said a lot. His attorney has his work cut out for him. At least it doesn't seem he tried to sell the story that getting paid $8K to transport an everyday vehicle several states away was nothing unusual. Richard

Yeah, I used to use the vacuum caps a while back but found that they seem to break too easily - right at the mold line under the domed section. They're also much thicker than the original tip so you have to gap the door a bit more to get 'em in there. I really don't mind ordering some original Big Easy tips since I know they're the correct ones...but haven't seen anybody offering the Little Easy tips. Richard

The transmitter will work fine hidden inside the rear of the bed. Some of the newer trucks I've seen have an extra socket in the side box. I wired one up in the taillight housing of a Vulcan 810 years ago by taking an extra socket and popping out the insert (no need for the metal mounting flange/cover) and tapped the wires in, attached the transmitter, and zip-tied it in place so it wouldn't bounce around. Worked like a champ. Richard

Yep, no more disconnecting linkage on RAM trucks since 2011-2012 I think. They *look* like you can disconnect it but you can't shift, as you discovered. And, on Mopar fullsize cars since 2008. BUT, there is a release inside the vehicle on most. I usually don't mess with them being full-time PPI as I do not have keys. However if you're on a consent tow there is a release cord inside the cars console, and on the trucks I believe it's to the left of the column in the dash after you pop a panel off. Richard

I generally dolly Corvettes and anything with front bumpers that are excessively low. They're bound to already have some pre-existing damage that no matter how good your condition pictures are, they'll find some way to blame you for it...so up on the dollies they go. They'll still try to blame. But I have pics including their car up on dollies. Richard

As it always seems to happen, keeping my long reach tools behind the seat, the tips end up torn or missing after a while. I know I can get the "official" Big Easy tips from Zips/etc. or even my local wrecker supply although they're wayyyyy across town so I never get over there. What I haven't seen are correct size/type replacement tips for the Little Easy. It's much thinner than the Big Easy so the tips marketed for that one won't fit, not even close. It looks like just a vinyl cap used in shelving and other applications but I don't want to have to do a bunch of experimenting at various stores until I find something that works. Daytime hours when places are open are my "sleep" time.. Richard

Is the $200 fee because your license lapsed? I just renewed mine in Feb and it was $100 as usual. I did notice some wording about increased fees if I was late but since I always try to get in ahead of time I didn't pay them much attention. They stuck me for $100 extra a few years back when I still ran an IM license that I didn't really need. Their website said I just needed 4 hours CE to renew, so I took the online course, paid my $100 to TDLR, and...no license? Sat on hold with them to find out they insisted I needed an 8 hour classroom course to renew due to IM status. I explained their website told me otherwise; they didn't care. No courses available for weeks past my expiration date even if I did want to go through the trouble, making it a moot point anyway. Asked that since I hadn't done any IM work in years and didn't plan to, could I just change my license to PP? Sure, if you apply for a new license. Another $100. No refund (as stated on their site) for the previous fee paid. Probably already told that story before but it bears repeating as these bureaucrats are only interested in the money. Richard

Legislation to interfere with how someone handles things on their private property. Got to love it. Richard

Shouldn't be too difficult for the police to figure out who to go interview first.. Richard

Would not be surprised one bit if it started from a wrecked vehicle. When I first got into the business and was working for my dad, whenever we brought wrecks in we would disconnect the battery cable specifically to avoid the possibility of fires. These days in all the lots I drop at, I never see this done and it honestly surprises me. I see hard hits with battery obviously still connected - flashers, headlights still on... Richard

Dodge in general and a little bit of the gas engine was discussed recently in a similar thread (in the Ford section) - I'll add that recently I know of two Dodge 4500's (self-loaders, not rollbacks) with the 6.4 gas engine that have suffered somewhat expensive engine failure due to lifters or valve problems. Small sample size but I don't know many people here with Dodge gas trucks, and yet that's a lot of failures considering. I know of more that ran the Ford gas engine and had about equally bad luck, though. Richard

I can see we have one responder here that is good at ignoring details and thinks what he knows works in every single situation. Thanks for your input... Richard

Dragging & shaking = you have destroyed any credibility you may have had in this discussion. I also seriously doubt anybody with a flatbed is hooking up that quickly. You may think you're operating that fast but you may want to put a stopwatch on it for a dose of reality. Furthermore in the scenarios I already explained, you wouldn't even be able to get the truck into loading position; these are cramped, very busy parking lots. There's literally no room for a flatbed to operate in a manner that wouldn't take many times longer than the slowest guy with a wheel lift. Yeah, not looking for any kind of official override function - I wouldn't expect there to be one, and definitely would not be opening the car hoping to find one. I have heard of junk haulers being able to bypass them with some trickery and it seems totally plausible; I'm sure the electric brake setup is a stepper motor or similar type design that you apply power and it engages, then reverse the polarity and it retracts. There will be connections outside the vehicle near the brakes. I'd be willing to bet that a little experimentation with a small jump box and some test leads, I could make it happen. I was mostly curious if anybody else here had gone down that path and what the pros/cons might be; if it freaks out the onboard systems or if they're just not that smart and this can be done without any ill effects. In reality and for sake of speed in most cases I'm sure we will continue to dolly. However I foresee the situation where we'll have one a long distance from the lot with an electric brake set and it just isn't feasible to dolly it that far, but it must be towed. Being able to release the brake would be a huge benefit. My comment about taking all day with the flatbed was primarily just a figure of speech, by the way. Many years ago I did quite a bit of flatbed work and have jammed them into places many think they wouldn't fit, but I am telling you, I have many areas I'm working now that you literally could not get a flatbed in to load. Some responding seem to overlook that and still think you can throw that tool at any situation and that simply isn't true. Richard

I don't know about plenty. If you're already out doing business that day in a rollback and just happen to get a PPI, not in a super-cramped and ultra-busy small commercial property, or a parking garage, I could understand that...but nobody is doing full-time PPI in a rollback. I mean, I can use a football as a hammer and maybe have some success but I'm far better off using an actual hammer.. All other issues aside, something to keep in mind about throwing a rollback at this electric brake problem is you still have to position the vehicle for loading. Remember? It's a front wheel drive car with an electric parking brake. You'd need 4 go-jaks to move it (and hope you're on fairly smooth, flat ground) just to get it in place to load. We're not working in football fields, these are parking lots, and most of them have very limited room to maneuver. By the time you get through running the deck down and pulling your line out of the winch, I'll already have the car loaded including popped up on dollies. Then you still have to fight a car with 4 wheels that won't roll, up the deck...then back down to unload at the lot. No dragging.. is it possible? Absolutely. If you want to take all day for 1 tow. Richard

Bed? This is PPI; all trucks on duty are wheel lift. Don't tow? Not an option. If they're in violation, they will be towed. Dollies will be used. Just wondering about other possible options. Richard