someotherplace

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

UBER, LYFT, etc. Richard

Probably a regional thing on the RAV4's. For the CRV, down here most of the ones I see are AWD (and most even say it on the rear glass, though they call it 4WD.) On the other hand, we have mostly FWD RAV4's. I do know the few 4WD ones I've found will not even roll out of the spot with go-jaks on the front wheels, so I wouldn't even -think- of trying to roll one towing it. What makes it worse is the interchangeability the manufacturers use with badging them AWD or 4WD. Just go ahead and call it AWD unless you have a selectable switch, shifter, etc. that allows a 2HI position for the transfer case.. Richard

While I agree with you in spirit, and have done this exact thing many times...in practice, I try to dolly on the spot and I take a picture of it in that spot, on the dollies. This instantly squashes any "you tore up my car" claims. I've heard these claims on the phone before they even come to retrieve the vehicle, as if they were already practicing their speech about their AWD car and how I destroyed it. Then they see the dolly picture. Docstowing: the ones that roll are still not safe to tow with wheels on the ground. You may not notice any damage but how could you possibly tell? Wear is occurring, and it is impossible for you to measure how much; same for the vehicle owner, and getting by with the shortcut is purely by luck. Eventually your luck runs out and you get one that was marginal and wipe it out - now it's your responsibility. Or, you get one that was already wiped out, they've dinged the previous tow company for it, and now they're going to ding YOU for it too. It's the gift that keeps on giving. Just remember, people want a payday, and they REALLY want one after you "did them wrong" by towing their car away. Richard

I had some positive comments for one of their posts but could not respond, is that limited to patrons only? I guess I understand...but...then again I don't? Thanks, Richard

What's the story on the no-starts? They look like they've already gone through PDI, and if you're towing them then they must have left the dealer already. FCA selling new vehicles with junk batteries? Richard

Thank you Michael! Merry Christmas to you and yours, as well! Richard

Besides all the other issues, this one caught my attention right away. A lot that size and they can't throw a forklift and Eagle Claw attachment on it? Ridiculous. Richard

Let's just say that approaching the government entity that regulates the towing rate is a non-starter. I'll absolutely agree with you though; we see more and more electric brake vehicles, and AWD vehicles. Hook-and-book is becoming a thing of the past! There is a way around the parking brake, just need to understand it better to be aware of how to effect it and if there's a liability angle. Richard