someotherplace

Hi Teri, could you provide us a business name, website, etc. so that one might check out your company?

Richard

22 minutes ago, rreschran said:

Thanks for sharing your pics of old iron. That for sure looks stout and job capable. But, if that truck were in California ... there's a good chance it wouldn't be around due to strict air-quality laws in this state.     R.

If diesel, for sure.  Would they be able to oust him if he had a gas big block (original) - I believe they were offered with the 366?  As long as it passed smog...

Richard

Wow.. in this day and age of practically everyone, their kid, and their dog having a cell phone, that law sure seems outdated.

Pay phones are pretty rare in the wild no matter where you are, yet California insists YOU as a business owner have to provide them?  That's nuts.

Sorry I don't have anything helpful to add other than to sympathize with you on the crappy law.

Richard

Welcome back.  I thought that member name looked familiar from the old board!

Richard

Top notch.. guess his insurance will be getting a workout, making their previously broken bumper nice and new again, as well as their garage door.

Richard

I'd like to offer a little piece of the puzzle that might help: get an app for your phone that puts a date and time stamp on your pictures.  There are plenty out there; I use Timestamp Camera pro (I think it costs $4 or $5) - it's got a lot of options, you can even include GPS locations stamped right there in the picture.  Actual coordinates, or street address, etc. I mostly just use it for date and time.  For PPI tows that works great for me as it shows when I was on the scene.  The GPS coordinates can be a little laggy so I quit depending on it for proving exactly where I was at the moment; it works fine but sometimes I don't have the time to wait for it to update to where I am that very second.

Pictures are great; pictures that prove what time you took them are even better.  And in some cases, where you took them.  Pictures don't really cost you anything, and if you're on the scene with the owner, taking plenty of pictures can already give them the idea that there's no use in trying to make false claims against you.

First address on property censored, second address at the storage lot so I'm not divulging any trade secrets (contracts, lol) but it gives you an idea of what's easily attainable from those apps.  That same picture taken on the scene before loading shows the vehicle at the contract address and also another taken when dollies are popped up before leaving the property, as proof their AWD vehicle was dollied (actually, this one may have been an electric parking brake; can't remember...)

Richard

I've seen more than a few wheel lift grids, L-arms/scoops, other miscellaneous stuff on the road where it's come off a truck.  I would say 100% operator's responsibility to be sure their equipment is properly secured.  Your manager/boss can't be there to double-check you throughout your shift.

Richard

Hey James, maybe it was Tow Careers dot com?  I'm not sure, the name sounds familiar and they may have been a sponsor at one time or another.  If you look at that page now though it has zero jobs listed and seems like a jump-off page for Indeed dot com or other job hunting sites.

Richard

It was an amazingly roomy garage!  Upscale place, new construction.  Not like some places I've been where the tip of the truck's antenna was more like a curb-feeler, scraping along the super low roof as I inch along at a snail's pace.  A few of them I was very lucky that old red F550 I used to drive didn't have a light bar.

Richard

Dolly job for multiple reasons.. super low ride height, steering turned a little and locked, bent driver front wheel, and the value of the vehicle made it a no-brainer anyway.

Bumper so low I had to roll the front up on my skates just to make clearance for the dolly axle to go under.

No straps or tow lights, still on scene and needed to get my pics and get moving.  Suction cups used on the windshield for the tow lights once I wiped some dust off.

Richard

Wow...salty.

Understandably salty, but jeez, if he doesn't calm down a little he's gonna stroke out.

He mentioned having to go to Houston.  I wonder who built this disaster of a truck?

Richard

 Is it becoming common?  Yes; there's an epidemic of undiagnosed/untreated mental illness loose on our streets. : (

Richard

That's a damn shame.  Here, they don't bother burning stolens anymore - haven't for decades - because there's no real investigation done when they're found.  They just make the report and bail.  I believe the only time stolens come under any real scrutiny is if they were involved in a higher crime such as a drive-by shooting or similar..

Back in the 80's it was real common in the Houston area to find burned-out stolens.  I'm not happy about the current soft-on-crime situation but at least there's been one minor benefit from that: salvageable/repairable recovered stolens.

Richard

The truck and its associated equipment are how a driver (and of course, a tow company) earns their living; if they aren't willing to take the time to assess the condition of the equipment and report it up the chain so it can get handled, then they shouldn't be trusted with the equipment.  That goes for all of the equipment, whether bolted to the truck or not.  Truck, wrecker unit, dollies, straps, chains, tow lights.. all of it.  What's the saying, my friend has mentioned it a few times when discussing less-than-quality employees.  "Are you an asset, or just an ass in the seat"

Richard

You can't really depend on every driver to have the mechanical knowledge to properly maintain them, but I agree it should be their responsibility to be able to at least check them for obvious wear.  It really is as simple as trying to rock the wheel (and know enough to not mistake slop in the folding mechanism for bearing wear.)  Or, as I like to often do, check the temperature of the hubs and tires after each use.  Any of them noticeably hotter than another is a red flag for something that needs immediate attention.

Richard

No telling at this point as it appears custom to a degree (other than the obvious paint.)  The front bumper appears to be an '80-82 style piece or aftermarket version of same, those are the ones that go down low to a chin spoiler.  Earlier ones were much more abbreviated; and I believe '79 had an add-on chin spoiler.

Richard

The "not my truck" is strong with this one.

Richard

It's not always about the car you're towing.  Tow operators get targeted for robberies because dirtbags figure you're carrying cash, or they can take your truck and use it for an auto theft spree.  Or these days, just random crazies in the streets, end up at the wrong place/wrong time and you're the target just by convenience.

I spent years and years in this business not carrying any kind of weapon at all.  Once they started robbing random people in apartment complex parking lots, my attitude changed completely.  The old saying still holds true, rather be judged by 12 than carried by 6.  I'm going to do my best to go home alive, can't say I share that concern for anyone that thinks I'm a mark.

Richard

No doubt plenty of stolen vehicles, the altered/damaged VINs would be a pretty good sign.  I sure hate thieves.

Richard

Thanks; I'm probably not nearly as smart as I think, but maybe knowing that is half the battle. ; )

I expected some flooding in that area as it's pretty common (it's Houston; we flood), but ongoing construction seemed to make it worse.  The boss actually called me an hour prior and suggested if things just got too nasty that night to turn around and go home.  We had several calls come in and I was determined to catch them if I could envision a safe route to/from the property and storage lots.

As it was, I decided around 2AM to head home and literally just as I was pulling in the driveway, a call came in for someone that has a habitual violator in their paid space and so far none of the other drivers have managed to load for him.  I said hell with it and hit the road and got it done.  Not a very productive night overall, but the calls got covered, and I didn't even get my socks wet.

Too many drivers out there with that "not my truck" attitude.  They don't seem to make the simple connection that the truck is how they (and their boss!) are earning a living and that one should take care of it.

Richard

Lots of flooding around Houston area from the tropical storm "Beta" -

I unfortunately was out in that mess doing reserved call PPI's (no patrol work) and caught one in a covered spot with the e-brake pulled to the roof so I dollied it out of the spot.  Hit the road near Brays bayou and saw the water over the curb at one point so I turned back.  Discovered that even in a couple inches of water, dollies will float..

Anyway, I was surprised at the number of trucks I saw out there getting submarine lessons while hauling other stranded vehicles out.  I feel bad for the owners of those trucks.  I kept mine (company truck; I don't own it) out of any water more than a couple inches.

Dropping the first soggy customer off at the impound lot...

Richard

Nice work!  Let us know how they perform in the field.. though they look like they'll do fine.

Richard

Love those old GP's.  I remember going to an auction with my dad when I was *almost* first-car-age, and a clean-looking late 60's GP, black, rolled in and I wanted it badly.  My dad just said, "you don't want that junk" - he's not a Pontiac hater, just his trained eye saw a polished pile where eager young me saw an awesome car. : )

Also as a teen, once had to do rear leafs on an early 60's Falcon at a shop I was helper at.  They had completely collapsed.  I don't know what was more amazing to me, that someone had managed to collapse the springs (without intentionally torching them) on such a light duty car, no idea how they had abused it to make that happen - or that I was able to source a good set locally at a boneyard!  This was late 80's so it's not like they were still a common car.

Richard

I've used a rubber tire chock for this many times and results vary, as you've found.  If it's sealed asphalt or loose dirt, it's just going to slide.

 If the situation allows it, I'll assemble the dollies behind the vehicle, which allows for me to easily place the axles as close to the inside setting as possible for the flat, and then before I pop up the dollies - I'll roll the vehicle backwards onto the axles, using the boom extension so I have a nice, slow, controlled approach that I can watch and stop immediately if anything gets out of place.

Unloading is as simple; extend into the drop area then lower the dollies, retract to roll off of them.

It obviously doesn't work for every scenario but it has got me out of a jam more than once!

Richard

I've worked Texas Summers in a few trucks with no A/C and even at night, it can be punishingly hot.

There may have been other issues as someone else mentioned.

Still, with the current economic/jobs situation, I'm surprised people aren't more serious about keeping the job they have, IF they're fortunate enough to have one!  That extra $600/wk tacked on top of unemployment sure pulled a lot of dead weight out of the job market...but that's over with now.

Richard