Andy

Don’t forget blackberries rattle snakes and sun burns 

Ouch

hope everyone is ok

I’m thinking about going to the Tow Expo in Fort Worth next month. 
 

there’s several classes I will probably attend if there not sold out but my primary reason is to look at roll back options. I’m planning on adding another truck. Would really like to see what my options are especially given that you can’t just buy a truck right now at least not exactly what I want so I might as well order what I want. 
 

i haven’t been to a Tow show before  any input on what I might expect from it. Timing for this show is good and I have family in Dallas to see while I’m there so I’ll kill two birds with one stone. 
 

also any input of where to book a hotel would be great as well. 

Makes me wonder if I should carry my lead filled hammer. 

I better go look at the grey hairs now as I feel old just thinking that i actually own a lead filled hammer. Old Vette guy here. It has been some time since I hammered on a wheel. 

Gotta chalk those wheels. 

I need the additional cowbells an F600 has over an F550 but I’m not stoked about a standard cab. Does anyone have actual input on the F600 and part two whats life like in a standard cab. I’m going to have as much space in  storage boxes added under the bed as possible but I haven’t even sat in a standard cab truck in many years. Let alone worked out of one. Looking at the number of times I carried more than two people it’s not a lot however I’ve had several long tows with four even five once and the rigs were heavy trucks so I’d want to be in the new F600 on them but maybe I’m overthinking that. I know Christmas Day I delivered a family 300 miles from here and the job finally was authorized because I had room for them all. 
 

4x4 is mandatory or id look at higher gvw class trucks seems this is about as much payload as I can get in 4x4 im ready to order one and have located a truck. I’m open to other thoughts. 
 

thanks Andy 

Thats good to know I didnt know if you could make a loop knot in one for a patch if needed or if that made it to weak to perform. 

You can call it a splice all you want its still a weave:) Basket weaving winch rope my new forte. I thought with the four jobs I have and fifty hobbies I was done coming up with new ones but rope weaving may be the next thing I will have to master. Im going to get some ordered. I put it off because I thought winter was over and I would have them made up for next year but im still doing winchouts and summer will bring the STUPID gene out in a lot of people and they will figure out ways to launch them even further than on iced over roads.  I say this as half an inch of sleet fell in the last 5 minutes. 

On 4/7/2022 at 9:39 AM, ESC said:

I always hated to spend the money on the synthetic extensions, and years ago was too cheap.  The first extension i bought was a 3/8 50" wire.  It works, but was always a pain to coil up and store.  I have an MPL40 that we went to 125' wire on the spools and i have about 10 lenghts of 20' chains in a crate on the truck.  Later on as we made a little money, I added a 100' synthetic 3/8 extension.  Its so much easier.  Over the years as we have had the cash we added a 100' synthetic extension in each of our 6 trucks.  So if i ever need it, I call for another guy to come help me and I have plenty of length.  The extensions were about $400 ish.  Every time i use one, im charging at least that.... so when you use it, add another one for a while till you have a few of them around for that just in case situation.  Make sure to charge accordingly when you have to pull them out.

The money is there, i bid these jobs well or they can stay in the wild until summer comes. I found a place in Portland that will make them up with just about any end or hook I want. Like you said there not cheap but every time I walk back and forth unspooling and dragging crap in deep snow multiple times I ask myself why I haven’t ponied up for some extensions. Monday I got the wrecker stuck had to winch it up into position to do the job but 150 foot of extensions and I wouldn’t have had to even get close to the deep snow. He had muddled it all up trying to get out. 

On 4/7/2022 at 6:23 AM, DragNTow said:

I buy 250 foot pieces of 1/2 " braided synthetic line. Fill your winch drum and make extensions out of the rest. Be sure to buy the BRAIDED type of line. The solid, non braided line is junk and cannot be field repaired.

 

Are you just making a knot for field repairs or are you good enough at actually splicing line in the field. I know a couple of sailors that can weave line pretty fast but never tried it. I’m pretty sure I can learn it. I guess my real question is I break a synthetic line in the field ( funny it will probably be a field or at least the wild) can I do a loop style knot and get enough strength to continue. 

Im new to the recovery winch out side of this field so I have no idea what to expect when using extensions, but  I feel the need for synthetic winch rope extensions there expensive so id like to try and get this order right the first time.  I know several of my recoveries a 200 foot extension would have decreased my time and effort a lot. So I am thinking about these lengths.

One 100 foot maybe even a second ? 

one 50 foot 

and two 25 foot lengths. 

One question that I ask myself is the type of ends for sure id like to be able to hook at least one end to a hook or chain? Or both and then I wonder if I should have a hook on one end and a ring on the other end large enough to pass a hook or chain through? The next would be what size or strength I have an MPL40 8000 pound winches if that helps. 1/2” might be more weight to drag up and down steep inclines in deep snow but it might also hold up longer to the abuse they might see and may also survive dragging a car up a steep incline. But I really dont know. Thanks Andy 

Highway 84 east in Oregon is now the clean up site of about 140 miles of crashes and 100 plus vehicles. I’m 120 miles from where the pile ups start but I received a call to assist in it last night. Mentally and physically I was not capable to be a part of anything that wasn’t simple and short last night. I’ve only had two days off since early in December I also have an automotive shop and I’ve had one to two guys off the last five weeks and I’m still performing tows 24/7 by myself so I declined and turned my phone off. I could have been a bigger liability than help. 
 

how does working a scene like this go. It looked like there’s a lot of damaged vehicles, do the police locate a place to move these vehicles or are they being taken to impound lots of tow companies in the area and what about the winch outs. In regards to getting paid. Being a Good Samaritan is ok but a scene like this presents a lot of risk to us and our equipment. 
 

thanks Andy 

A lot if that area of highway 5 is very dangerous traffic is always thick and no one’s paying attention I think I’m almost in a wreck every time I drive it it’s the land of perpetual road construction as well what this does is make drivers become so accustomed to flashing lights road crews trucks on the roadway that they stop even noticing any of them then you throw something like a drunk truck driver in the mix man what a combo. 
 

i feel for his family sorry for their loss. 
 

 Not that reading about them far away doesn’t bother me but it’s weird when you actually drive a section of road where a fellow operator was harmed kind of sinks in harder. 
 

be safe. 

Today we hand winched a Jeep out of a snow shoe / cross country ski trail. I met the sherif and forest ranger there last night. Forest ranger preferred we not destroy the trail any worse than it already was. We walked all of our gear in with my wifes yard cart used a TWIN LINE method;) three come alongs in series to the rear and one pulling sideways keeping it from sliding off the bank. After getting it back on solid hard packed snow we chained up all four tires and I took it for a ride. Turned out to be a family bonding trip to the wild. The snows two to three feet deep in a lot of the trail. The biggest issue was it was almost fifty degrees yesterday afternoon we showed up early this morning in order to get it out of there before the trail softened up. The pictures don’t show it but its at a fairly steep angle both up hill and side ways. 
 

i had concerns we would be winching this in two maybe three other spots but once I got past the worst one that is 1/4 mike from this spot it was smooth sailing. I can tell you I wonder what I’m thinking some days when I take on jobs like this. I guess when I get beat by one I may think harder but this was pretty simple compared to a number of the jobs I’ve taken this winter. 

Nice. 
 

Ive got questions 

length of the bed from the winch to the back of the bed. 
total weight of truck with all your gear full tank of gas and you in it? 
 

and I really want to know about its handling of a one ton dually 4x4 crew cab diesel if you land that tow I wanna know about it. 
 

i cant see not having an extended cab but I just might think about it 

i want to order an F600 4x4 but I don’t even think there selling them in an extended cab yet. And I’ll have to get a CDL at that point anyway so maybe I will look into other 4x4 options. 
 

Hi Andy from Andy. I am also a technician shop owner turned light duty wrecker tow truck operator. Many here  suggested I should get some training. I can tell you i learned so much in the 8 day wreckmaster class and it was worth every cent I paid and or didn’t make wile I was gone. My confidence level on complex jobs is high and i find the things I learned paying off daily.

Ive been towing cars for almost seven years but only when the work load of the shops would allow it. I seem to really like the towing business its challenging interesting sometimes easy I get tips I never get tips from car work and its funny to have customers so happy to see me never the case at the shop. Reality is I make more money physically working on cars but I can take a job or not now I work my own hours. Well ok i work a lot of hours but someday I will not take as many of the jobs as I do now. I find that even after a few long weeks towing or recovery work that I am not mentally frazzled like I am when I work a full week in the shop. Not all the same mental stress. 

Good luck be safe

See you in the ditch 

Not a lot of tow providers here go and do some of the winch outs and recoveries I do last night I think I hit my what should be my limits. I did learn a few things that will make things easier for me in other recoveries. For sure if this type of work continues to be the norm any way, 
 

i estimate I winched this car about a mile and a quarter. Four hours of dragging winch rope and moving the truck up the hill. Chained the wrecker up all four corners finally drug out all my chains and bought myself some room from the car. I used two snatch blocks off of some shrubbery to help get me get the car around two of the corners and turned the car around at some point so it was pointed forwards had to do this on one of the corners where there was less of a chance of it sliding into the drainage ditch or off the very steep bank on the downhill side of the road. I think that was the hardest part because there just wasn’t room to turn it around down in the steep area. Yeh the steep part is far beyond the end of that picture. 

if you look at the small reflectors way down there that was about the 3/4 mark there were two tight corners beyond that. The roads name Horseshoe bend road after i got out of the canyon I had seven miles of dirt not gravel road till I hit pavement. Truck’s getting washed today. I underbid this a little even though I thought I had overbid it. And I am about the money. I still made money but it was something else when I got there. I knew I could get my truck out so I made the decision to try. Four months ago I was a lazy roll back operator that didn’t take any risks. Last month I seem to be finding new limits to what I will do. I have lost eight pounds since the first snow fell. Had this stupid thought when I finally hit the highway maybe i should get a heavy wrecker drop calls like this and start unsticking semis from the highway. I need to kill that thought fast;) I think if I had two 4wd wreckers after getting past the first two corners I could have hooked the trucks together put a driver in each and put the car on the wheel lift and gotten out but there wasn’t enough traction with the car loaded to get in motion with out sliding off the road most of it the wrecker barely got up on its own. I can tell you the back up camera and 11” display I paid a hefty price for continues to be worth every cent 

you will have to expand this picture look way down the road for the reflectors there were still two nasty corners beyond that where the car I pulled out finally got stuck. The car was a Chevy equinox front wheel drive. Gotta ask yourself what people are thinking. 

One of a few of my nicknames is subtle Andy Miller of which I am not in the least. 

i find myself yelling at cars that get to close to me when I’m loading a vehicle. I had to laugh a little tonight im loading a car that’s got my bed on the white line and I had to operate in the lane of traffic a bit. Ive got eight traffic cones out two flashlights on my head one forward one backwards and my intense LED Lenser twin bulb on strobe in my hand and im making sure I’m being seen but a few made no effort to slow down or move over. I know yelling at them they can’t hear or see my lips move in the dark but I guess it makes me feel better. I’m I alone or do others yell at cars that can’t hear you as well.

Lots of people to help you here I’m new to the sport as well, over six years towing but I just recently become serious about it so I’m pretty green as well. 
 

talk your boss into paying for a wreckmaster class best thing I’ve done for myself in many years. 

I have a steel chevron roll back F550 4wd 6.7 diesel. Its handles most light trucks ok ish. But being a steel deck diesel and 4x4 it’s heavy empty full of fuel chains myself it’s 15,500 empty I struggle with crew cab long wheel base one tons in length and weight and if the trucks got any extension on the front bumper it all gets tricky fast. If my deck was six inches longer  ( yep I put that in writing)  the actual loading would be better but the weight distribution still would be an issue. 
 

a one ton crew cab LWB that isnt winched literally as far forward as the headache rack is unstable and the load shift can leave you with poor steering and braking. I live in the mountains with steep grades and lots of hairpin corners it also seems like these tows are usually in the worst places possible as well. 
 

however short of a vehicle in this length weight configuration I really love this truck. I scrap about twenty cars a year maybe more I drag them on the deck with no wheels or missing suspension components without concerns which I would not do on an aluminum deck. 
 

in reality the perfect truck for me would be an aluminum 20 foot  deck without the wheel lift in a lariet package. The aluminum deck and lack of wheel lift should buy me the weight loss needed to have a one ton dually with camper on it and be safe enough to get it out if the mountain on gravel roads. I have  a dealer trying to put one together for me right now but it seems to be fictional for now. 
 

i will tell you I’ve hauled three one ton LWB crew cab diesel 4x4s in the worst possible weather this winter one was from the ski area as high up and crappy roads as we ever get ran with chains for 80 miles took them off and wished I’d left them on total sheet of ice after we got out of the falling snow. And when I wrapped up that tow I felt like Tarzan beating his chest. But my confidence level in what I can or can’t do with my truck is pretty good.

i have only used the wheel lift on one paying job and I stopped hauling two scrap cars at once after seeing another scrap guys rear car on fire I stopped and put it out even. Just no reason to take that risk. But loosing that weight off the very rear increases the payload a lot I also now have a wrecker so I have options if a wheel lift is preferred I also don’t do auction tows. Another tow guy I know told me he hates there aluminum deck roll backs prefers there steel decks but I can’t speak to that either way. I’ve hauled a couple sprinter vans but nothing extended and geared out I would like to load one and see how they play out but to date every call I’ve had on one I was to far out time wise to land the job. 
 

in short if the biggest thing you plan to tow is an unloaded LWB one ton get a steel deck with a 20 foot bed. If you may exceed that go with the aluminum. If you want to haul longer heavier loads Im thinking you’ll have to sacrifice the 4x4  myself I just use the 4x4 to much to even think about it. 
 

While I haven’t found my blinking light solution I have had an opportunity to test a few safety cone procedures.  I Kind of specialize in after hour work. Mountain areas crappy blind corners , I like being alive. I stared with those folding plastic reflectors then bought four hi vis cones and then another four now I have 20 for two trucks and a service vehicle and I may add some more. 
 

the last few weeks I had three really good test tows. I put out eight cones in an arch meaning none of them blocked another ones visible exposure to oncoming cars. Two of these tows were in high traffic spots where my truck is on the white line. I have a led lenser blinking light that I also use to warn people along with a light pointing forward and backwards on my head. 
 

the results were immediate. I watched vehicles moving over way back from me and the second I started retrieving them and there was less than five out drivers got closer and closer to me. One tow was on a two way narrow road on a blind corner and I’ve been in this exact spot before with three reflectors with eight cones out people came around that corner below forty mph. Both directions were slowing down. In case that helps any one justify carrying more cones than they are. 

Been a mix of snow freezing rain and ice for a week now. Looked at the ten day forecast and it looks like more to come. We have had the stunt drivers out  practicing for a show I must not have herd about a couple tree huggers and one ice drifter in a wrx sti that found out his street tires really drift a lot. Not to mention the ones headed to grandmas house in vehicles that are not mechanically put together for a road trip. 
 

i was making invoices last night first night I’ve been home before 8 since last Monday when I thought Santa needs better Towing insurance or he ain’t gonna have any money to make presents next year, least not if I can help it. Don’t take that the wrong way;) 

Gives me warm fuzzies all over. I’d like to see the invoice on that one;) 

I’m struggling to prevent wheel damage with tie downs. Some wheels just stick out to far from the tire to prevent contact between the strap and wheels. 
 

its worse with wider cars my roll back deck is 8’3” wide seems to me more outward angle I can get the more clearance I can get. 
 

 The problem is compounded by other factors a lot of my tows are off gravel driveways or roads my straps always have grit in them I clean them from time to time but it’s a moot point it rains a lot here theres dust and grit in them a lot of my tows are sixty plus miles with the start location being running through some winding mountain road so theres movement and often load shift. Mind you I’m ADD anal retentive and am not just half ass strapping cars down and going.

towed a car this week with expensive wheels that stuck out From the tires slightly spent a ton of time getting the straps positioned with as much clearance as possible only to find a married spot on one wheel when I got there. It was minor and probably never to be found but seeing this after really spending to much time getting this car loaded with clearance was aggravating 

One thought I have is if a longer or shorter cross strap the one with the loop ends would gain me more clearance if there sold in different lengths even? But I really doubt this is going to help. 

 

Hopefully I’m just doing something wrong and there’s an easy solution. 

Interesting post for me. We have a GMC Canyon shop truck service calls stuff like that. Never really thought about putting a winch on it but here in the sticks it might be quite useful even important on some recovery jobs that would work in combination with the wrecker. 
 

chained up on all four corners this truck will go up some nasty driveways a lot easier than an F550 for sure. 

Looks like a “ hold my beer “ moment only a little to late