EdsTowing

One I had Saturday night...car hit a bear near the shop... Couldn't find the bear...I would assume he's hurtin though... Talked to them today and she's arguing why it's totaled? Says it's only the air bags... So I find out that she doesn't have any insurance. I said ok then you can pay the charges and give us the title in leu of storage to which she tells me she aint got no title, the car is financed!...Lovely... We get 2 or 3 of these a month and it gets pretty frustrating. Looked for the bear to see if he had liability but struck out on that too...

Yea that cracked me up... I looked at the car today to get the info off of it and saw it has bald ass tires on the rear....I would guess that was a factor when he came around the turn in the rain? And after looking at the 4 slide marks in the grass, I think he went in to that wire and it may have helped flip him up & over...kind of like a catapult.

Thanks for the explanation. Please understand that I meant no negativity towards your company because quite frankly I have no idea of what/how you get paid. My concerns are more about what the clubs have been doing to this industry. We stopped all contract work about 5 or 6 years ago and concentrate on the highest margin work but I realize that not every company has the same demographics, scope or abilities that we have. There is definitely value in what you guys do. My son & I often discussed how it was a full time job to monitor the payments & shortages. Whether intentional or not...it adversely effects your bottom line profoundly. We just took a different solution to the problem.... 😉 Good luck with it though.

Dam...thank God he's alive.

One of the crashes from the weekend...we had a hard rain come down for 15 min and this guy hydroplaned off the road. The car flipped on it's side in to the woods... The phone cable was hanging low from a previous pole hit we had here a few weeks back. Fortunately it had a lot of span and we could move it around some... One of my guys was on scene and told us it was an AWD SUV so we came with the rollback as well Pulled it under the wire & loaded for transport... Family wasn't from around here and his wife & daughter went in the ambulance to get checked out. I gave him a ride to the hospital once we unloaded it.

This road used to be a "Hot Spot" for us but we haven't done a truck on it in a few years. It's a 10 ton weight limit, clearly marked NO TRUCKS on both sides of the road but that doesn't stop these GPS Rambo's... Bent the slider subframe & pushed the axle back... I was going to call my buddy that just got a new dolly the other day to transport it but I didn't want to bother anyone at 1:00 in the morning. Assorted brake chamber & suspension damage... Had to back out quite a ways, then backed up to the unit.... I lifted the trailer off of the guard rail, removed everything out from under it and shuffled it over away from the bridge railing. Then I plugged the brake lines to the damaged chambers and pinched off the front air bag so I could drive it out... It's a few hundred "windy" yards to back it out of here. I asked the guy if he was a good "backer upper" and to tell me the truth... he said no he wasn't which I would rather he tell me then piss me off trying to get out. I handed him a flash light and said for him to walk behind me so I can see the edge of the road. Had to slide the trailer 2 more times to get it back & turned around. Then we escorted him out of the Fish & Game commission the 2 miles to the cold storage facility he was delivering to. Once unloaded, we went back up to single out the axle so he could get it home.

What's up with those spades?...Do you need an app on your phone to work them?

With all do respect, I can't imagine giving up a piece of the small pie received from motor club work for additional administration costs. It makes no difference to me and I don't do any contracted service anymore but the clubs are typically 50-70% below retail and with rising costs, I can't see how anyone stays with that business plan. But hey, I hope it works out for you.

We base most everything on hourly. For local stuff, it's menu priced (based on hourly) for common areas or strait up local tows. Light duty long distance we figure hook & mileage but always consider the hourly rate as well. For us, I can do a 100 mile tow to Binghamton NY (up-state) or 100 mile to Manhattan NY.... Binghamton will turn in 3.5-4 hrs. , Going to the city will be 5.5/6 to 10 hrs depending on what time, weather, construction, car with flat tire on the Cross Bronx....so many factors can kill the profit of the call. So now...we pretty much won't go to the city unless we are making $1200....didn't leave anything there, don't see any reason to go back...LoL

Think they will total it?.... 😁

We said good buy to our mini excavator yesterday...it was a great machine for us. We replaced it with a little bit larger machine, an E42 Bobcat... This unit is about 3000lbs heavier and should better suite our needs.

Andy this isn't really a cost savings. It was more a matter of the times we live in. Jerr-Dan Corp had like 1500 Fords on order and the manufacturer told them they were going to receive like 58 for the 23 model year.... I didn't want to take my chances with that. Also, this is far from an "A Typical" spec for a wrecker chassis, I don't know many dealers that would order a chassis like this on speculation. We were told that Ford was going to serve their dealer network 1st compared to the mass wholesalers. In the end, that appeared true on this chassis considering it was 10 weeks from order to delivery...the F600 I just got we waited over a year for. In this case, I'm really not building it myself, I'm more like the general contractor... We are having the wrecker dealer do the install of the unit. We are doing the suspension upgrade in house and we will do a lot of the custom work. This allows us to have a little more control over the build process and elevate the "settling" factor with buying a prebuilt unit over a specific build. The negative is that I have to pay for the truck and can't use it for 3 months or so. Also a dealer doesn't want to sell incomplete chassis outright because it can be difficult with Title issues and financing. These are issues that you need to work through. As for abilities, the specs of this unit are very similar to the truck it is replacing. I will assume it's going to perform the same. Each truck you build has it's own characteristics and it's always a "give & take". I believe this combination will be a very capable unit that will fit my needs and exceed most of the standard trucks on the market. The other side of that "coin" is I am predicting that we will be in to this unit for $200 grand till I'm done...THAT is ridiculous for a LD Wrecker...

You answered it...the F600 is only available in a regular cab. This will be my son's personal truck and we need extended cabs. I have another 600 in the works getting a MPL60 for myself because I will need the higher GVW with what we are building.

It's always nice when you can do a "For Two" job... Couple of Uhauls coming in for repairs. Crash Eddie did the other day...

Our new chassis came in yesterday. This is going to be a cool build with a lot of custom stuff... Its a 2023 F550, Lariat, Ext Cab, 4wd, 6.7 Pwr. Stroke & 10 spd... with just about every available option... This unit will replace our 2019 F550/Chevron truck which will be available for sale this summer. Just a sneak peak but I will document the build over the next few months.

Got all of the electronics installed the other day (2 way radio, ect...) Got a big order supposed to be in from Zipp's tomorrow to finish up the boxes & equipment mounting...then I'm done. We have been using it somewhat regularly and it works nice. It handles weight nice...no drama.

This was a Brush Truck that was towed in for a transmission problem... We replaced a Transmission Control Module and she was back in business...

We have been doing the work for our Transit Authority for nearly 25 years now... Share Ride bus for a break down... Transit Bus for an overheating issue.

We were just talking here and today our new plates showed up.... Started getting concerned, we did the paper work for this last August or September....

No it's primarily for the cab...painted surfaces. They did the body sides as well. We have had them do wheels as well on natural aluminum but this truck has coated wheels so they didn't.

I have heard about this recently....PSP must of had a "memo"... I know guys over the years that had this issue come up. I believe the fine was twice the registration fee, which on a F550 is probably around $1500. I believe the actual requirement is that it has to be a registered, titled motor vehicle. I think if they want to, they can go against any piece of machinery? We typically only move our own machinery but even that is probably fair game for them. I have seen guys have issues with sheds & tool box's and what not. Personally, we only do that kind of stuff typically "in town" but that's not a exemption. Brian may have more clarity on the matter though?

We just had the truck Ceramic Coated this week.... We have done a number of our trucks & equipment and liked the results. It makes it real easy to clean, most of the time just blast it with the soap gun and blow it off. Whatever we can do to preserve the appearance should benefit on the other end when this unit gets replaced.

We have one in all the trucks for blowing speedy dry off. They sent me an adaptor kit with a strap that will work with multiple brands. It inflates the bag in 10 seconds or so...then you just leave it on till you drop the car.

If anything you found a future problem with the truck...being the oil is wicking up the shaft splines & accumulating in the yoke. It's a good possibility that the pinion nut is loose.

Yea no disrespect to the Ram but the refinement, the ride, the infotainment system are superior in the Super Duty. The Cummins ran good and they get a lot of "hype" but it wasn't better then this 6.7 & 10 spd combination. This truck pulls really good, and smooth. From a personal aspect, I fit better and more comfortable in the seating position on the Ford. That Ram reported every flaw in the road surface back through the steering wheel. You had to make sure your coffee cup lid was closed tight or it would be all over the cup holder... The electronics in the cab are far more user friendly & practical in the Fords. But hey...now I know...and I got 2 more Fords coming...LoL