EdsTowing

Ron that is nearly exactly what we ordered! Towmate I believe is building it, goes all white for scene lighting & plowing but then amber strobe for emergency. They put the 2-way radio in it yesterday.

Yea it got a little "challenging" in April & May but we are fortunate that we do a lot of commercial work in our shops since they were all "essential" and kept us going...but we were down 35% or more. Got a lot of projects done which was good but it's difficult to spend money doing them when there isn't much coming in... 

Put the side boards on this morning.

Last winter we got a call to remove 2 old trucks from a property that was being sold. My guys pulled a Chevy van & a GMC pick up out of the weeds & brought them in. After inspecting them, I told the owner that there wasn't much there to work with and there would be substantial costs to repair them. I ended up buying them for a couple hundred bucks. We decided to make something out of the truck to flip it but it turned in to something much more complex...

The bed was terrible so it was removed only to find the chassis had seen better days. Typical GM crossmember damage on the frame. We media blasted the chassis & installed/fabricated new structure pieces & crossmembers. 

The cab got new front sheet metal and we welded in new inner & outer rocker panels on both sides. We do a couple of these type cab repairs a month...

Now since this was a dually pick up, the frame is wider then the cab & chassis 34' so i made a custom sub frame that mounted to the existing bed mounts and allowed a standard body to be attached... 

Then the truck got a new paint job...

We built a hitch plate & tied it in to the chassis for structural support. The hoist sub frame assembly were installed while we waited for a custom body to come in...

Finally the body came in. We had it made a little shorter then normal due to the shorter "cab to axle" & very little overhang on this chassis...

Once installed & hooked up, it was back in for a new front suspension that was completely adjustable in order to get our height up. We had custom 19.5 wheels made to accommodate taller, heavier rubber. Also installed stainless tool boxes and full fenders to fill in some of the "void" under the bed...

All new LED lighting, and accessories to round it out...

In the middle between A-Z, we also installed a new transmission, transfer case, full brake system, went through the motor with all new cooling system, accessories & electronics. Then it was sent out for a wrap to top it off...

We have a custom light bar being built, all new emergency lighting and a new Fisher V Plow coming in for it. I had a couple of Ash side boards refinished for the body and then I think we are done!

This project was used through the last 11 months as fill in work , especially during the 1st few months of Covid to keep guys busy. I wouldn't lay anyone off... But in the end, it goes down the road nice and I'm sure it will work well for our Property Damage clean up jobs as well as maintenance for our property company & what not. It was a lot of coin to put in to a 15 year old truck but it can earn when necessary and sit quietly in the shop for free when not needed! Not sure how you guys feel but In uncertain times, I don't need another payment...

In my opinion, you have to control the discount work to a minimum of your total volume. I originally took it thinking that it would be "fill in" work to keep guys moving while waiting for Police & retail jobs. The problem is if you're contracted with AAA, it is typically overwhelming. In our situation, it became 85% of our towing volume (labor or work)...but 25% of our gross revenue (rewards for labor). Another thing I learned, some companies keep it as low priority work since the money is soft. So in turn they don't priority the calls. In the towing business, that typically means long ETA's. I also believe in the business philosophy of "Good, Cheap, Fast...You Can Only Pick Two". But here's the kicker... when it comes to customer service, low priority reflects on you...NOT the club. So I feel that you shouldn't give poor service due to poor wages. It's better to just not do the work at all. Just something to think about.

My last contracted year we did nearly $300,000 with our club....and I was bleeding money. It's a hard pill to swallow but in the end it was a vital decision to the survival of my company...

I believe it's a 73'? Only year with the Euro front bumper & chrome rear bumper.

On 9/25/2020 at 8:20 PM, Stubborn66 said:

I watched a couple of you tube videos where the guys used these spring slippers, (with the pins in) and only added safety chains. 

Yea...Don't do that. I have an insurance claim that did $56,000 worth of damage to a truck from an employee doing that..... It was probably his YouTube video...LoL

So in my opinion...which doesn't matter..., I see a vehicle that "pussed" out fluids. It's on the ground and the tires have tracked through it. Probably has $10,000 - 12,000 in damage but most likely fixable. Now I know Eric doesn't have a LD Wrecker but regardless, that is pretty dam low...like 72"-78". So unless you do this type of work all the time (which I know he doesn't), not many would have a unit to fit in such a tight space. I'm not sure if my skid steer would fit in there but otherwise I would have to use one of the shop trucks & drag it out. I wouldn't start it since the rad & support are obviously back since it missed the bumper support. Sometimes I have cut the belt as long as the crank balancer isn't in to anything. But anyway, two guys & a machine are certainly justified. My crash van would be there so whatever I need is handy...we bill it out on nearly all accidents. And yes the machine has to get there somehow, we charge $150hr x (?) hr. min for moving our Skid Steer or Mini Excavator.

In my market, this job would be a couple grand and would have no problem getting paid.

Let me say one thing that I learned from a guy in Massachusetts.... Don't minimize the tasks that you accomplish. Many times, guys in our industry are used to solving problems and under estimate the value of what they can do. I'm not trying to be offensive but I have met plenty of guys that were downright brilliant but never able to fully transmit that to their bottom line. That claims handler doesn't have a clue on how to solve this issue....he's only told to say what he says. Just take good photos, document the procedure and write the accident summary to depict just how smart this solution was!

Of course that's just my opinion...I could be wrong.

A couple jobs my guy sent me over the last few days...

72 Grand prix...

Porsche back to our facility for repairs...

Ford Falcon back to a customer's home from a local shop

Yea I heard this a little while ago....He fought the fight, that's for sure. Godspeed buddy.

That came out nice! You need to make a bracket for the sling to rest on, Jerr-Dan should have done it from new. The sling bolts will tear up the aluminum from bouncing on it. Does it have the right side tool box on the bed?

All on one invoice, in the grand scheme of things it shouldn't be a problem. It all falls under property damage liability right? I would think the invoice would be in the $4500 + your storage range...just a guess since I wasn't there. Stick to your rates and charge for everything you did. 

Good work.

The 2 sets of forks & I would get a set of spring slippers....it will do a lot on them since the wheel lift is retracted. I wouldn't bother with chain forks, it will always do it's best on the sling at that point.

My back hurts just looking at all these...LoL

Nice work "getting it done"

Truck really shined on that one!

1 hour ago, GRUMPS The Towman said:

It always seems to be mustangs that get wrecked right off the lot.

Some years ago when the latest generation of Shelby 350's came out, we had one get destroyed w/ 200 miles on it...2nd day he owned it. Paid like $75,000 for a car that had a MSRP for like $40 grand....Crashed through a bridge railing, rolled over & landed upside down in the creek....total junk. Unfortunately the camera chip got lost cause it would of made for some great pics...

One of my guys towed this tonight to help another tower....

Never saw a body like this. Shows they are out of Ohio and the company moves all kind of freight in them...even shows transporting a car!

Yep she's all done....

Oh and I forgot to add, One of the training scenarios we set up last year for one of our Fire Companies turned out to be a good practice run. It seemed a little odd but you never know....

Not sure if I ever posted this set of training picks...

Every now and then, a real "Holly Sh_t" job comes along...and this was one. Came in Sunday am as a "car in the woods, oh and on a guide wire for a pole"... I called Eddie and he said he was going to head with a wrecker in case it was caught up in a wire...

Sent me a picture when he got on scene and I just chuckled...Not what I had in my mind...LoL So I headed up with a rollback to help him with the mess...

Yea it's in there...but it started a bit further back...

This is where he 1st hit the guard rail and pushed it over for 40 some feet, then hit the opposite rail on the other side of the driveway, and catapulted through the air, in to the poll!

Accessed it through a property owners driveway and pulled it to get access with the rollback It was tight getting in but loaded the car & cleaned a pretty big debris field...

This Beamer is all done...Now for the real challenge...getting paid for all this!

Nice work guys.

Picked this bad boy up in the woods for a friend and brought it to our shop. They are heavy little buggers... 

It was "Rear Tow Friendly" at least...

It's a great unit and very stout. We have towed a lot with ours...actually more then we should of. It's wheel lift rating is @ extension as well.... on the right chassis it will do a lot.

I swung a 53' Werner trailer w/ 23k in the box off of a bridge railing once...At extension! LoL  Protect your lines and it's a beast.

Post some pics...

24 minutes ago, mooresbp said:

Pickup drive away? Looks like a new one

 

Nice work

Yea of course...the 2020 drives away and I get the 08 Nissan....LoL

Two deer came out in the road so a guy stopped his pick up truck...but the Nissan didn't! The car struck the rear of the truck with enough force to flip it on it's roof...

Car had front & rear suspension damage so we put it on the rollback...

Customer took this last shot, (he was stuck in the traffic) and sent it to us...