EdsTowing

When they get big, it gets much more challenging with the "eye to the sky" situation.

If I pulled on this scene...I would have a smile on my face...LoL This is a job where the operator can shine and still be quick. A single lane roll & set it on the grids...like you knew what you were doing. I'm not a fan of using the truck to do "work" in this manner. I don't get all twisted by it but I don't see the control while pulling it over. I would prefer being back there watching what was happening. This job could be done without getting in the road...at least that's what it looked like to me. My big issue would be not securing the car prior to the roll which has already been pointed out. About 35 years ago I was doing a rollover on a steep mountain road for the police. Set up both lines, winched it over...and when the car hit the ground, it took off down the hill in a "ark" direction (still hooked). As I jumped over the lines before they decapitated myself, it smacked in to a stone wall. I looked up...and the Officer gave me that "look"....same one I have given many times since to other operators....like "F'n moron"... 😄 Well anyway, it was a lesson learned...won't do that again...

Dam...That must of been a "Jolt"....LoL

So when do I get my check?????

Funny you said that...I have had property owners - the people that own the land where the crash has happened - request that they call us for the job. They live in an area that has a lot of accidents and we took the time to concern ourselves with their land. I have fixed 1 guy's lawn a couple of times...LoL And in all actually, rightfully so right? I mean that's why people have liability insurance, to protect the interests of others that they do property damage to.

Job we did a little while back...Driver looking to see this girl on a road that he had no place being on...and then tried to park off the shoulder. Then to add to the drama...he locked the keys in the truck as well... Rob did the unlock while I got rigged for a simple pull... Easy job which was fine...they don't all have to be a bitch...LoL

Thanks John. I consider guys like Randall & Yourself at the "Top" of your games and value your opinions... and/or criticisms for that matter. And you're right about the embankment...I went down & up it twice and I was ready for 8hrs sleep & a bowl of Wheaties... The headphones really "shined" that day...worth their weight in gold. The pic of Eddie standing on the roof of the car was trying to show Mike where we were at for boom placement! The ability to communicate normally made the situation a lot safer and honestly a lot less dramatic. Nothing like guys "screaming" at each other trying give direction to make the situation seem more hectic... They are expensive for the initial purchase but we charge accordingly for their use and it wasn't even brought up by the claims handler. As for the job, I sincerely think this was the best option. Yes it could be done with less...and cheaper I assume...but I'm not in a "race" to the bottom... If I used my 35 ton, I would have had to close the southbound lanes. Closing a state highway certainly requires a Police presence and adds an "urgency" to the task. I have done over the guard rail jobs with 2 small trucks but it takes some "finesse" as well as the potential of problems that comes with it. There is a Trout Stream that runs down through there that I don't need to disturb or contaminate while I try to save some company a few bucks. And in the end with a properly documented invoice and pictures to substantiate your methods, there was no drama in the best part....The "reward"...LoL

Wonder if Miller makes a Asphalt Paver attachment for my self loader?.....LoL I'm sorry...I know I "go on" about the clean up aspect on jobs but it's not because I like to "brag" or something. I just found it to be a great profit center for our business while complying to the laws of our state. I didn't always have the equipment, I used to rent or make agreements with contractors to get the job done all the time. I didn't make as much of a margin but it gets the ball rolling. The more you do yourself, the bigger piece of the pie you get to keep. I often would hear guys complain that their town regulates the "Towing" rates but I don't recall any regulating what you can charge for a skid steer or other specialty equipment. Some of these regulations are terrible and honestly I wouldn't be interested in the necessary commitment if I had to accept that without any "gravy". But anyway...the irony of it all is that it's typically other towers that complain about the theory more then actual insurance companies....And you know who NEVER complains?...The property owners that were damaged by the incident!

Those can be nice jobs...there's another grand laying on the ground there.... 😉

Yes the police & fire companies help us with traffic all the time. In this case, it was pretty hectic with accidents. One of my drivers actually left this scene to go to anther one a mile away with the officer. My son told the officer that we would block the lane for the short period that we needed and they didn't have to return. With the intersection just a short distance above us, not much traffic in this area and good site lines I wasn't too concerned. Usually the fire dept. would be on scene but they weren't called for this job. It's getting harder for those guys due to a lack of volunteers and this being @ 7am when people are getting to work.

That is a question that needs much more information for anyone to make an educated recommendation. Many individual factors on types of trucks and your target core audience would change my decision. A couple of general things to ponder.... 1) New trucks are great and in theory less likely to fail...until they do. When your ride goes down in a single truck operation...you are literally out of the business. I have had new trucks that spent months at the dealer getting warranty repairs. Flip the coin...and you have used trucks with mileage that can be more prone to emission failures which can be very costly as well as other things. Common issues like injectors can run $5000.... Air Brake trucks go 100,000 mile on brakes - juice brakes go 30-50,000. 2) I have 550's and 26k gvw's in my fleet. What is your target audience? If you plan on doing mostly auto's then the smaller truck is fine. If you are looking towards commercial stuff the the bigger truck can pay off. Yes the 550's can tow a 1 ton dump or plow truck but typically not legally and sometimes not safely. If you plan on doing motor club work then you could use a lesser truck. At that point, look for something that you can run the balls off of for little profit and easily dump when your ready to go under... (read sarcasm)... A lot depends on your area as well? If you are in a farm community then maybe tractors & equipment may be a revenue source and a truck with larger capabilities would be beneficial. Not a big factor in the city though... 3) Again if looking at "club" work, don't buy a 200,000 mi truck to put 50 or 60 thousand miles a year on. It will be junk before you pay it off. Doing primarily local work will limit that and make it not such a factor. Starting off fresh, I wouldn't limit yourself too much because your real revenue cash cow may come from a now unknown source. Being versatile can make things much easier. Good luck with your decision.

We had quite a few crashes this week but this was the most interesting. Customer bought this Infinity Q60 a few days ago and "left the roadway" around 6 in the morning. Took out a mail box and then launched off a rock & boulder embankment behind a guardrail. The car went about 300' through bamboo trees until he hit a few trees of "girth".... He went in at the far left of this photo... Once we looked at the area, it was figured the best course of action would be a Tator recovering it up & over the guardrail. To go back the way it went in was 300' and the more destructive way over the rocks... Luckily he was ok and able to get out of it. He climbed up the 40' embankment to get help. if not I'm pretty confident he wouldn't of been found till winter... We hoisted a box full of straps & rigging down to the scene for rigging... 1st I rigged to the front wheels to spin it around and pull it 30' up so it would center under the boom...lots of trees in the way. Then it was Up and away... Mike dropped it right on the rollback... Packed up our toys and brought it all home... A Thank You to Milewski's Towing in Scranton for the assistance. The job went fast and we were compensated in 3 days....On to the next.

Yea that's the truth. Ours go in spurts sometimes too. But regardless, we have been able to supplement our services substantially doing these jobs.

Our Thoughts & Prayers will be with you guys....

The initial call out was 145hr/2hr min. The rock was off the road so we chose to go out in the AM to finish. The second call was hourly for the machine, the rollback & the Recovery Van, all on 2 hr min. The traffic arrow board gets billed individually at a set fee. All together with the admin fee it came out around 2300 if I recall. This billed under their Property Damage coverage but the repair was covered under a collision policy. As for the "Free gratis service", honestly I would of did the same job weather it had insurance or not. I believe you have to set a precedent of doing the job completely and then work on getting paid. I want the organizations sharing the scene (police/fire) being used to see me do our "thing".... Sometimes I take it on the chin...but usually we do ok. Not saying I am Santa Clause or anything...I'm cautious with obvious POS vehicles but won't leave a mess or any "dirty laundry" for someone to judge me on.

As long as they are heavy enough that I can't lift it...LoL

Had this one a while back where a lady came out of the bar, possibly "altered" slightly...and hit a large boulder in the parking lot. Then the fun started... That was the exit marks...she pushed the rock a little over a mile (through an intersection, over the railroad tracks) and crashed in front of the Army Depot. Apparently it wouldn't go forward anymore but she kept trying... My guys picked her up about another 2 miles down the road where she crashed a 3rd time. Towed it back @ 2:30 am and she got a "Lift" from the officer... We went back in the morning with the Skid Steer & rollback and traffic control... Sign said No Parking but not sure if that counted for the rock? Loaded back up and took it back to the Bar to repair their parking lot... Surprisingly the truck wasn't hurt much. We actually got the body job to repair it as well so all together it was a nice little job for like 5G!

This is coming up to our shop to get the cab & chassis painted I believe next week. There is a new body being fabricated at the factory. I'll update with some pics if Jamie wants to.

Nice ride

Had to tow a loaded gas truck the other day that derated. I smelled propane when I was under it but figured it was residual and it was pouring so I just wanted to get the dam shaft out of it. We went to look at it the next morning & found it lost 15% due to a leak of a seal in the bottom of the tank. They came over and pumped the rest out & then blew off the lines and what not to get it back to atmospheric pressure. It only had 60 miles since it left the dealer so they asked me to tow it back there for warranty DPF issues.... Sometimes you get one that was "made to tow"....LoL. You couldn't ask for an easier rear tow... 50 mile tow back to International yesterday morning.

We are a small company but try to do our best to keep a dedicated staff. My head guy in the shop is with me 20 years this year. He has an attractive pay scale, I cover 100% of his health insurance package and he has a company personal pick up that I supply/maintain/insure. Also do the same program for my Body Shop guy. As for the "daily grind"....I regularly buy the shop breakfast or bagels in the morning. Lunches... Ice Cream or Dunkin' runs through out the week... Numerous parties through out the year & bonus's. Sometimes I'll grab all my employee's keys and fill their gas tanks up at the shop just to show how much I appreciate what they do for me. My business philosophy has always been "you're only as good as your people" and I truly believe that. I have been to some incredible facilities or seen top notch equipment that were operated by total incompetence and proved that you can't just buy professionalism, work ethics or integrity....

What a great project. Best of luck with it.

We unloaded a lift the other day for a tire shop but I guess it was the wrong one. So we reloaded it on the trailer & unloaded the replacement... A little bit of a "pain" with the short boom but we got it in there...

My dad always said "Every Man Must Know His Limitations"...Words that I have used often through my life. The other day I got a call for a Rolloff Truck that blew the rears out. Got on scene and found that it had a 40 yard can on it as well. It was 90 some deg. and I wasn't looking forward to pulling axles so I figured I would try it backwards. The truck wouldn't roll at all...not even freewheel and I found a small junkyard on the ground under the power divider where it grenade'd the housing... After hooking up which was WAY too easy...I stepped back and took a look...not too good. I could see me steer was light. I can tell on my truck when it gets bad - my steering wheel is vertical instead of horizontal....and my wheel was turned like a clock! So I moved it to a better area and dropped it to rehook to the front. Spent over an hour getting the axles out since they were bound up. Aired it up & on my way... One of my guys caught me at he lights... Times like these I wish I had a counter weight...

This is our 25th year in business and as we do every year, we donate a tool box to the VoTech's highest achieving Senior. This year was "sketchy" with Covid restrictions and schools being closed. We were afraid it just wasn't going to happen. But in the end, the instructor Ben was able to put it together at our shop. We couldn't get the box we typically would do because of plants shut down & whatnot but still able to pull it off. This young man is continuing his education at a trade college.