Orcas Tow

I agree & have used stands or blocking for the seesaw method in the past but Im nervous doing that method with many of todays frameless vehicles unless it was a total, also a level road on my narrow mountainous road island is a rarity.

Yes, that's similar to what I use now, mine are a bit smaller & works most of the time, Im hoping to find something that works 100% of the time without fail. I had a Volvo wagon wreck the other night on a steep incline that was well off the roadway & had to be recovered to the road. Being a small owner operator I very rarely have backup & very rarely go back for the flatbed after recovery as our island roads are narrow & windy with many blind corners so leaving a wreck in the roadway for any length of time is asking for a secondary accident. The Volvo had flats front & rear with one front lower control arm ripped from the mounts. I picked the front & dollied the back, I spent a few extra minutes trying to keep the cross bar planted when pushing the flat up on the bar, a few minutes extra is too many in our world.

Theres times when you need to load a rig with a flat on dollies, I have a small rubber triangular chock that I set under the rear dolly cross bar, push the flat on top of the rear cross bar, install front cross bar tight then roll the flat in-between the bars, set up dollies & go. Sometimes that rubber chock/dolly bar slides as Im trying to push the flat up on the rear bar. I'm going to fabricate a spike or steel wedge that will bite the road for loading flats on dollies. Something simple, a piece of angle iron with a tab on the top ramp so it prevents the cross bar from sliding & over the angle. Anyone seen one made before? Ill share when Im done & have perfected;)

Planetary = fast line speed, worm = slow line speed but fabled stronger than planetary. Ive had both & now all my hydraulic trucks are planetary. I cant say that I have ever had to leave anything behind with a planetary, Ive had to use snatch blocks now & then but I prefer planetary, nothing like waiting on a slooooow worm gear winch to wind in 100' of wire rope working on a busy roadway.

Aaron Widmar Aaron is unashamed to be a native Clevelander and the proud driver of a Hyundai Veloster Turbo (which recently replaced his 1995 Saturn SC-2). He gleefully utilizes his background in theater, literature, and communication to dramatically recite his own articles to nearby youth. Mr. Widmar happily resides in Dayton, Ohio with his magnificent wife, Vicki, but is often on the road with her exploring new destinations. Aaron has high aspirations for his writing career but often gets distracted pondering the profound nature of the human condition and forgets what he was writing… See more articles by Aaron. Well this explains a lot...should gleefully stick to theater.

Living on an island I try to make the most of the ferry ride to the mainland by taking 2 at a time. I carry In The Ditch dollies with the 4.80 tires in the toolbox pictured, they just barely fit & both fit in one 48" toolbox which I had to search for the right box with the proper inside dimensions & style, dolly cross bars in the tray on top of the boxes. For me they mean a double payday or not if I didn't have them.

All good info. In addition I am lucky to have great support from our local Fire Department & Sheriffs Office for traffic control on our narrow country roads. There has not been a time where one or both agencies have not responded to my request for traffic control or for shutting down one or both lanes. Agreed on the wheel chock, There is one on the passenger side rear of the truck for the standard rollover as it was on a grade, the reverse was on level ground, either way the parking brake & Mico Lock brakes are always set as redundancy in this truck. Nothing like training in private so you don't endanger or make a fool of yourself in public:)

Great Family history, thanks for sharing.

Training today for a standard rollover, discussed truck positioning, moving the vehicle into a position where its good for you after rolled, ie easy to hook & go, straps, securing rigging, working on incline, holding options including wheel chocks, parking brake cable ratchet strap, manually putting transmission in park from linkage at trans, chaining spoked wheels like pictured, high pull for initial lift & low pull point for spiking the low side tires into the ground. A good afternoon.

Training today for a reverse rollover, discussed truck positioning, moving the vehicle into a position where its good for you after rolled, ie easy to hook & go, straps, securing rigging, working on incline, holding options including wheel chocks, parking brake cable ratchet strap, manually putting transmission in park from linkage at trans, chaining spoked wheels like pictured, shock load ie lowering boom once the roll has committed.

How many train for reverse rollover? I see many pulling towards you but rarely see a reverse rollover. When pulling towards you the car may slide towards you if on a slippery surface, a reverse rollover does not have a choice but to roll. There is always a place for both techniques in the "toolbox" as the more options you have the safer, more efficient you can operate but if you ever have tried to roll a car off its lid towards you on an ice roadway you will appreciate the reverse rollover.

If you are on a hill & you need 100% guarantee that it will not roll away once uprighted in addition to 36" long 4x4's as wheel chocks is with most modern vehicles having spoked wheels is running a chain from a front wheel to a rear that will locking the wheels together.

Thank you Sir, covering my bases & liability, all jobs are billed by the hour so no reason to rush & take chances.

Pretty rare but there is advantages to have all recovery techniques to be in the "Toolbox" as it broadens your recovery options. Most recoveries can be done in more that one way, having choices allows you to choose the most efficient, safest, causing no or minimum secondary damage. This one I used a catch line as it was on a steep hill (pictures don't reflect how steep hill was)& I was concerned it may tip over towards me, the passenger rear of the truck was laying on a slight rise, the only way I could access it was from the lower side. It came over under full control.

Thank you Sir.

Looking good, keep the updates coming!

Sounds like my first girlfriends description,

Thanks Ed, not enough load on the trees to warrant using both but it was just as easy to rig to both for good measure;)

Personally I use these soft straps around the lower control arms as said before I don't trust the factory tow eye, you never know what's been done to the eye prior or if the female receptacle has been involved in some kind of trauma in a prior accident & the body shop took a short cut repairing. I had a whole bumper/mounts tear/come disconnected on an import years ago while loading a free rolling Toyota on my deck, luckily to was as the car just approached the deck & it did not roll away wildly, I was using the factory tie down loops. Someone had been there before & done a shoddy job. I like the comfort of a closed /latched securing method.

Its a water spray bar, front & back for watering down job sights & fresh roadways after grading.

I had a call from one of our local excavation companies for a single axle water tanker rollover on a narrow private driveway. I arrived on scene with my 1981 KW W900A with a Holmes 750 to find this truck on its top, driver was ok, tank was empty. I surveyed the scene looking at what was available for Holmes trees on the high side. I set the brakes on casualty, chained front axle to the frame with a 1/2 grade 80 chain, wrapped the drivers front axle with a grade 80 recovery chain, wrapped 2 trees on the high side with continuous loops/snatch blocks. Ran passenger side winch line to tree #1 through 8 ton snatchblock to another snatchblock/chain at drivers side front axle terminating winch line hook at tree #2/continuous loop for 2 line to the load at front axle for roll then winching onto roadway. I ran 1/2" grade 80 recovery chain through holes in outer dual wheel. I ran drivers side winch line from boom sheave to snatchblock/chain then terminated back at drivers side sheave for a high pull for rollover. I set my drivers side outrigger & rear spades for wrecker stability. Both winches were engaged & casualty came upright, once on its wheels I ran a hard chain from wrecker tailboard to casualty so I could reposition my passenger side rigging to a lower position on the casualty to bring the back end back onto the roadway. I winched both ends onto roadway, hooked & towed to companies yard. I dont get to use this old girl as much as I would like but she never lets me down & always gives me an adventure:)

Im an owner...well my Wife is the boss but my names on the door;)

Thank you, its a treat to be in print:)

I put a Miller 350lb counterweight behind the front bumper of my F450, it handles weight great for a short 60 C.A..

Good info, thanks for sharing.