2nd attempt at delivery failed

[Stubborn66]

I got a call Saturday night for a stuck delivery van on a private road going up the side of a mountain to three homes.  There are two switch backs to this road to lessen the grade.  The driver did not make it to the first switch back.  I was able to back up the hill to get to him without chaining up. Took a little to get the wrecker to sit still but I was able to spin him around so he was able to drive right out.  As usual, I forgot to take pictures.

 

Sunday afternoon, just before dark, I got called to go back to the same road to get another van that had gotten stuck on the same road.  This guy made up to the second switch back and got stuck on the turn, slid down off the side of the road.  By the time I got there it was well after dark, this time I took a helper, Cinders, and Salt.  On the way there I got a call from the customer who told me the driver abandoned the vehicle and the keys were to be on the seat, thankfully they were when I finally got to it.

 

This time, I could not see anything from the road so we hoofed it up road on foot to see what we were up against, had to be over a half mile to it.  The 34 year old kid was huffing and puffing harder than I was!!  After the first switch back, the road got narrower and there was no way I was going to back up to it.  Chained up the wrecker and on the fourth attempt I was able to get up hill of the van.  I was just about ready to call the shop and get the plow sent out to me.

 

Once I got there, had the helper get out and get some cinders down so the truck would sit still.  Once we got to that point I still could not winch anything or I would have slide the wrecker.  Ended up running the boom high and strung a cable off the right side out to a tree up hill about 100 feet to hold the wrecker in place.  Then we were able to work on getting the van back on the road.  After we got the back end slide over, I remembered pictures so I had my helper take a few.  They don't really show how steep it was and in one of them you can make out the line I ran out ahead of me to hole the truck in place.  We had to back both units out the whole way.

 

All said and done it was a good job.

[GRUMPS The Towman]

Nice work. Sounds like your area has a lot of similarities to mine. Steep hills, narrow, dirt road switch backs, heavy snows and hoards of dumb ass delivery drivers..

[Stubborn66]

The driver apparently quit and got a ride home from there.  The owner came out with another driver totally frustrated.  The other driver he brought to drive the van said that they should just wait at the mailboxes and call the people to come and get the packages, which sounds good BUT, if they did that they would not get half as many stops in a day and they cant get enough help as it is and they are paying pretty good.

 

I don't know what the answer is but I still cant believe he got that far up.

 

Got a club call on the way in so it was a good day.

 

Stay Safe

[GRUMPS The Towman]

What the local Ups and Fed Ex drivers do here is hire part time "package runners" during the holidays. Usually young, healthy college kids to run the packages up to the houses from the main roads. Driver and van stays put on terra-firma and gets thew next package pulled while the runner makes the delivery. then off to the next house. most are still dumb enough to try and bull doze into the snow banks on the edge of the road and get stuck anyway so It hasnt really hurt my business with them. I just dont have to go chasing them up the steep hillside roads as much. lol

I dont know what your thoughts or experiences are with those Pro-masters but, they are horrendous in the snow in my opinion. 

Edited December 21, 2020 by GRUMPS The Towman

[Stubborn66]

UPS has helpers down here but I haven't seen any on the fed ex trucks around here.

 

The Pro Masters are terrible for traction all the way around from what I have seen of them