Posted by Tug on Wednesday, January 14, 2004 at 11:15PM :
First of all, thanks to Eric, Tom, Don,Vaughn, and the other who have
offered advice on repairing the spindle on my Townie. I hope to look at it
in the daylight on Friday.
I do have a question concerning towing a Power Wagon.
When I called my roadside assistance providers, they dispatched a "standard"
tow truck that had two hydraulic controlled "pincers" for grabbing the front
wheels. The guy took one look at Bear and announced that he could not tow
Bear because of the cock-eyed front wheel. I thought if we could jack the
wheel off the ground and reposition it, it could be towed. He did not have a
jack and was not interested in any extra work. I do not know how they do it
in the Middle East, but I was a little disappointed that he was so quick to
back away from a slightly non-standard two. I only needed Bear towed 5
blocks through a residential area.
I called roadside assistance again and asked if they had any of the old
style sling tow trucks. They said that those do not exist anymore and it was
either the "standard" tow truck or a tilting flatbed. I said fine, send the
flatbed. In the meantime, I had my son bring out the 3 ton jack and I
straightened the wheel out.
I was relieved to see a big flatbed show up and a 50 year old man with a few
tattoos' and a couple of missing teeth climbing out of the cab. Now here is
a guy that I can relate to. He looked at it and said that he was willing to
work with me if I initial a note in his log releasing him from any damages
to the truck. Fine, I could live with that. First I tried to drive the truck
5 feet to get a better angle for the attempt. The wheel tilted out at 45
degrees and we new the rest of the distance would be jacks and winches. He
allowed me to jack it up under the spring perch and we winched it up on the
flatbed with the jack holding the tire off the ground. This involved me
being up on the flatbed during the winching to guide the jack. After the
truck was taken to my house, the process was reversed and Bear was home. I
gave the guy a $30 tip for bringing Bear home because he could have refused
for a number of obvious reasons. He talked about the old Dodge that he had
at one time and I think he didn't want Bear to be left in that alley anymore
than I did.
So here is the question. Not all of us break down in places where we have
access to a friend's low trailer with a winch. Has anyone else had any grief
dealing with the "professional" tow trucks when a tow is needed on old iron.
Has a flatbed ever turned you down because of size or weight?
Best Wishes
Lonnie
Follow Ups: