Recovery class up in cheese country.

this past week i was

Fortunate enough to attend a training class up in Pewaukee Wis. Who�d of thunk that those cheese heads actually know how to tow, (just kidding) no, but seriously- the bears are going to kick the packers butts. Anyway- I have been to many training classes in my career and this was one of the best. I had a lot of fun and I really learned a lot. Honestly my only complaint was that it wasn�t longer and they tried to cram a lot in a short time. This class was done by a group of towers that got together to teach others what they know. In the first � of the day, we learned in a classroom and the second 1/2, we had some hands on demonstrations. Mike DeHaan, was the lead instructor and facilitator. The Classroom took place in the Waukesha County Technical College. This was a very nice facility. And they have a large open field in the rear of the school for fire and police training and a Truck driving school. Perfect place to rollover a truck or two. In the classroom portion of the day we were instructed by Bob Young and we all became certified in Highway watch- a very important watch group that keeps an eye on suspicious activity and more specifically terrorism. Mr. DeHaan had a section on laws and rules that pertain to the towing industry and more specifically, how they apply in Wisconsin. Tony Lundin and I were from Illinois and there was 1 other person from Iowa, everyone else was from Wisconsin. Dave Whealon had a portion of the classroom time to go over safety, chains, brakes, equipment, ect. I have to say, Mr. Whealon's portion of the class was not as exiting as the action recoveries, but he was by far the one I learned the most from. He also had the job of teaching the techniques used everyday. This guy knows his stuff and he is one of the best. After his portion of the classroom, we broke for lunch and then went out to the field. We split up into groups (3 or 4) and we had stations set up with each recovery situation. The instructor of each demo showed us the key points and went over hook ups, things to watch for, dangers, ect. After each group went around to each demo, we went around again as 1 large group and we actually preformed the recovery.

The instructors and demos were as follows:

1) The towing preparation and road service- Dave Whealon � Whealon Towing from Fond du lac, wis

 

2) Light Duty Recovery and proper loading - Tim and Todd Menzel, Prairieland Service Center, Sun Prairie Wis and Steve Davis, Davis Citgo Service, Janesville ( this was the only demo I missed because I was busy talking towing with some other owners.)

 

3) Collapsed Trailer - Jeff Roskopf, Roskopf's Service & Towing, Menomonee Falls and  Gregg Gessler, Gessler Automotive, Lannon

 

4) leaning trailer - Aaron Richard, Guy�s Truck & Tractor Service, Kieler

5) Rollover - Craig Goldbeck, Goldbeck Towing Service, LaCrosse

 

6) jackknife - Rick Leonard, Floyd & Sons, Inc., Racine and  Ken Weber, Ken Weber Truck Service, Pewaukee

 

7) mixer pull- primarily Aaron Richard, Guy�s Truck & Tractor Service, Kieler but everyone was involved.

 

I cant wait until the next one, this was fun and a great learning experiance.

collapsed trailer legs

this was a great demo of a trailer that lost its legs.







note the angle iron. they lifted from behind the 5th wheel so when it is lifted, a tractor can back under it.

trailer leaning

this was a demo of a TT that took a turn too close to the edge of the road and it is leaning severly. they opted to lift the trailer and extend the boom and set the trailer on flat ground. this wrecker is very cool. if anyone wants to see more pics of this truck- e-mail me at towrecovery@aol.com and i will post them.



look carefully- they have the chains in 2 places to show different options for hooking up.









personaly i do not like side pulling using a d-ring in this position, it can twist the slide rails, HOWEVER: if you do use the rails as a pull point- please use the rails as close to the rear as possable- that is where it is welded to the trailer and it is stronger there.



oops...

Jackknife

this is a demo of a jackknife- this is somewhat difficult to describe in pictures, but they were demonstrating 2 seperate sonarios with the 2 trucks. i will identify each sonario with the color truck used. the black truck was used to show how you might hook up to the trailer if it were leaning badly and it needed to be suported as the unit was being recovered. the red rotator is showing just a general recovery of a jackknife.







take note of how this side pull is hooked up. this is the proper way and the proper attatchment point. very nice!





this is Ken Weber- the instructor of this demo.

general road service

these pics are of general road service tips and towing guidlines.

this first pic is of a axel and they were pointing out things like how to drop a drive shaft and pull axels and caging brakes.

they borrowed a new Pete tractor and used it as a demo about proper hook up.

this is a briliant move. i dont know why i did not think of it b4. use a strap instead of heavy chain. granted it will not work on everything and its not always a good idea to hook safety chains to the boom. but i am always for using light weight straps insted of lugging chain around. adapt the strap to your individual needs. 

these are examples of proper chaining of axels to the under reach



always tie farrings on rear tows.

although there are many who say that closing off the exaust pipe is not nessessary, i always lean on the side of caution. it cant hurt to tie it off and it could save you from any apperence of improper towing, for example- what if the week after a tow- the turbo goes out and even if its not your fault- someone could give you a headach arguing with you.

Car in the ditch

this was a demo of one way to recover a car in the ditch. i do not have final recovery pictures because i recorded it on video- i can e-mail it to you if you e-mail me at towrecovery@aol.com 

rollover

this was a demo of a rollover semi. most of the pics are self explanitory. they used Floyds as the catch vehical and they used 2 heavies on the front.





trailer tandums

front tractor axel. note that they are pulling from the frame and it is only wraped around the axel- i still take issue with this method- it is not a high pull and it only pulls the tractor so far and then it works ageinst you- but - ........... well........ it worked

this is a nice method. they ran a chain to the trailer frame and up to a block of wood oon the tires. this is a very high pull point  NOTE: this is only good for empty trailers or as a secondary hook point on a loaded trailer.