heavy wrecker

most of us frown on trucking companies playing tow truck. i found this on a press release on Kenworths web site: http://www.kenworth.com/6500_arc_pre_mor.asp?file=1123
Christner Trucking Uses Reliable Kenworth W900 Tow Truck To Transport Vehicles Back To The Shop

TULSA, Okla., Sept. 23, 2002 - For a trucking company, breakdowns and accidents are a fact-of-life. Despite all the best efforts, sometimes things happen and a truck and its load will be stranded on the side of the road.

For Christner Trucking, getting a disabled or damaged truck back to its main terminal in Sapulpa, Okla., just outside Tulsa, is strictly an in-house operation. Like a few other trucking fleets, Christner runs its own heavy duty tow truck to transport disabled trucks back to its shop.

What makes Christner�s tow truck unique, however, is that the company�s mechanics built it during their downtime from regular duties using a W900 glider kit from Kenworth and parts salvaged from other trucks.

�We were going to build it for resale, but now we have this brand new 2001 W900 with a Holmes Heavy 55 on it capable of lifting about 120,000 pounds,� says company owner John Christner. �It�s so nice, we decided to keep it. The truck is worth about $175,000 to $180,000.�

Christner, who started his company as an owner operator with one truck in 1986, now runs 425 company trucks and about 75 owner-operator trucks, mostly to the West Coast from his Midwest base. Tyson Foods is one of the fleet�s larger customers and his trucks haul frozen foods to the West Coast and produce on the return trip.

Christner Trucking grew at about 20 percent to 25 percent a year until about two years ago. Now, the annual growth rate is in the 7 percent to 8 percent range.

The company is self-insured for physical damage, �So of course wrecks are returned here,� Christner says. �We can control the quality of work and we have recourse against a vendor if we have problems. We found it better for us to go out and get our damaged truck and bring it home. We tow the tractor home with our tow truck and a driver comes out with a fresh tractor to finish the job.�

In building the tow truck, Christner mechanics �went the whole nine yards.� The Kenworth features high-rise stacks, extensive decaling, panel lights and a number of driver-comfort features. The tow truck is powered by a C-15 Caterpillar rated at 550 horsepower running through an Eaton 18-speed transmission and Eaton 3.70 rear axle ratio.

The W900 is used strictly for bringing trucks back to the terminal and is not equipped for setting over-turned trucks upright. �We�re not picking up bricks on the highway; we�re not handling overturned vehicles,� Christner says. �We have a commercial wrecking company come out and do that.� Still, the new truck�s capabilities have opened new business opportunities for the fleet.

�We realized we could become a wrecker service, so we got licensed to do work for other carriers and truck dealers,� Christner says. The company�s towing operation will take on jobs such as repossessions, abandoned vehicles, plus it offers secured storage and other services. More than 80 percent of the tow truck�s work, however, is internal.

The tow truck runs about 75,000 miles a year and has been �all over the states.� The tow truck�s principal driver was crew chief on the company�s sprint car team. �We�re not running sprint cars this year, so he�s running the wrecker. The driver works part-time, but is on call 24/7,� Christner says. �But, he�s like an undertaker - he�s the last person I want to call.�

Kenworth Truck Company, a division of PACCAR Inc, is a leading manufacturer of heavy and medium duty trucks.