July 16, 2024 • 52 mins
Ever wondered how to handle the newest challenges in the towing industry, like the fragile $1,200 active spoiler on the 2021 Ford F-150? This episode provides crucial insights on that and much more. Brad, Sean, Terry, and Larry, joining us from across Canada, kick off the discussion with an honest critique of our recent intro and share some behind-the-scenes hilarity that didn't make the final cut. We also address the difficulties of maintaining a consistent podcast schedule while juggling the demands of professional and personal lives, offering a glimpse into the making of our highlight reels. Listener engagement is a priority for us, so we outline various ways for you to get in touch and contribute to our discussions.
In an eye-opening segment, we dive into the nitty-gritty of the active spoiler on the latest Ford F-150s and the importance of meticulous documentation to avoid claims. This topic is crucial for wrecker operators dealing with the intricate component that can fail prematurely. We also draw parallels to the electric vehicle towing guidelines, emphasizing the need for centralized training and better information dissemination to mitigate costly repairs. Our real-life towing anecdotes underscore the financial implications of unexpected damages and reinforce the importance of proper towing techniques.
The episode takes a heated turn as we discuss a controversial incident involving the Ontario Provincial Police and their public praise for a logging truck’s towing service. This segment showcases the frustration within the towing industry, highlighting the perceived hypocrisy and lack of recognition for professional operators. From damage claims to the unique challenges of towing specific vehicles, we cover it all. As we wrap up, we remind you to stay connected through comments, likes, and subscriptions, and get ready for another exciting episode of the Towing Life podcast next week.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The intro had so much potential.
The clips together was actuallygood, and you sold it as like
welcome to what's going to be apiece of shit I hope you don't
mind our piece of shit and yousold it as hot garbage.
That's the plan.
That's not the plan, though,because somebody listening to
that goes all right, I'm out.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
It's supposed to be a hidden gem for only our
hardcore listeners.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
I don't think you accomplished that.
But yeah not to mention the.
What was the other thing?
Oh yeah, because I got damageclaims coming up by Wazoo right
now, which is fucking phenomenal.
We'll get into those Okay.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Hey everyone, I'm Brad from Calgary.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
This is Sean from Cambridge Ontario.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
I'm Terry from Cornwall Ontario.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Hey, this is Larry from Pit Metals in British.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Columbia and you're listening to the Towing Life
Podcast, where the ditches aredeep, the trucks are loaded but
the drivers are not.
I am your host, tome Angie, andas usual, I am joined by my
co-host, friend and formerco-worker, the man with very
strong opinions, mr Plain Guy.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
What is going on?
G.
What is going on?
Speaker 2 (01:22):
I think I need to take as usual usual out of this
intro spiel.
That I do because the podcastshave seemed to be all over the
place as of late.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
No, that's not true at all.
As usual, out of 143, 5, Idon't mean 43, 4, uh episodes,
we've had like three or fourweird ones.
I would say, as usual continuesto stand.
So, yes, as usual, the towingindustry was a very busy,
happening place last week.
Between that and taking yourgolfing, okay, and between that
(01:54):
and taking personal time, I wassaying um it it led to us
unfortunately able to sit downand have a proper recording
session to be able to get anepisode out.
So G took the time out of hisday, which we appreciate greatly
I think I speak for our wholelistenership when I say this to
put together a highlight reel ofclips never before seen.
(02:16):
I was scared when you sent itto me, because we definitely
talk about things off the recordprior to starting the show.
Sometimes the camera is rolling, um, and I don't always have
the decency to say, as I didbefore, we recorded this one, do
not put that in an episode.
(02:38):
So when I, when you told me youwere putting together some
clips and you sent it, it wastoo late to do anything about it
.
However, I was, I was worried,um, but that being said, I think
we bury a lot of content thatour listeners don't get to see
or hear and uh, you did a finejob bringing up some of the uh.
(02:59):
Did you already have that likesaved?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
No, so what I do is when I edit things, things,
especially if it's like theintro I will cut that clip and
I'll render it as a separate mp4file sometimes it's edited,
sometimes it's not and I'll justput it in a clips folder that I
have and I, as the name, I putdown the episode number and
normally some very bad spellingof kind of roughly what it's
talking about, because it'squick and just what I was doing
(03:24):
and uh.
So then I was just goingthrough and I can't remember,
because we've done a clipsepisode before and I couldn't
remember which ones I'veincluded or not.
I really should delete themafter I'm done with them, but
whatever.
And so when I did the intro ofthat video, I said it should be
about 35 minutes, but after Iwent into it and actually
started watching it, after I hadit all set up in the timeline,
(03:45):
I was like that one's a littletoo off colored.
Remove that one.
And that one had producer Sarahin it and we've already had that
one in Eclipse episodes, soI'll remove that one as well.
So it got it down to 25 minutes, but it was a great.
We talked about a lot ofcolorful things.
So if you haven't watched thatone because of my piss poor
(04:07):
intro.
I always like to talk down ourstuff, so it's a hidden gem, but
here it is.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
I think secretly you have self-confidence issues and
that's the main reason why youtalk down most of our episodes.
G never thought when the showwould get started that it would
ever be at 144 episodes.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
No, I thought we'd be lucky if we had like five to
ten listeners and generate adrevenue throughout it, and
different things like that.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
So, uh, yes, if you ever hear g doing an intro by
himself, please do not tune outof the episode.
I assure you there is probablygood content behind it, if you
can get through the first 40seconds of his ramblings.
Yeah, because he repeatedpretty much the same thing over
and over again, and just when Ikept yelling at the screen to
say start the episode, alreadyhe went on again apologizing for
(04:52):
how terrible it was going to be.
Um, so, that being said that isnot, that is not a problem.
Tonight we are together, we arein person.
We are recording episode 144 ofthe Towing Life podcast.
Don't forget your questions.
Comments, concerns all thatgood stuff is important to us.
You can easily get a hold of usin multiple different ways.
(05:14):
You can visit us atwwwtowinglifeca.
You can email us directly atthetowinglife at gmailcom, or
you can find us on Facebook atthe towing life podcast.
Don't forget, if you'rewatching over on the youtube
side, you can also click downbelow comment, down below
subscribe.
Up in the top right corner, orleft or right or bottom left
(05:35):
bottom right wherever they putthe button now do not forget to
subscribe and hit the littlebell to get notified when we
release new content, which tendsto be every tuesday of every
week, which is a small task onits own, as we know, with how
busy the towing industry can be.
And you're right, g, when I gogolfing, I haven't taken a golf
trip.
I take one a year yeah one ayear and your schedule couldn't
(06:00):
accommodate it.
We had one night that we weresupposed you didn't let me know
ahead of time I did um I, I toldyou the night that we were
supposed to record one night.
Yeah, and you won't, like.
I'm like, can we go a littlelater?
And you're like, nah, I don'tknow what you had and I can't
remember.
I got called out to a job.
I think it was the roller thathad rolled over yeah and I got
(06:21):
called out to a job and youcouldn't do after and and I
believe I told you because I'mgoing away on a golfing trip
this weekend.
And then you messaged me onSaturday and I said I'm away on
a golfing trip.
And then you messaged me onSunday.
I said I'm away on a golfingtrip.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
No, you just said you're away golfing.
You didn't say trip, but Ididn't know when you were
returning.
But no, we had it scheduled for6.30, and you're like, can you
do later?
I said no and then later on yousaid, well, I'm going out on
this job.
So I was like, well, I get upat 4.30 am, so I got to go to
bed I gave you fair notice.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
I try my best to give you fair notice of what's going
to happen.
Gene and I have a very and hereminds me of my wife in a lot
of ways.
He words things to the way thatwill benefit him in the
argument and he leaves outinformation that was given to
him in order to sound better inthat argument.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
I just forget.
I have a horrible memory,absolutely horrible memory.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
And, like my wife, he uses that argument.
Actually, that's the argument.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
I want to tell my story about a damage claim, so
let's get started with this Fordvideo that you got.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Okay, perfect, let's get on to the real towing topics
.
So it was brought to myattention.
I got a phone call tonight.
I was on my way back fromdinner with my wife.
I got a phone call and theysaid hey, have you heard about
Ford's new active active air dam?
It's also called like an activespoiler a front, like an active
front spoiler.
And I said, no, I've neverheard of this.
(07:45):
I've heard of especially, theeco boosts.
I think they had it.
A lot were in the grill.
It would open and close to alot of airflow.
Yeah yeah, like shutters.
That's what I thought he wasreferring to, because he's
slightly french.
Sometimes he loses things intranslation.
That was not at all the case.
This camera is going to driveme bonkers that doesn't want to
stay still, um.
(08:06):
So I did a little research,said hey, I heard about it on
toe talk, which is a socialmedia group where we pulled a
lot of information over theyears for our episodes.
I'm about this thing and Ithink it's worth looking into
and having a talk with theoperators, so I wanted to bring
everyone here the opportunity tosee the same video.
So it does come from TikTok,the way I used to download the
(08:27):
video.
It unfortunately removed thename off of it, but it is Tow
Truck Tech over on TikTok.
So I'll let the video play,I'll let you guys hear and see
for yourselves, and we'll have atalk about damage claims and
how to avoid them with thissystem.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
There is a $1,200 monster on the front of these
new F-150s 21 and newer that iswaiting to haunt wrecker
operators.
What Ford has done is they putan active spoiler on this
vehicle.
There's a set of actuators thatruns a spoiler up and down, and
where you're going to come intotrouble is where you have a
hard contact on the front of thevehicle like this.
I've priced out the parts it'slike 600 parts and there's 600
labor to fix it and theactuators are very well known
(09:06):
for premature failure.
So you could have a vehiclethat you handle, that you did
not mishandle, and the customerclaims that you have damaged the
actuators and the spoiler, whenit should actually be a
warranty item.
And I cannot state this enough.
Document everything and how youhandle these vehicles.
Once this vehicle is on thedeck, take photographs of all
four corners.
You can see you've got goodclearance there, so there's no
question what's going on.
(09:27):
You can see we're eight-pointed, so there's no question how the
vehicle is retained, becausethe last thing you want,
especially on an F-150 like this, is some $1,200 demon creeping
up and punching you in the facelater on and you cannot document
anything on how the vehicle ishandled.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
So that is some very interesting piece of information
.
I am going to name this the,the texas snowplow, because this
is also the stupidest goddamndesign I've ever seen from fort
um, and fort's done a lot ofstupid stuff over the years.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Let's be honest like it's a six thousand pound truck
that's got a squarish front end.
What's this little spoiler airdam going to do for your fuel
economy?
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Apparently it increases 4% aerodynamics of the
vehicle.
Ooh no.
But in a world where everyone'sfighting over fuel mileage,
yeah, and increasing it to themaximum, I can see how they're
trying to take every option.
What I'm saying is I've got tocheck because my father has one
of these trucks and I'm willingto bet that guy does not know he
has this on there.
(10:29):
I called him earlier.
He didn't answer.
I want to confirm because if hedoes, I want to go look at it.
My old manager has one too.
Yeah, I bet you see if theyknow about this thing.
So, like 20, it's on modelyears 21 and up.
It's excluded on, like thetremor and the raptor, which
makes sense, but it doesn't needany, by the sounds of it, any
(10:50):
sort of fancy trim line.
It's xlt's, you know it'spretty standard on them and,
like they said, the actuators onit are already prone to failure
and it's and visibly looking atit.
I watched a couple other videos.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
You don't see it no, and that's behind the little
rubber it's behind and 100.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
I've used a winch and I've seen that little rubber.
I'm pretty sure I've chaineddown a ford.
I don't know if it's on thef-250s, but I've changed down
like 250s where I bend up therubber thing on the corners
where my chain's running, likethis is something that, like
it's the first I've heard of itand I've been towing for a while
, as we all know, and there's alot of operators out there, you
(11:35):
know, even the person who sentthis to me has been towing for a
while, never seen it.
Right, I, is this something youhave seen?
You know?
Be sure to send us a message,comment down on the youtube or
send us an email at thetowinglife at gmailcom, like
have you seen this ford activeair dam or active spoiler,
whatever you want to call it onthe bottom of the 21 and ups?
(11:57):
And why is ford not gettingthis information out to like?
We almost need a centralizedtraining.
Oh wait, we're bringing one toontario.
That will not cover any of thisno but you know, I mean like a
bulletin out to towing providerssomehow to go, hey, new model
years, kind of like they didwith electric.
(12:18):
Right, electric is in a bigpush for that.
Hey, we don't want you guys topooch these cars.
Here's how you have to tellthem.
Right, the ford mach-e is agreat example.
Right, there was a bunch ofinformation put up that I
believe they have like two slotsunderneath them.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Do not use them yeah, they're the battery slots for
the mounting of the battery andif you hook them up it pulls out
the hole underneath the caryeah, right, but there was at
least a little.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
But even that, we didn't get that from ford, no,
we got that from like esa orsome electric safety standard,
because some dumb tow truckdriver did it and screwed it up
and he was like oh no, post itall over social media.
Don't do this, because I muchlike we have to learn about
these things right and and again.
We fucked up many vehicles, nowa truck.
(13:04):
You know I normally don't go aarms on them.
You normally go on transmissionmount right or transmission
cross member because you needthe room on the winch.
You know, somebody posted inthe comments of that video oh,
why don't you just use the pullthe tow hooks on the front?
Okay, first of all tow hook.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
I don't know if you're driving a 30 foot deck
but uh or never winched up atruck before.
But it just doesn't fit.
If you got like a four foot orthree foot chain bridle, even a
strap bridle, you just not goingto have that bridle into.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
You know, if you shorten the shit of that bridle,
the veer angle alone of it isnot great.
So there obviously needs to bea tool, you know, maybe put in
place which to help these things.
But you're right, you'll runout of deck, like even on a on a
21 foot platform.
You'll run out of deck and ifyou don't, you're pulling down
on the whole front end of thedamn thing by the time it gets
(13:56):
up to the winch.
Like it's not practical.
So you go underneath, but noone tells us about this.
Like no one gives us thisinformation tells us about this.
Like no one gives us thisinformation.
This is completely left ontothe towing industry to know
better.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
And unless you flipped a ford upside down onto
its side and got a good look atthis thing and went, oh shit,
that's how it works, you know, amemo from ford might not be a
bad place to start, especiallysince these things have been out
for four years yeah now this isleading into my story here, but
when we worked at a companytogether you found a thing in
(14:29):
the Chevy's owner manuals likethe old Caddyshevs early 2000s
to where it says in the owner'smanual if you press the two high
and four low together for 10seconds, it neutralizes the
transfer case and you can tow itwith the rear tires on the
ground.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
With the truck in neutral and on the newer models
with the trans, the parkingbraking gauge yes no with the
transmission.
One needed the.
No, it was transmission neutral.
Transmission neutral the twolines.
On an old chevy cat eye youcould see two lines that would
go to an end.
If you held those two buttons.
With the key power on and thetransmission in neutral, that N
(15:03):
would light up.
After about 15 seconds you putthe transmission back in park.
You could tow them by the frontwith the rear tires on the
ground.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
I'm talking about the older ones with the push
buttons on the left-hand side,that's a problem.
No, you can put thetransmission in park and it's
perfectly fine, I always did itfrom neutral.
I'm a firm believer.
If you're neutralizing anytransfer case, if you cannot put
(15:32):
the transmission into park,don't do it, because if the
transmission is in park then youknow that the power is not
getting to the transmissionanyways.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Yes, you'll know, let me know.
I want to reiterate thatbecause it's an important fact.
If you put the transmission inpark and it doesn't roll, it
means the transfer transfer casewas never disengaged.
If you put the transmission inpark and it doesn't roll, it
means the transfer case wasnever disengaged.
If you leave the transmissionin neutral, you are unsure if
the transmission is in new is ifit's that that's causing it to
roll or if it's the transfercase that has been disengaged.
(15:56):
Therefore, putting it in parkeliminates that, especially
since chevy ngms had a notoriousproblem with electric four
wheel drive actuators notactually working.
So it would tell you neutral,but it was actually still in two
high, four high.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Whatever the case was , yeah, Um, now, most of the
Chevys, the front hubs spinfreely.
You could tell them what thefront tires on the ground, as
long as it's in two wheel driveanyways, and you're good to go
down the road Now, uh Now, withthe company I worked with, we
towed a lot of trucks with thefront tires on the ground and we
never had an issue, Not once.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
And this story and you're talking about the company
we worked with together,because I never towed with my
wheel on the ground.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
No, okay, the company I previously worked for, we
towed pretty much every truckout on the market with the front
tires on the ground.
Okay, when the company we didwork for together, we did get a
notice from ford or one of usfound this notice from ford of
how to tow their new trucksbecause they it was the newer
body style in like 2016, 2018,with the turn dial and automatic
(16:56):
four-wheel drive.
And I remember that documentbecause I saved that document
and I shared it to otheroperators because the trucks
with the automatic four wheeldrive, you had the neutralize,
the transfer case and tow itwith the rear tires on the
ground, but if it didn't havethe auto four wheel drive, you
could tow it with the rear tiresin the air front tires on the
(17:16):
ground and you're good to gorocking down the road.
That's what Ford said in thisletter.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
So you claim you have no proof at this point.
No.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
I in this letter.
So you claim you have no proofat this point?
No, I want this claim.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
I can find I can find the document again.
I want to start this off by weare not responsible for any
damage claims induced by ourstories of towing don't don't
follow any advice until you hearthe end of the story.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
So I've told many, many of newer aluminum body for
Ford F-150s following thatmetric in my head.
If it's got auto, the autofour-wheel drive option, pick it
up from the front, neutralizedtransfer case.
A lot of times you can put thetransmission in park.
Sometimes you still have toleave it in neutral just because
(17:59):
it's the stupid push button.
If it had the turn key you'reable to put it in park and it'd
be fine Push button.
You'd have to leave it inneutral because reasons, I guess
anyways, and it worked fineevery time until one day.
One day I went down and I washooking this truck up and I was
taking it to toronto I think itwas like a 65 kilometer tow and
(18:24):
I got it out onto the road.
I was about to hook it up fromthe rear.
I went up and I looked.
I was like, oh, it's got theauto four wheel drive.
So I turned my tow truck around, backed up to the front, and
I'm talking to the owner of thetruck and showing them how to
neutralize the transfer case andeverything.
I said, yeah, I got a documentfrom Ford and I checked the
years and it's all good to go,so I do it, and it's one of the
(18:45):
push button ones, to where youcan't put the transmission in
the park and you have to leaveit in neutral.
I didn't think much of it atthe time, so I start going down
the road and as I'm going, downthe road.
How far did you make it?
I made it 50 kilometers, ohokay, and I felt the weird bump.
(19:13):
I was like oh, that's weird.
And I just had a weird feelinglike I couldn't see anything in
my mirrors.
The truck was still rolling,just fine, didn't think much of
it, but I was like I'm justgonna get off the highway and
check.
I pull off the highway and Ipull into a parking lot and I
get out and don't I see adriveshaft laying on the ground.
Whoops, from the rear end,whoops.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Yeah, I was like, oh, that's not good fun fact that's
the only drive shaft home nghas ever removed in his career
no.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
So anyways, I call my manager, of course, because
it's like I just royallybuggered up this guy's truck and
I crawl underneath and I try tomove the drive shaft and drive
shaft will not spin.
So the transfer case, I guess,locked back up while going down
the road because the front tires, the drive shaft, wouldn't have
(20:04):
spun in the first place Becausethe front tires were locked
Like it locked up the fronttires.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
So what drive shaft did you?
You had this thing picked up bythe front.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Yeah, the rear drive shaft.
It snapped right at the reardiff.
But, the transfer.
Well, the U-joint snapped and Iguess what happened.
I'm not sure if it was the bumpI hit on the highway jiggled
something in the transfer case,or if the transfer case just
said you know what, I don't wantto be in this position anymore
(20:33):
and locked up the front tires,be in this position anymore and
locked up the front tires.
Well, when you lock up thefront tires and they're
stationary and the wheel liftwith straps on and the rear
tires are doing 90, yeah right,something's gonna break.
Yeah, thankfully the driveshaft broke at the rear and up
the front, because then thatwould have dug into the road.
Well, anyways I've never seenone dig in in that sense, but
(20:56):
it's an old possibilities thereright possibilities there, um,
but if it also did break fromthe front, then it's also
spinning around from the diffand causing even more damage
okay, yes, that would be more ofthe concern.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Yes, is all the undercarriage that's going to
tear up yeah, um.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
So here I am underneath this truck in a go
parking lot and I peel off thedrive shaft, throw it in the bed
of the truck.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Like finish off, it was still into the like, into
the front.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Yeah, it was still into the front yoke.
So I did the four bolts and Ipulled it off and I threw it in
the bed of the truck and ofcourse I'm towing it to a shop
I've never dealt with before.
I've never dropped there before.
So when I get there I drop thetruck off, I go in, I talk to
the mechanic.
I wait till he's off the phone.
I told him this is what itwhat's going on.
(21:43):
It was here because it wasleaking engine oil or whatever
um training diff.
No, it wasn't leaking any ofthat.
And I told him exactly whathappened and I said I've got the
document.
At that time I was already onthe phone.
I pulled it back up on my phone.
I showed him the document fromFord and I was like I honestly
don't think I'm in the wronghere, because I got a document
(22:04):
with a Ford letterhead that saysthis is how you're supposed to
tow it, but right.
However, it does state at thebottom of this document, not in
that specific vehicle class, butat the bottom of the document.
Because whenever you look for adocument and you're looking for
information, once you find thatinformation, that you want.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Once you find what you're looking for, you don't
stop operating, yeah, 100%.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
And it says at the bottom, after it lists all the
how to tow every Ford possible,it says for a maximum of 50
kilometers and under 80kilometers an hour.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
You forgot to read the speed limits.
Yeah, so anywho, I say okay,well, I'm going to guess you did
over 80 kilometers an hour.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Yeah, I was A hundred percent.
A hundred percent.
And at first I was all giddybecause it's like oh, it's got
one of those hard tunnel covers.
Now I have to worry about thatif I'm towing it backwards.
And since it's got the autofour-wheel drive, like I was
excited.
The guy even tipped me 20 bucksfor showing me all the.
So after I drop it down and Italked to the guys like find out
(23:16):
like you can still drive itaround and like we moved in the
parking lot in four wheel drivewith the front so we knew so we
knew that the, at least thetransmission and transfer case,
is working right.
So and I knew the rear end wasokay because yeah, but I know
the rear end's fine because it'sspun all the way there, um, so
(23:37):
I'm thinking, okay, if I'mtrying to do that, yeah, but I
know the rear end's fine becauseit's spun all the way there.
So I'm thinking, okay, well,I'm in for a driveshaft, bare
minimum.
But then I'm probably also.
I just hope I'm not into atransmission.
I better not be into atransmission.
Transfer case is probably goingto be, we'll see right.
So I leave it at the shop andthe guy the owner, is obviously
(23:58):
upset.
I call him in the parking lot,I'll know what happened and say
that I'm going to take care ofit.
And uh, he's upset and he wantsa rental vehicle.
So the company gets him arental vehicle.
It'll do, right, yeah, and uh,this mechanic I'm not sure how
good of a job he normally does,but he dragged his heels on this
(24:22):
job.
So it was like three weeksbefore, yes, before he even told
me that.
No, I think the transfer caseis a little fuck you.
Later I had a drive shaftcustom made for that truck in
two days.
I went to a high end partsstore that we've used for like
drag or like pull trucks.
I said this is the drive shaftI need.
(24:43):
These are the ends make it.
I spent like $900 on thisaluminum drive shaft.
That's like really strong, justbecause finding a used one.
I don't want to put used partsreally because I don't know
anyways and ford itself was backordered for like six months.
(25:06):
I knew I couldn't wait sixmonths.
So I'm going in for customparts and I get the drive shaft
and they're like oh well, thisdrive shaft, it'll work.
But it's a little like the.
Apparently the one spline isjust a little off, but it fits,
but it's just so.
It's like okay, I'll take driveshaft back, I'll get it
re-splined Like it was what itwas.
And then the mechanics like no,I think we need a transfer case
(25:30):
as well.
I was like all right, I'vealready had one on like placed
on order at the Ford dealership.
If I needed to back out, it wasfine.
So then I got a new transfercase to show up and he puts that
in well when he puts the newtransfer case in the drive shaft
that was now custom made twice,for the transfer case that was
in there no longer fits into thenew t-case.
(25:52):
So then they go out and buyanother used drive shaft out of
a junk yard and this custom madedrive shaft that I got for the
truck that fit in the truck isjust sitting somewhere I have no
idea where it is at this pointcollecting dust.
I hope.
Hopefully someone was able toresell it because I know I
didn't.
What was the total claim?
(26:13):
I don't even know anymore.
To be honest with you, it hadto be.
The transfer case was $16,000,the drive shaft was $9,000, but
I paid out of pocket so itdidn't even go through the
company first.
Plus the rental vehicle, Ithink he was in a rental for at
least two weeks.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
Yeah, you're probably looking at close to $5,000 when
you're all said and done, pluslabor and everything.
Fun fact you're probablylooking at close to five grand
when you're all said and done,plus labor and everything.
I've fun fact that's a.
You got to always read the fineprint.
Fun fact I did pay for adriveshaft on GM once as well,
but mine was for a completelydifferent reason.
It was a 2500 broken down onthe highway.
I called my dispatch, saidwhat's the problem with the
truck?
She said it won't start.
(26:52):
Died won't start.
No, he said it won't start.
Dyed won't start.
No problem.
Neutral transfer case.
Pick it from the front, takeoff.
Yep.
Get to the shop, guy sees theback wheels on the ground.
He goes what the hell are youdoing?
I'm like, well, you can neutralthe transfer case, it's fine
Like I wouldn't have done anydamage.
He goes no, the problem was oneof the rear U-joints.
Oh, oh, I said why.
(27:19):
Well, I'll be sure enough.
We crawled underneath and, yeah, one of the u-joints, like one
of the end caps, had fallen offand the u-joint, actually, while
spinning around going down theroad, reamed out the hole on the
drive shaft to make the driveshaft unusable yeah so 500, 600
bucks.
Later on a used drive shaft atthe scrapyard because it was
like I'm a, you know, you knowGM, you've ever seen their brake
configurations?
There's eight differentvariations.
(27:41):
Finally found one two hoursaway, went and got it, gave it
to the guy like luckily didn'tneed a rental or any of that
kind of stuff, but it was justone of those.
It was a miscommunication fromdispatch.
Sure enough, when I tolddispatch about it, she's like,
oh yeah, I said something abouta u-joint and I was like, yeah,
that was very valuableinformation that could have
saved me a lot of time and money.
Um, so, no it's.
(28:03):
You know what damage claims arepart of it, right, I've been a
big believer of that.
I've always said if you haven'tbroken something, you haven't
been doing it long enough oryou're full of shit.
Um, I still stand by that today.
I've got a couple active.
Just one was dumb.
I got two on the go right now.
Well, one just closed.
(28:25):
It was a couple thousanddollars and it was just
stupidity.
It was winching off a cubetruck in a parking lot at a
dealership, not paying attentionwhen he turned a little bit at
the end to get it off the bedbacking into a brand new sold
you car.
Oh, with the step bumper thatwas just over two grand oh, so
he's unloading the cube truck inthe park.
(28:46):
Yeah, he was unloading the cubetruck at the parking lot, hit a
brand new parked car that hadbeen sold.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
I think that's one of the most prevalent damage
claims is on like unloadingloading into something rolling
into something yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Yeah, so that was one .
It was, you know again, goodrelationships where business
comes into it.
How do you handle those?
Damage claims are going tohappen.
It's all about how you handlethem, right?
I called the dealership up.
As soon as I got the call Isaid hey look, I heard what
happened.
You who's your body shop and doyou need me to bring it there?
yep they said we use, you knowabc automotive, her auto body,
(29:20):
and no, we'll get it over there.
Okay, no problem, I'll call himup.
Let him know to send me thebill.
Right, call them up.
Hey, you got a car coming fromthe dealership.
This is the car.
It's the damage.
Try and be easy on me.
He's not a body shop Iregularly use, he's not one of
my regular customers, but I knowhim and I said, look, I'm gonna
come good for it.
I'll write you a check forwhatever the balance is, just
(29:40):
get this car fixed for them andget it taken care of.
I call back the dealership.
I said, hey, I've alreadyspoken with him, we're gonna
take care of the bill.
No problem, he'll try and bumpit up.
Hey, appreciate how you'retaking care of this.
I mean, that's the right way totake care of it.
Yep, as for the driver, there's, there's there's consequences
in them we have to deal withright.
My other one is a trainingissue.
New operator Can't blame him.
(30:02):
This guy, given a currentsituation, maybe got thrown into
something that he shouldn'thave got thrown into quite yet.
He's a great operator.
He operates heavies and lights.
He was wheel lifting a mercedessprinter camper van.
He disconnected the drive shaft.
He did everything right.
(30:22):
So we run nrc beds, anyone thatknows that.
You know we don't run thevulcan so we run a strap on the
tires.
Unfortunately, I carry twodifferent sets of straps for
that wheel lift.
There is a set that nrc giveyou which are about, you know,
two inch or three inch straps.
Yeah, with the hookup they'regreat.
And then we also a lot of timesI'll run if it's just small
little stuff, those little blueones we talk yeah, the
motorcycle dolly straps yeahyeah, well, they're not
(30:44):
motorcycle, they're dolly straps.
Yeah, yeah, so I'm on thesmaller car as well.
A little bit of training, orlack thereof.
He put those on this, andbecause we run a strapless
system, you do not require torun your safety chains to the
wheel lift you can tie directlyto the casualty.
So he did.
He went up over the wheel lift,tied to the cat, the wheel lift
, or uh, tied to the casualty,and let the chains hang.
(31:06):
Well, on a highway he had toemergency brake.
When he emergency brake, thosechains weren't going to stop
because they weren't tied off tothe wheel lift, which they
don't have to be.
Those straps should hold If youuse the big ones.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Yeah, the ones that are rated for all that you're
towing.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
Yes, the little ones are not.
They are rated for the smallerlittle cars.
They're not waiting for a fullsize camper conversion vehicle
came forward.
As you know, you tow them onthe wheel.
Lift of a bed is it was on abed um fairly tight, so any
little forward travel puts thatthing right into the lip of your
bed.
If you bring it in far enoughand which he did that was the
(31:48):
only.
That was one of the few thingshe did very well, and that is he
had his.
He would have been perfect tomake corners um so luckily again
, it wasn't a catastrophicfailure.
The safety chains were stillattached, so it was nothing that
came off the vehicle.
There was nothing.
You know it was the best of abad scenario, um, but yeah,
damage claims happened, and thatone I can.
I haven't even started theprocess and I just still at the
(32:09):
garage getting the originalrepair for what it was.
Uh, and it's not a mercedes,ouch.
So they happen, right, theyhappen, and what we can do from
it is learn.
And like I would be the firstday if I got a damage claim off
something like that of the Fordon something I knew nothing
about.
That's 100% on.
(32:30):
You can't blame an operator forthat one.
Like you put the responsibilityin the operator that he is
supposed to take care ofwhatever vehicle is towing he's
supposed to be checking for.
You know I can't teach you howto check tow every car or where
which cars are going to havewiring, that you got to look out
for possible brake lines on adiff, fuel lines or any of that
stuff, abs wires.
And if you are right in thedamage claim which I've had
(32:53):
recently with a customer whichis a whole other cluster, then I
will fight and fight and fightto.
You know like we have acustomer.
We had a customer that claimedthat we ripped off an ABS wire
on his Mercedes or BMW.
This is a wild one.
The ABS wire comes in from thetop of the strut tower and down.
(33:15):
The tow.
Truck said it looks like it gotpulled with a hook there or the
the garage.
No, there's no way.
Maybe a tire strap, but eventhat I look like where it's
mounted.
It doesn't make sense yeah wedid not pull that with a with a
j hook.
This vehicle was in for a 14day stun drive.
After he picked it up the ABSlight was on.
He claims it wasn't on.
(33:36):
Prior Claims Brought it to adealership, blamed it on us.
The crazy part about this is hefiled a, a chargeback on his
credit card that he paid with inperson for the impound bill and
(33:56):
the credit card companyapproved it.
What so?
It goes through waves.
Have you ever dealt withchargebacks?
It gets charged back.
Then you've got to prove yourpoint.
Then they make a decision andthere's like three rounds of
this.
It can go through and at thelast I'm pretty sure the first
one, we lost.
The second one we won.
The third one we won.
The third one we lost becausethey said we didn't submit
documents, even though they toldus.
(34:18):
But he went and actually hasmanaged to get out of paying his
14-day impound at this pointbecause he charged back his
credit card, which are twoseparate matters.
Yeah, if you truly believe thatwe did your damage, that does
not constitute that you get outof a police order tow.
No, that becomes a civil matter.
(34:39):
Mm-hmm, the charge back.
Like the pair on this guy.
You guys must be relatedBecause the pair on this guy to
go.
I'm going to call my creditcard company and say that I
didn't authorize that charge.
It was for your car.
Yeah, you paid in person with acard.
Yeah, like physically put thething in the machine.
Yeah, I thought that wassupposed to protect us.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
But for the ABS light , like just before I got out of
the industry, since we hadindoor storage where I was
working, we were taking picturesof all four corners, obviously,
um, outside in the light, andthen when you drive it into the
actual yard and put it on ahoist, you take more pictures.
But for my own personal uhregulation, you're supposed to
(35:25):
write down how much fuel is inthe vehicle and the kilometers,
because some people like to say,oh well, they took my car for a
joy ride.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
I don't need to do that.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
I got full video surveillance I know we do too,
but it's like just you write iton the bill how much fuel was in
it?
Because they see that it'sindoor storage and we drive it
around to them when they come topick it up.
Right, try to red carpetservice.
Thanks for paying I don't dothat.
So screw it, yeah, so, and withthat picture it would show what
lights are on in the dash,because it's running at that
(35:55):
time before you're taking it in.
Um, we had a a car and it was ashitty little pontiac pursuit.
I think it was a cobaltknockoff for pontiac and it was
in for a 45 day and I was theone that picked it up in the
wheel lift and I was like, oh,we're going to get stuck with
this thing like it's, they'renot going to come pick it up.
(36:17):
Should I double pick it?
Speaker 1 (36:19):
yeah, I'll double pick it, whatever yeah, they
were my foil pants right.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
I'll double pick it.
I know they're low.
I got a fat wheel lift.
I double picked it, parked itin my shop.
It sat there for 60 days beforethis guy came and paid the bill
to get it out.
He got it towed across thestreet for whatever reason,
because he couldn't drive, andwhen it wasn't by us it was by a
different company and when itwas dropped across the street
(36:45):
there was a puddle of oilunderneath of it.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
And he's definitely blaming you for that.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
He's blaming us for it and we said you can come into
our shop and see exactly whereyour car was parked for 60 days.
It didn't move because we knewit was going to be there for 60
days.
So we shoved it in a corner.
No one touched it.
We had to boost it to get itstarted because it hasn't been
moved.
There's no oil there and youcan see on our surveillance
(37:12):
camera we weren't messing aroundwith it.
Yeah, so it's.
People will try to say whateverthey can to get money.
A hundred percent, but what I'mkind of worried about, about
these air dams on these FordF-150s.
So, going back to what I wassaying earlier, most of those
(37:33):
Fords you can pick up from therear and the front tires just
spin like we've towed hundredsof them never had.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
I don't do.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
I do not endorse this towman g mentality no, like
anything, it call it sat tire,if you will.
Anyways um what happens if youare like you'd set up your
clearance, your ride height, inthe rear, so you lower the ass
end of the truck down a littlebit on your wheel lift to make
sure you have that ground groundclearance?
What happens if the speedsensor in the front realizes
(38:01):
that it's doing 50 mile an hour?
and decides to put that anddecides to put that air dam down
because it's got an electricalissue and that's why you're
towing it right.
It's got a little demon hidingin the pcm module there ecm
module, because that's what newvehicles are famous for having
little demons doing weird things.
Um, like in my ram, the lightsand the dash will just randomly
(38:25):
flash, sometimes just out of theblue.
What happens if that air damgoes down in reverse while
you're towing it.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
It no longer exists.
Yeah, I've actually seen when Iwas trying to do some research
on it, I seen posts about itwhere people were because like
Ford was a long delay to getparts on it, and one guy was
like I don't have one anymore.
I don't even know.
I hit a you know a tire debrisin the and it must have broken
(38:54):
it off.
People don't even know aboutthis thing.
No.
I'm willing to bet if I call mydad and ask him what year his
truck is, and I'm pretty sureit's newer than a 21.
I think it's a 22 or 23,.
And go, do you know about youractive air dam?
He's going to go my what Mostcustomers and most people
probably don't even know thisexists yeah right, like it's one
(39:16):
of those weird little thingsthat you know and because, again
, you don't see it.
If you're anyone like my dadwho just buys the truck and
knows nothing, like he comesaround, I gotta show him how,
everything on the damn thingright, it tells me when I need
an oil change yeah, no, he's alittle more mechanically
inclined than that.
I actually.
But it's true, like even mine,like my truck that I've picked
(39:37):
up is, um, e-torque dodge.
With the e-torque I kind of hadan idea what the e-torque was,
never really did any homework onit.
I actually started doingresearch and I was like, oh shit
, like there's a because, mainlybecause I'm having problems,
typical dodge, but um, but a lotof people, until they have
problems with something, won't.
Oh shit, like there's a cause,mainly because I'm having
problems, typical Dodge, but um,but a lot of people, until they
have problems with something,won't actually look into
(39:57):
something, right, yep, andbecause this doesn't affect any
of the powertrain modules.
So like this thing gettingripped off won't throw an Erica.
It will throw an Erica, but itwon't throw an engine light,
right?
So it'll say that there's aproblem with it, but it won't
throw an engine light.
Speaker 4 (40:10):
So it's only if you have what it's for, yeah no 100.
Speaker 1 (40:13):
Well, again the light won't come on.
You probably go scan it forsomething else going on and then
find out that there's a faultcode for you know, an air dam
actuator and you're like huh,what's?
Speaker 2 (40:22):
that yeah so is that a part of my like ac is the yeah
meter core.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
It's not opening, but that's the problem if we're all
trying to be professional inthis industry and with the so
many different makes and modelsof cars, it's it's impossible to
know everything to do for everynew car yeah, so your operators
have to be trained to literallydo and you know, and it's
(40:47):
important thing to do and I'mnot trying to shit on you know,
because there's probably peoplethat train you know much better
maybe than I do, or much bettereven than our company does or
that are just, you know,keyboard warriors that'll sit
there and go.
Well, you got to teach them allthis stuff and it's like, oh
what, there's so much out thereto learn.
You need to train youroperators on how to look for it
(41:08):
yeah right, like, yes, okay.
In a real, in a perfect world,they're walking around the full
car, they're crawling underneath, they're documenting everything
.
Then they're loading up the carand the fact of the matter is
they're doing four calls a day,yeah, right.
Or in the real world whereyou've done one, where you go
okay, I've done these foursbefore, no problem.
Hook, go, no problem, rightuntil you find out that that
(41:28):
actually has that air dam andyou're paying 1200 bucks, give
or take, that that it comes outso um no, but I was.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
I was trying to segue perfectly into professional I'm
going to.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
I got it right here.
So if you want to do damage,free towing and you never want
to cause damage.
We have some great news fromthe OPP in a recent post that
the Ontario Provincial Policeput out about a towing company.
And you'll ask me gee wait, isthat a towing company?
Because that doesn't look likea tow truck.
(42:01):
That's a funny looking rotator.
Ontario Provincial Police EastRegions and Center is in Center
Hastings.
Some great work by SmokiesTowing.
After a single vehicle crash onHighway 62 in Centre Hastings.
It happened on June 28th whenthe driver swerved to avoid a
deer, the car went over theguardrail and plunged 30 feet 9
(42:22):
meters onto the rocks in theditch.
Thankfully there were noinjuries.
It took a skilled tow operatorjust 10 minutes to get the
vehicle back on the road withoutany further damage or road
closure.
Speaker 2 (42:37):
What do you mean?
Road closure that truck'sblocking the whole stinking road
.
Speaker 1 (42:43):
Yeah, only for 10 minutes.
Technically, he left the laneopen by the looks of it.
Yeah, the OPP.
Now here's looking at you, opp.
Speaker 2 (42:51):
You said I had cojones before the OPP.
Now here's looking at you, opp.
You said I had cojones before.
The OPP's got balls for postingthis.
Speaker 1 (42:57):
No, the OPP are stupid for posting this and the
reason I say that, and as we'llgo on to read it, one comment
from the post no disrespect inthe world to Smokies.
No.
Okay, smokies had this equipmentat their disposal, they went
ahead and did it.
My problem with this post isthis the only ontario provincial
(43:19):
police postings you will findabout tow trucks, or how many
tow trucks they took out ofservice.
How many tow trucks have beenshot at this month?
How many tow trucks um you knowgot caught racing and stunt
driving to scenes that they'veimpounded?
Now you finally take the timeto give a towing company credit
(43:40):
for something on something thatisn't even a goddamn tow truck
yeah, like for those, for thoseof you audio listeners out there
, it's a logging truck with acrane.
Speaker 2 (43:51):
it's a tanana max logging truck with a log grab on
the tailboard and it's got thecar grabbed in between the a
pillar and the B pillar,crushing the roof in slightly
picking it up over top of thetruck over the guardrail over
top, loading it into a bin.
Speaker 1 (44:08):
Um, it sounds like they may do scrap hauling and
that, so like there's actually atub on that log hauler, if you
look at it, where the car cansit in.
Yep, so it may be built with apurpose, yep, but the fact of
the matter it is that is not atow truck.
That doesn't even fall under atow truck under the OPPs new
regulations and it says loggingon the hood.
Speaker 2 (44:27):
Locking right on the front of it.
Speaker 1 (44:33):
So my problem with this is and I'll go on to read a
comment that I think it's veryfunny and hits the nail pretty
well in the head.
This is adding insult to injury.
What the fuck is wrong with theindustry and the law
enforcement we deal with here inontario?
For people that follow the oppsocial media accounts, we can
all agree that we barely, veryrarely does the opp call out a
towing company by name, otherthan when it's making headlines
(44:54):
for plates being removed or thetow truck being impounded for
excessive speeding on the way totheir first available request.
But this has to be a joke.
Congratulations, a goddamnlogging truck.
I think it's congratulations toa goddamn logging truck after
all the shit this province hasmade the industry go through.
What a joke.
I kind of laughed at the noadditional damage.
(45:16):
The car was probably awrite-off, but just shows the
lack of knowledge and ignorance.
If the car wasn't a write-off,sure as now, but hey, at least
the logging truck did a greatjob.
I know a lot of companies inOntario that invest in the right
equipment and training.
Some of us have to help withextrication and I've never seen
a good job post on those.
Regardless if all otheremergency personnel were thanked
(45:39):
for their assistance.
But let's not forget theamazing work a logging truck
that totaled what was left of acar that doesn't need a tow
license or a tow driver becauseit's a goddamn logging truck.
Don't mean any disrespect toSmokey's Towing.
Some great work by Smokiestowing after a single vehicle
crash on highway 62 and centerHastings.
Yeah it's true, like the, theOntario provincial police has
(46:01):
made an absolute joke of theindustry, as it is right.
From you know the corruptionbehind the scenes, from you know
blasting every time a tow truckfails an inspection or gets
impounded, right, if you haven'tfollowed ontario provincial
police east region and seen thispost.
Last time I checked it wasstill active.
We were surprised.
(46:21):
We thought it would come downafter a bit.
But, like you guys have alreadypooched this industry to hell,
you have made us jump throughhoops.
Keep in mind this was threedays before all the regulations
became official.
Yeah, right, and then you youknow what I mean.
You, you congratulate.
It's the first time we've everseen one called out by by first
(46:42):
name, yeah, like by company name, and it's because of something
like this and it's embarrassing.
It's goddamn embarrassing.
Like we don't go out here forthe recognition by any stretch
of the imagination.
Goddamn embarrassing.
Like we don't go out here forthe recognition by any stretch
of the imagination.
We have done recoveries wherewe have helped trap people
inside vehicles.
We have done you know what Imean like worked hand in hand
with many first responders andwe do not expect the praise for
(47:03):
it.
That's fine, right, as thisposter goes on to say, even
though many other, every otheremergency personnel that
responded to something will getthe recognition and the thank
you.
We, you know, we'll go onhumble without it, no problem,
but when you see that kind ofshit, it stings, it stings a lot
(47:24):
, and whoever is in charge oftheir social media and I'm sure
they thought it was just it's afunny post, hey, this is pretty
funny.
Da da, da, da da.
It's a funny post.
Hey, this is pretty funny.
Da, da, da, da da.
But it doesn't speak to thetrue issue going on within the
towing industry, especially insuch a crazy time in Ontario
with everything going on.
I think it was sensitive and Ithink they fucked up.
I think if it was meant to befunny, they missed the mark
(47:45):
because it doesn't read funny itreads stupid.
Speaker 2 (47:48):
Maybe, just maybe, here in Ontario we're going to
see the industry start pivotingmore towards these
unconventional roles, solely forthe fact that that logging
truck, like that poster says,doesn't need a tow license.
Now what if I get a roll-offtruck with a flat deck?
Well, that's not a tow truck,that's a roll-off truck.
(48:10):
Hmm, I wonder.
I don't think I'll need a towlicense for that because it's a
roll-off truck, but I could haulcars with it.
Probably won't need a towlicense.
Probably won't need to put adriver through $1,100 worth of
training to operate that, aslong as they got their DZ.
Speaker 1 (48:25):
People are going to argue it, people are going to
play with it, people are goingto find ways that they can to
get around it.
A hundred percent right.
I know one of the definitionsis like having a wheel lift on a
flop.
Speaker 2 (48:36):
That definitely makes it a tow truck, doesn't make it
just a like a float truck butat the same point that's gonna
screw a lot of people, because Iknow a lot of equipment movers
that haul medium-sized tractorslove the 40 tb nrc beds because
they're strong decks.
A lot of them didn't remove thewheel lift.
Speaker 1 (48:56):
They just never use it because they need because
they use it as a stabilizer.
Speaker 2 (48:59):
Yeah, they need it for the support.
So now that's deemed a towtruck, when that thing would
never see a car in its life.
And now I wonder if it has tobe registered to a towing.
Speaker 1 (49:09):
I don't know what the fine.
I'd have to go over again andsee what the fine.
If it's not registered to atowing like I don't know what
the fine.
I'd have to go over again andsee what the fine.
If it's not registered to atowing company, it shouldn't be
a problem and if it's registeredto a towing company, right, but
but no it's.
I don't know we've talked aboutto see enough.
I really don't want to bore ourlisteners with it.
It is a subject that definitelygets me a little hot and
bothered in all the wrong ways.
(49:30):
Um, it is something that Ithink the province has
completely continued to pooch Um, and hopefully we'll get it
solved out.
You know, sooner than later,before we start seeing logging
trucks taking over recoveries inNorthern Ontario Like there's
operators that spent money onrotators and training to do
exactly that.
Speaker 2 (49:49):
But you could also say what about a high ab crane
on the back of like a lumbertruck?
It's not a rotator.
It's not a tow truck.
You could do most of the things.
Speaker 1 (49:59):
No, no, the goddamn high ab guy unions will start
arguing that it is and make usgo through seven years of
certification to run one ofthose too, like the crane guys
did, which I mean I'm not again.
We've we've touched the craneguys did, which I mean I'm not
again.
We've touched the crane debateenough.
Yeah, I think that we should.
That should be.
One of our goals is to set up,get a crane operator and a
(50:20):
rotator operator on the show andwe're just going to go in the
background and shut our camerasand mics off and go here, boys,
have a good talk about why is arotator not a crane, and you can
argue why it is.
That would be a good show.
That would be a good show.
What side are you on?
Team rotator, team crane, teamrotator probably?
That's not fair.
Then we're just going to beatup on this poor crane operator
and he'll never want to comeback on our show again we'd
(50:42):
never have him back on the showagain.
That's fair.
There's no purpose to have acrane operator.
All they do is lift things upand pick up, put them down so
same plane.
So, as we kind of touched overin the episode, go get those
logging trucks.
If you're in Ontario, they aregoing to save you millions of
dollars in licensing over thenext year and you can do the
same recovery you can with alight duty float without all the
(51:02):
hassle.
If you are towing Fords, please, for love of God, 21,.
You're 21 and up.
So if it's legal to drink, goahead and double check that it
doesn't have the lowered air dam.
If it does, maybe change upyour approach.
If you have a trick to how youtow these Fords that do have
that dam.
I think I got a couple ideas inmy head, but until I actually
(51:26):
get my hands on one to try it, Idon't want to give them away.
Comment down below or on theYouTube side.
Do not forget to like andsubscribe.
Do not forget to visit thewebsite or email us directly at
thetowinglifeatgmailcom and donot forget to tune in again next
week for another episode of theTowing Life podcast.
Take care, toodles.
Speaker 2 (51:56):
For some reason I wanted to say quack, bang out.
At the end of that he's anotherYouTuber, the fat electrician.
Speaker 1 (52:05):
He says quack bang out.
Yeah, you want to steal hisline.
Speaker 2 (52:09):
Yeah, it's a good line.
It was just fitting, I don'tknow.
It just went with the flow.
I was like, oh, that would gogood, here you have a line what
is it?
Speaker 1 (52:16):
toodles or some shit toodles yeah is that what you
say every time?
Speaker 2 (52:20):
toodles.
Yeah, 140, some odd episodesthat I've been a part of you
said toodles toodles, oh my god.
The intro had so much potential.
The clips together was actuallygood, and you sold it as like
welcome to what's going to be apiece of shit I hope you don't
mind our piece of shit and yousold it as hot garbage.
That's the plan.
That's not the plan, though,because somebody listening to
that goes all right, I'm out.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
It's supposed to be a hidden gem for only our
hardcore listeners.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
I don't think you accomplished that.
But yeah not to mention the.
What was the other thing?
Oh yeah, because I got damageclaims coming up by Wazoo right
now, which is fucking phenomenal.
We'll get into those Okay.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Hey everyone, I'm Brad from Calgary.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
This is Sean from Cambridge Ontario.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
I'm Terry from Cornwall Ontario.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Hey, this is Larry from Pit Metals in British.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Columbia and you're listening to the Towing Life
Podcast, where the ditches aredeep, the trucks are loaded but
the drivers are not.
I am your host, tome Angie, andas usual, I am joined by my
co-host, friend and formerco-worker, the man with very
strong opinions, mr Plain Guy.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
What is going on?
G.
What is going on?
Speaker 2 (01:22):
I think I need to take as usual usual out of this
intro spiel.
That I do because the podcastshave seemed to be all over the
place as of late.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
No, that's not true at all.
As usual, out of 143, 5, Idon't mean 43, 4, uh episodes,
we've had like three or fourweird ones.
I would say, as usual continuesto stand.
So, yes, as usual, the towingindustry was a very busy,
happening place last week.
Between that and taking yourgolfing, okay, and between that
(01:54):
and taking personal time, I wassaying um it it led to us
unfortunately able to sit downand have a proper recording
session to be able to get anepisode out.
So G took the time out of hisday, which we appreciate greatly
I think I speak for our wholelistenership when I say this to
put together a highlight reel ofclips never before seen.
(02:16):
I was scared when you sent itto me, because we definitely
talk about things off the recordprior to starting the show.
Sometimes the camera is rolling, um, and I don't always have
the decency to say, as I didbefore, we recorded this one, do
not put that in an episode.
(02:38):
So when I, when you told me youwere putting together some
clips and you sent it, it wastoo late to do anything about it
.
However, I was, I was worried,um, but that being said, I think
we bury a lot of content thatour listeners don't get to see
or hear and uh, you did a finejob bringing up some of the uh.
(02:59):
Did you already have that likesaved?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
No, so what I do is when I edit things, things,
especially if it's like theintro I will cut that clip and
I'll render it as a separate mp4file sometimes it's edited,
sometimes it's not and I'll justput it in a clips folder that I
have and I, as the name, I putdown the episode number and
normally some very bad spellingof kind of roughly what it's
talking about, because it'squick and just what I was doing
(03:24):
and uh.
So then I was just goingthrough and I can't remember,
because we've done a clipsepisode before and I couldn't
remember which ones I'veincluded or not.
I really should delete themafter I'm done with them, but
whatever.
And so when I did the intro ofthat video, I said it should be
about 35 minutes, but after Iwent into it and actually
started watching it, after I hadit all set up in the timeline,
(03:45):
I was like that one's a littletoo off colored.
Remove that one.
And that one had producer Sarahin it and we've already had that
one in Eclipse episodes, soI'll remove that one as well.
So it got it down to 25 minutes, but it was a great.
We talked about a lot ofcolorful things.
So if you haven't watched thatone because of my piss poor
(04:07):
intro.
I always like to talk down ourstuff, so it's a hidden gem, but
here it is.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
I think secretly you have self-confidence issues and
that's the main reason why youtalk down most of our episodes.
G never thought when the showwould get started that it would
ever be at 144 episodes.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
No, I thought we'd be lucky if we had like five to
ten listeners and generate adrevenue throughout it, and
different things like that.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
So, uh, yes, if you ever hear g doing an intro by
himself, please do not tune outof the episode.
I assure you there is probablygood content behind it, if you
can get through the first 40seconds of his ramblings.
Yeah, because he repeatedpretty much the same thing over
and over again, and just when Ikept yelling at the screen to
say start the episode, alreadyhe went on again apologizing for
(04:52):
how terrible it was going to be.
Um, so, that being said that isnot, that is not a problem.
Tonight we are together, we arein person.
We are recording episode 144 ofthe Towing Life podcast.
Don't forget your questions.
Comments, concerns all thatgood stuff is important to us.
You can easily get a hold of usin multiple different ways.
(05:14):
You can visit us atwwwtowinglifeca.
You can email us directly atthetowinglife at gmailcom, or
you can find us on Facebook atthe towing life podcast.
Don't forget, if you'rewatching over on the youtube
side, you can also click downbelow comment, down below
subscribe.
Up in the top right corner, orleft or right or bottom left
(05:35):
bottom right wherever they putthe button now do not forget to
subscribe and hit the littlebell to get notified when we
release new content, which tendsto be every tuesday of every
week, which is a small task onits own, as we know, with how
busy the towing industry can be.
And you're right, g, when I gogolfing, I haven't taken a golf
trip.
I take one a year yeah one ayear and your schedule couldn't
(06:00):
accommodate it.
We had one night that we weresupposed you didn't let me know
ahead of time I did um I, I toldyou the night that we were
supposed to record one night.
Yeah, and you won't, like.
I'm like, can we go a littlelater?
And you're like, nah, I don'tknow what you had and I can't
remember.
I got called out to a job.
I think it was the roller thathad rolled over yeah and I got
(06:21):
called out to a job and youcouldn't do after and and I
believe I told you because I'mgoing away on a golfing trip
this weekend.
And then you messaged me onSaturday and I said I'm away on
a golfing trip.
And then you messaged me onSunday.
I said I'm away on a golfingtrip.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
No, you just said you're away golfing.
You didn't say trip, but Ididn't know when you were
returning.
But no, we had it scheduled for6.30, and you're like, can you
do later?
I said no and then later on yousaid, well, I'm going out on
this job.
So I was like, well, I get upat 4.30 am, so I got to go to
bed I gave you fair notice.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
I try my best to give you fair notice of what's going
to happen.
Gene and I have a very and hereminds me of my wife in a lot
of ways.
He words things to the way thatwill benefit him in the
argument and he leaves outinformation that was given to
him in order to sound better inthat argument.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
I just forget.
I have a horrible memory,absolutely horrible memory.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
And, like my wife, he uses that argument.
Actually, that's the argument.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
I want to tell my story about a damage claim, so
let's get started with this Fordvideo that you got.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Okay, perfect, let's get on to the real towing topics
.
So it was brought to myattention.
I got a phone call tonight.
I was on my way back fromdinner with my wife.
I got a phone call and theysaid hey, have you heard about
Ford's new active active air dam?
It's also called like an activespoiler a front, like an active
front spoiler.
And I said, no, I've neverheard of this.
(07:45):
I've heard of especially, theeco boosts.
I think they had it.
A lot were in the grill.
It would open and close to alot of airflow.
Yeah yeah, like shutters.
That's what I thought he wasreferring to, because he's
slightly french.
Sometimes he loses things intranslation.
That was not at all the case.
This camera is going to driveme bonkers that doesn't want to
stay still, um.
(08:06):
So I did a little research,said hey, I heard about it on
toe talk, which is a socialmedia group where we pulled a
lot of information over theyears for our episodes.
I'm about this thing and Ithink it's worth looking into
and having a talk with theoperators, so I wanted to bring
everyone here the opportunity tosee the same video.
So it does come from TikTok,the way I used to download the
(08:27):
video.
It unfortunately removed thename off of it, but it is Tow
Truck Tech over on TikTok.
So I'll let the video play,I'll let you guys hear and see
for yourselves, and we'll have atalk about damage claims and
how to avoid them with thissystem.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
There is a $1,200 monster on the front of these
new F-150s 21 and newer that iswaiting to haunt wrecker
operators.
What Ford has done is they putan active spoiler on this
vehicle.
There's a set of actuators thatruns a spoiler up and down, and
where you're going to come intotrouble is where you have a
hard contact on the front of thevehicle like this.
I've priced out the parts it'slike 600 parts and there's 600
labor to fix it and theactuators are very well known
(09:06):
for premature failure.
So you could have a vehiclethat you handle, that you did
not mishandle, and the customerclaims that you have damaged the
actuators and the spoiler, whenit should actually be a
warranty item.
And I cannot state this enough.
Document everything and how youhandle these vehicles.
Once this vehicle is on thedeck, take photographs of all
four corners.
You can see you've got goodclearance there, so there's no
question what's going on.
(09:27):
You can see we're eight-pointed, so there's no question how the
vehicle is retained, becausethe last thing you want,
especially on an F-150 like this, is some $1,200 demon creeping
up and punching you in the facelater on and you cannot document
anything on how the vehicle ishandled.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
So that is some very interesting piece of information
.
I am going to name this the,the texas snowplow, because this
is also the stupidest goddamndesign I've ever seen from fort
um, and fort's done a lot ofstupid stuff over the years.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Let's be honest like it's a six thousand pound truck
that's got a squarish front end.
What's this little spoiler airdam going to do for your fuel
economy?
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Apparently it increases 4% aerodynamics of the
vehicle.
Ooh no.
But in a world where everyone'sfighting over fuel mileage,
yeah, and increasing it to themaximum, I can see how they're
trying to take every option.
What I'm saying is I've got tocheck because my father has one
of these trucks and I'm willingto bet that guy does not know he
has this on there.
(10:29):
I called him earlier.
He didn't answer.
I want to confirm because if hedoes, I want to go look at it.
My old manager has one too.
Yeah, I bet you see if theyknow about this thing.
So, like 20, it's on modelyears 21 and up.
It's excluded on, like thetremor and the raptor, which
makes sense, but it doesn't needany, by the sounds of it, any
(10:50):
sort of fancy trim line.
It's xlt's, you know it'spretty standard on them and,
like they said, the actuators onit are already prone to failure
and it's and visibly looking atit.
I watched a couple other videos.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
You don't see it no, and that's behind the little
rubber it's behind and 100.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
I've used a winch and I've seen that little rubber.
I'm pretty sure I've chaineddown a ford.
I don't know if it's on thef-250s, but I've changed down
like 250s where I bend up therubber thing on the corners
where my chain's running, likethis is something that, like
it's the first I've heard of itand I've been towing for a while
, as we all know, and there's alot of operators out there, you
(11:35):
know, even the person who sentthis to me has been towing for a
while, never seen it.
Right, I, is this something youhave seen?
You know?
Be sure to send us a message,comment down on the youtube or
send us an email at thetowinglife at gmailcom, like
have you seen this ford activeair dam or active spoiler,
whatever you want to call it onthe bottom of the 21 and ups?
(11:57):
And why is ford not gettingthis information out to like?
We almost need a centralizedtraining.
Oh wait, we're bringing one toontario.
That will not cover any of thisno but you know, I mean like a
bulletin out to towing providerssomehow to go, hey, new model
years, kind of like they didwith electric.
(12:18):
Right, electric is in a bigpush for that.
Hey, we don't want you guys topooch these cars.
Here's how you have to tellthem.
Right, the ford mach-e is agreat example.
Right, there was a bunch ofinformation put up that I
believe they have like two slotsunderneath them.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Do not use them yeah, they're the battery slots for
the mounting of the battery andif you hook them up it pulls out
the hole underneath the caryeah, right, but there was at
least a little.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
But even that, we didn't get that from ford, no,
we got that from like esa orsome electric safety standard,
because some dumb tow truckdriver did it and screwed it up
and he was like oh no, post itall over social media.
Don't do this, because I muchlike we have to learn about
these things right and and again.
We fucked up many vehicles, nowa truck.
(13:04):
You know I normally don't go aarms on them.
You normally go on transmissionmount right or transmission
cross member because you needthe room on the winch.
You know, somebody posted inthe comments of that video oh,
why don't you just use the pullthe tow hooks on the front?
Okay, first of all tow hook.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
I don't know if you're driving a 30 foot deck
but uh or never winched up atruck before.
But it just doesn't fit.
If you got like a four foot orthree foot chain bridle, even a
strap bridle, you just not goingto have that bridle into.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
You know, if you shorten the shit of that bridle,
the veer angle alone of it isnot great.
So there obviously needs to bea tool, you know, maybe put in
place which to help these things.
But you're right, you'll runout of deck, like even on a on a
21 foot platform.
You'll run out of deck and ifyou don't, you're pulling down
on the whole front end of thedamn thing by the time it gets
(13:56):
up to the winch.
Like it's not practical.
So you go underneath, but noone tells us about this.
Like no one gives us thisinformation tells us about this.
Like no one gives us thisinformation.
This is completely left ontothe towing industry to know
better.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
And unless you flipped a ford upside down onto
its side and got a good look atthis thing and went, oh shit,
that's how it works, you know, amemo from ford might not be a
bad place to start, especiallysince these things have been out
for four years yeah now this isleading into my story here, but
when we worked at a companytogether you found a thing in
(14:29):
the Chevy's owner manuals likethe old Caddyshevs early 2000s
to where it says in the owner'smanual if you press the two high
and four low together for 10seconds, it neutralizes the
transfer case and you can tow itwith the rear tires on the
ground.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
With the truck in neutral and on the newer models
with the trans, the parkingbraking gauge yes no with the
transmission.
One needed the.
No, it was transmission neutral.
Transmission neutral the twolines.
On an old chevy cat eye youcould see two lines that would
go to an end.
If you held those two buttons.
With the key power on and thetransmission in neutral, that N
(15:03):
would light up.
After about 15 seconds you putthe transmission back in park.
You could tow them by the frontwith the rear tires on the
ground.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
I'm talking about the older ones with the push
buttons on the left-hand side,that's a problem.
No, you can put thetransmission in park and it's
perfectly fine, I always did itfrom neutral.
I'm a firm believer.
If you're neutralizing anytransfer case, if you cannot put
(15:32):
the transmission into park,don't do it, because if the
transmission is in park then youknow that the power is not
getting to the transmissionanyways.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Yes, you'll know, let me know.
I want to reiterate thatbecause it's an important fact.
If you put the transmission inpark and it doesn't roll, it
means the transfer transfer casewas never disengaged.
If you put the transmission inpark and it doesn't roll, it
means the transfer case wasnever disengaged.
If you leave the transmissionin neutral, you are unsure if
the transmission is in new is ifit's that that's causing it to
roll or if it's the transfercase that has been disengaged.
(15:56):
Therefore, putting it in parkeliminates that, especially
since chevy ngms had a notoriousproblem with electric four
wheel drive actuators notactually working.
So it would tell you neutral,but it was actually still in two
high, four high.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Whatever the case was , yeah, Um, now, most of the
Chevys, the front hubs spinfreely.
You could tell them what thefront tires on the ground, as
long as it's in two wheel driveanyways, and you're good to go
down the road Now, uh Now, withthe company I worked with, we
towed a lot of trucks with thefront tires on the ground and we
never had an issue, Not once.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
And this story and you're talking about the company
we worked with together,because I never towed with my
wheel on the ground.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
No, okay, the company I previously worked for, we
towed pretty much every truckout on the market with the front
tires on the ground.
Okay, when the company we didwork for together, we did get a
notice from ford or one of usfound this notice from ford of
how to tow their new trucksbecause they it was the newer
body style in like 2016, 2018,with the turn dial and automatic
(16:56):
four-wheel drive.
And I remember that documentbecause I saved that document
and I shared it to otheroperators because the trucks
with the automatic four wheeldrive, you had the neutralize,
the transfer case and tow itwith the rear tires on the
ground, but if it didn't havethe auto four wheel drive, you
could tow it with the rear tiresin the air front tires on the
(17:16):
ground and you're good to gorocking down the road.
That's what Ford said in thisletter.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
So you claim you have no proof at this point.
No.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
I in this letter.
So you claim you have no proofat this point?
No, I want this claim.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
I can find I can find the document again.
I want to start this off by weare not responsible for any
damage claims induced by ourstories of towing don't don't
follow any advice until you hearthe end of the story.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
So I've told many, many of newer aluminum body for
Ford F-150s following thatmetric in my head.
If it's got auto, the autofour-wheel drive option, pick it
up from the front, neutralizedtransfer case.
A lot of times you can put thetransmission in park.
Sometimes you still have toleave it in neutral just because
(17:59):
it's the stupid push button.
If it had the turn key you'reable to put it in park and it'd
be fine Push button.
You'd have to leave it inneutral because reasons, I guess
anyways, and it worked fineevery time until one day.
One day I went down and I washooking this truck up and I was
taking it to toronto I think itwas like a 65 kilometer tow and
(18:24):
I got it out onto the road.
I was about to hook it up fromthe rear.
I went up and I looked.
I was like, oh, it's got theauto four wheel drive.
So I turned my tow truck around, backed up to the front, and
I'm talking to the owner of thetruck and showing them how to
neutralize the transfer case andeverything.
I said, yeah, I got a documentfrom Ford and I checked the
years and it's all good to go,so I do it, and it's one of the
(18:45):
push button ones, to where youcan't put the transmission in
the park and you have to leaveit in neutral.
I didn't think much of it atthe time, so I start going down
the road and as I'm going, downthe road.
How far did you make it?
I made it 50 kilometers, ohokay, and I felt the weird bump.
(19:13):
I was like oh, that's weird.
And I just had a weird feelinglike I couldn't see anything in
my mirrors.
The truck was still rolling,just fine, didn't think much of
it, but I was like I'm justgonna get off the highway and
check.
I pull off the highway and Ipull into a parking lot and I
get out and don't I see adriveshaft laying on the ground.
Whoops, from the rear end,whoops.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Yeah, I was like, oh, that's not good fun fact that's
the only drive shaft home nghas ever removed in his career
no.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
So anyways, I call my manager, of course, because
it's like I just royallybuggered up this guy's truck and
I crawl underneath and I try tomove the drive shaft and drive
shaft will not spin.
So the transfer case, I guess,locked back up while going down
the road because the front tires, the drive shaft, wouldn't have
(20:04):
spun in the first place Becausethe front tires were locked
Like it locked up the fronttires.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
So what drive shaft did you?
You had this thing picked up bythe front.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Yeah, the rear drive shaft.
It snapped right at the reardiff.
But, the transfer.
Well, the U-joint snapped and Iguess what happened.
I'm not sure if it was the bumpI hit on the highway jiggled
something in the transfer case,or if the transfer case just
said you know what, I don't wantto be in this position anymore
(20:33):
and locked up the front tires,be in this position anymore and
locked up the front tires.
Well, when you lock up thefront tires and they're
stationary and the wheel liftwith straps on and the rear
tires are doing 90, yeah right,something's gonna break.
Yeah, thankfully the driveshaft broke at the rear and up
the front, because then thatwould have dug into the road.
Well, anyways I've never seenone dig in in that sense, but
(20:56):
it's an old possibilities thereright possibilities there, um,
but if it also did break fromthe front, then it's also
spinning around from the diffand causing even more damage
okay, yes, that would be more ofthe concern.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Yes, is all the undercarriage that's going to
tear up yeah, um.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
So here I am underneath this truck in a go
parking lot and I peel off thedrive shaft, throw it in the bed
of the truck.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Like finish off, it was still into the like, into
the front.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Yeah, it was still into the front yoke.
So I did the four bolts and Ipulled it off and I threw it in
the bed of the truck and ofcourse I'm towing it to a shop
I've never dealt with before.
I've never dropped there before.
So when I get there I drop thetruck off, I go in, I talk to
the mechanic.
I wait till he's off the phone.
I told him this is what itwhat's going on.
(21:43):
It was here because it wasleaking engine oil or whatever
um training diff.
No, it wasn't leaking any ofthat.
And I told him exactly whathappened and I said I've got the
document.
At that time I was already onthe phone.
I pulled it back up on my phone.
I showed him the document fromFord and I was like I honestly
don't think I'm in the wronghere, because I got a document
(22:04):
with a Ford letterhead that saysthis is how you're supposed to
tow it, but right.
However, it does state at thebottom of this document, not in
that specific vehicle class, butat the bottom of the document.
Because whenever you look for adocument and you're looking for
information, once you find thatinformation, that you want.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Once you find what you're looking for, you don't
stop operating, yeah, 100%.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
And it says at the bottom, after it lists all the
how to tow every Ford possible,it says for a maximum of 50
kilometers and under 80kilometers an hour.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
You forgot to read the speed limits.
Yeah, so anywho, I say okay,well, I'm going to guess you did
over 80 kilometers an hour.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Yeah, I was A hundred percent.
A hundred percent.
And at first I was all giddybecause it's like oh, it's got
one of those hard tunnel covers.
Now I have to worry about thatif I'm towing it backwards.
And since it's got the autofour-wheel drive, like I was
excited.
The guy even tipped me 20 bucksfor showing me all the.
So after I drop it down and Italked to the guys like find out
(23:16):
like you can still drive itaround and like we moved in the
parking lot in four wheel drivewith the front so we knew so we
knew that the, at least thetransmission and transfer case,
is working right.
So and I knew the rear end wasokay because yeah, but I know
the rear end's fine because it'sspun all the way there, um, so
(23:37):
I'm thinking, okay, if I'mtrying to do that, yeah, but I
know the rear end's fine becauseit's spun all the way there.
So I'm thinking, okay, well,I'm in for a driveshaft, bare
minimum.
But then I'm probably also.
I just hope I'm not into atransmission.
I better not be into atransmission.
Transfer case is probably goingto be, we'll see right.
So I leave it at the shop andthe guy the owner, is obviously
(23:58):
upset.
I call him in the parking lot,I'll know what happened and say
that I'm going to take care ofit.
And uh, he's upset and he wantsa rental vehicle.
So the company gets him arental vehicle.
It'll do, right, yeah, and uh,this mechanic I'm not sure how
good of a job he normally does,but he dragged his heels on this
(24:22):
job.
So it was like three weeksbefore, yes, before he even told
me that.
No, I think the transfer caseis a little fuck you.
Later I had a drive shaftcustom made for that truck in
two days.
I went to a high end partsstore that we've used for like
drag or like pull trucks.
I said this is the drive shaftI need.
(24:43):
These are the ends make it.
I spent like $900 on thisaluminum drive shaft.
That's like really strong, justbecause finding a used one.
I don't want to put used partsreally because I don't know
anyways and ford itself was backordered for like six months.
(25:06):
I knew I couldn't wait sixmonths.
So I'm going in for customparts and I get the drive shaft
and they're like oh well, thisdrive shaft, it'll work.
But it's a little like the.
Apparently the one spline isjust a little off, but it fits,
but it's just so.
It's like okay, I'll take driveshaft back, I'll get it
re-splined Like it was what itwas.
And then the mechanics like no,I think we need a transfer case
(25:30):
as well.
I was like all right, I'vealready had one on like placed
on order at the Ford dealership.
If I needed to back out, it wasfine.
So then I got a new transfercase to show up and he puts that
in well when he puts the newtransfer case in the drive shaft
that was now custom made twice,for the transfer case that was
in there no longer fits into thenew t-case.
(25:52):
So then they go out and buyanother used drive shaft out of
a junk yard and this custom madedrive shaft that I got for the
truck that fit in the truck isjust sitting somewhere I have no
idea where it is at this pointcollecting dust.
I hope.
Hopefully someone was able toresell it because I know I
didn't.
What was the total claim?
(26:13):
I don't even know anymore.
To be honest with you, it hadto be.
The transfer case was $16,000,the drive shaft was $9,000, but
I paid out of pocket so itdidn't even go through the
company first.
Plus the rental vehicle, Ithink he was in a rental for at
least two weeks.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
Yeah, you're probably looking at close to $5,000 when
you're all said and done, pluslabor and everything.
Fun fact you're probablylooking at close to five grand
when you're all said and done,plus labor and everything.
I've fun fact that's a.
You got to always read the fineprint.
Fun fact I did pay for adriveshaft on GM once as well,
but mine was for a completelydifferent reason.
It was a 2500 broken down onthe highway.
I called my dispatch, saidwhat's the problem with the
truck?
She said it won't start.
(26:52):
Died won't start.
No, he said it won't start.
Dyed won't start.
No problem.
Neutral transfer case.
Pick it from the front, takeoff.
Yep.
Get to the shop, guy sees theback wheels on the ground.
He goes what the hell are youdoing?
I'm like, well, you can neutralthe transfer case, it's fine
Like I wouldn't have done anydamage.
He goes no, the problem was oneof the rear U-joints.
Oh, oh, I said why.
(27:19):
Well, I'll be sure enough.
We crawled underneath and, yeah, one of the u-joints, like one
of the end caps, had fallen offand the u-joint, actually, while
spinning around going down theroad, reamed out the hole on the
drive shaft to make the driveshaft unusable yeah so 500, 600
bucks.
Later on a used drive shaft atthe scrapyard because it was
like I'm a, you know, you knowGM, you've ever seen their brake
configurations?
There's eight differentvariations.
(27:41):
Finally found one two hoursaway, went and got it, gave it
to the guy like luckily didn'tneed a rental or any of that
kind of stuff, but it was justone of those.
It was a miscommunication fromdispatch.
Sure enough, when I tolddispatch about it, she's like,
oh yeah, I said something abouta u-joint and I was like, yeah,
that was very valuableinformation that could have
saved me a lot of time and money.
Um, so, no it's.
(28:03):
You know what damage claims arepart of it, right, I've been a
big believer of that.
I've always said if you haven'tbroken something, you haven't
been doing it long enough oryou're full of shit.
Um, I still stand by that today.
I've got a couple active.
Just one was dumb.
I got two on the go right now.
Well, one just closed.
(28:25):
It was a couple thousanddollars and it was just
stupidity.
It was winching off a cubetruck in a parking lot at a
dealership, not paying attentionwhen he turned a little bit at
the end to get it off the bedbacking into a brand new sold
you car.
Oh, with the step bumper thatwas just over two grand oh, so
he's unloading the cube truck inthe park.
(28:46):
Yeah, he was unloading the cubetruck at the parking lot, hit a
brand new parked car that hadbeen sold.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
I think that's one of the most prevalent damage
claims is on like unloadingloading into something rolling
into something yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Yeah, so that was one .
It was, you know again, goodrelationships where business
comes into it.
How do you handle those?
Damage claims are going tohappen.
It's all about how you handlethem, right?
I called the dealership up.
As soon as I got the call Isaid hey look, I heard what
happened.
You who's your body shop and doyou need me to bring it there?
yep they said we use, you knowabc automotive, her auto body,
(29:20):
and no, we'll get it over there.
Okay, no problem, I'll call himup.
Let him know to send me thebill.
Right, call them up.
Hey, you got a car coming fromthe dealership.
This is the car.
It's the damage.
Try and be easy on me.
He's not a body shop Iregularly use, he's not one of
my regular customers, but I knowhim and I said, look, I'm gonna
come good for it.
I'll write you a check forwhatever the balance is, just
(29:40):
get this car fixed for them andget it taken care of.
I call back the dealership.
I said, hey, I've alreadyspoken with him, we're gonna
take care of the bill.
No problem, he'll try and bumpit up.
Hey, appreciate how you'retaking care of this.
I mean, that's the right way totake care of it.
Yep, as for the driver, there's, there's there's consequences
in them we have to deal withright.
My other one is a trainingissue.
New operator Can't blame him.
(30:02):
This guy, given a currentsituation, maybe got thrown into
something that he shouldn'thave got thrown into quite yet.
He's a great operator.
He operates heavies and lights.
He was wheel lifting a mercedessprinter camper van.
He disconnected the drive shaft.
He did everything right.
(30:22):
So we run nrc beds, anyone thatknows that.
You know we don't run thevulcan so we run a strap on the
tires.
Unfortunately, I carry twodifferent sets of straps for
that wheel lift.
There is a set that nrc giveyou which are about, you know,
two inch or three inch straps.
Yeah, with the hookup they'regreat.
And then we also a lot of timesI'll run if it's just small
little stuff, those little blueones we talk yeah, the
motorcycle dolly straps yeahyeah, well, they're not
(30:44):
motorcycle, they're dolly straps.
Yeah, yeah, so I'm on thesmaller car as well.
A little bit of training, orlack thereof.
He put those on this, andbecause we run a strapless
system, you do not require torun your safety chains to the
wheel lift you can tie directlyto the casualty.
So he did.
He went up over the wheel lift,tied to the cat, the wheel lift
, or uh, tied to the casualty,and let the chains hang.
(31:06):
Well, on a highway he had toemergency brake.
When he emergency brake, thosechains weren't going to stop
because they weren't tied off tothe wheel lift, which they
don't have to be.
Those straps should hold If youuse the big ones.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Yeah, the ones that are rated for all that you're
towing.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
Yes, the little ones are not.
They are rated for the smallerlittle cars.
They're not waiting for a fullsize camper conversion vehicle
came forward.
As you know, you tow them onthe wheel.
Lift of a bed is it was on abed um fairly tight, so any
little forward travel puts thatthing right into the lip of your
bed.
If you bring it in far enoughand which he did that was the
(31:48):
only.
That was one of the few thingshe did very well, and that is he
had his.
He would have been perfect tomake corners um so luckily again
, it wasn't a catastrophicfailure.
The safety chains were stillattached, so it was nothing that
came off the vehicle.
There was nothing.
You know it was the best of abad scenario, um, but yeah,
damage claims happened, and thatone I can.
I haven't even started theprocess and I just still at the
(32:09):
garage getting the originalrepair for what it was.
Uh, and it's not a mercedes,ouch.
So they happen, right, theyhappen, and what we can do from
it is learn.
And like I would be the firstday if I got a damage claim off
something like that of the Fordon something I knew nothing
about.
That's 100% on.
(32:30):
You can't blame an operator forthat one.
Like you put the responsibilityin the operator that he is
supposed to take care ofwhatever vehicle is towing he's
supposed to be checking for.
You know I can't teach you howto check tow every car or where
which cars are going to havewiring, that you got to look out
for possible brake lines on adiff, fuel lines or any of that
stuff, abs wires.
And if you are right in thedamage claim which I've had
(32:53):
recently with a customer whichis a whole other cluster, then I
will fight and fight and fightto.
You know like we have acustomer.
We had a customer that claimedthat we ripped off an ABS wire
on his Mercedes or BMW.
This is a wild one.
The ABS wire comes in from thetop of the strut tower and down.
(33:15):
The tow.
Truck said it looks like it gotpulled with a hook there or the
the garage.
No, there's no way.
Maybe a tire strap, but eventhat I look like where it's
mounted.
It doesn't make sense yeah wedid not pull that with a with a
j hook.
This vehicle was in for a 14day stun drive.
After he picked it up the ABSlight was on.
He claims it wasn't on.
(33:36):
Prior Claims Brought it to adealership, blamed it on us.
The crazy part about this is hefiled a, a chargeback on his
credit card that he paid with inperson for the impound bill and
(33:56):
the credit card companyapproved it.
What so?
It goes through waves.
Have you ever dealt withchargebacks?
It gets charged back.
Then you've got to prove yourpoint.
Then they make a decision andthere's like three rounds of
this.
It can go through and at thelast I'm pretty sure the first
one, we lost.
The second one we won.
The third one we won.
The third one we lost becausethey said we didn't submit
documents, even though they toldus.
(34:18):
But he went and actually hasmanaged to get out of paying his
14-day impound at this pointbecause he charged back his
credit card, which are twoseparate matters.
Yeah, if you truly believe thatwe did your damage, that does
not constitute that you get outof a police order tow.
No, that becomes a civil matter.
(34:39):
Mm-hmm, the charge back.
Like the pair on this guy.
You guys must be relatedBecause the pair on this guy to
go.
I'm going to call my creditcard company and say that I
didn't authorize that charge.
It was for your car.
Yeah, you paid in person with acard.
Yeah, like physically put thething in the machine.
Yeah, I thought that wassupposed to protect us.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
But for the ABS light , like just before I got out of
the industry, since we hadindoor storage where I was
working, we were taking picturesof all four corners, obviously,
um, outside in the light, andthen when you drive it into the
actual yard and put it on ahoist, you take more pictures.
But for my own personal uhregulation, you're supposed to
(35:25):
write down how much fuel is inthe vehicle and the kilometers,
because some people like to say,oh well, they took my car for a
joy ride.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
I don't need to do that.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
I got full video surveillance I know we do too,
but it's like just you write iton the bill how much fuel was in
it?
Because they see that it'sindoor storage and we drive it
around to them when they come topick it up.
Right, try to red carpetservice.
Thanks for paying I don't dothat.
So screw it, yeah, so, and withthat picture it would show what
lights are on in the dash,because it's running at that
(35:55):
time before you're taking it in.
Um, we had a a car and it was ashitty little pontiac pursuit.
I think it was a cobaltknockoff for pontiac and it was
in for a 45 day and I was theone that picked it up in the
wheel lift and I was like, oh,we're going to get stuck with
this thing like it's, they'renot going to come pick it up.
(36:17):
Should I double pick it?
Speaker 1 (36:19):
yeah, I'll double pick it, whatever yeah, they
were my foil pants right.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
I'll double pick it.
I know they're low.
I got a fat wheel lift.
I double picked it, parked itin my shop.
It sat there for 60 days beforethis guy came and paid the bill
to get it out.
He got it towed across thestreet for whatever reason,
because he couldn't drive, andwhen it wasn't by us it was by a
different company and when itwas dropped across the street
(36:45):
there was a puddle of oilunderneath of it.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
And he's definitely blaming you for that.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
He's blaming us for it and we said you can come into
our shop and see exactly whereyour car was parked for 60 days.
It didn't move because we knewit was going to be there for 60
days.
So we shoved it in a corner.
No one touched it.
We had to boost it to get itstarted because it hasn't been
moved.
There's no oil there and youcan see on our surveillance
(37:12):
camera we weren't messing aroundwith it.
Yeah, so it's.
People will try to say whateverthey can to get money.
A hundred percent, but what I'mkind of worried about, about
these air dams on these FordF-150s.
So, going back to what I wassaying earlier, most of those
(37:33):
Fords you can pick up from therear and the front tires just
spin like we've towed hundredsof them never had.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
I don't do.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
I do not endorse this towman g mentality no, like
anything, it call it sat tire,if you will.
Anyways um what happens if youare like you'd set up your
clearance, your ride height, inthe rear, so you lower the ass
end of the truck down a littlebit on your wheel lift to make
sure you have that ground groundclearance?
What happens if the speedsensor in the front realizes
(38:01):
that it's doing 50 mile an hour?
and decides to put that anddecides to put that air dam down
because it's got an electricalissue and that's why you're
towing it right.
It's got a little demon hidingin the pcm module there ecm
module, because that's what newvehicles are famous for having
little demons doing weird things.
Um, like in my ram, the lightsand the dash will just randomly
(38:25):
flash, sometimes just out of theblue.
What happens if that air damgoes down in reverse while
you're towing it.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
It no longer exists.
Yeah, I've actually seen when Iwas trying to do some research
on it, I seen posts about itwhere people were because like
Ford was a long delay to getparts on it, and one guy was
like I don't have one anymore.
I don't even know.
I hit a you know a tire debrisin the and it must have broken
(38:54):
it off.
People don't even know aboutthis thing.
No.
I'm willing to bet if I call mydad and ask him what year his
truck is, and I'm pretty sureit's newer than a 21.
I think it's a 22 or 23,.
And go, do you know about youractive air dam?
He's going to go my what Mostcustomers and most people
probably don't even know thisexists yeah right, like it's one
(39:16):
of those weird little thingsthat you know and because, again
, you don't see it.
If you're anyone like my dadwho just buys the truck and
knows nothing, like he comesaround, I gotta show him how,
everything on the damn thingright, it tells me when I need
an oil change yeah, no, he's alittle more mechanically
inclined than that.
I actually.
But it's true, like even mine,like my truck that I've picked
(39:37):
up is, um, e-torque dodge.
With the e-torque I kind of hadan idea what the e-torque was,
never really did any homework onit.
I actually started doingresearch and I was like, oh shit
, like there's a because, mainlybecause I'm having problems,
typical dodge, but um, but a lotof people, until they have
problems with something, won't.
Oh shit, like there's a cause,mainly because I'm having
problems, typical Dodge, but um,but a lot of people, until they
have problems with something,won't actually look into
(39:57):
something, right, yep, andbecause this doesn't affect any
of the powertrain modules.
So like this thing gettingripped off won't throw an Erica.
It will throw an Erica, but itwon't throw an engine light,
right?
So it'll say that there's aproblem with it, but it won't
throw an engine light.
Speaker 4 (40:10):
So it's only if you have what it's for, yeah no 100.
Speaker 1 (40:13):
Well, again the light won't come on.
You probably go scan it forsomething else going on and then
find out that there's a faultcode for you know, an air dam
actuator and you're like huh,what's?
Speaker 2 (40:22):
that yeah so is that a part of my like ac is the yeah
meter core.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
It's not opening, but that's the problem if we're all
trying to be professional inthis industry and with the so
many different makes and modelsof cars, it's it's impossible to
know everything to do for everynew car yeah, so your operators
have to be trained to literallydo and you know, and it's
(40:47):
important thing to do and I'mnot trying to shit on you know,
because there's probably peoplethat train you know much better
maybe than I do, or much bettereven than our company does or
that are just, you know,keyboard warriors that'll sit
there and go.
Well, you got to teach them allthis stuff and it's like, oh
what, there's so much out thereto learn.
You need to train youroperators on how to look for it
(41:08):
yeah right, like, yes, okay.
In a real, in a perfect world,they're walking around the full
car, they're crawling underneath, they're documenting everything
.
Then they're loading up the carand the fact of the matter is
they're doing four calls a day,yeah, right.
Or in the real world whereyou've done one, where you go
okay, I've done these foursbefore, no problem.
Hook, go, no problem, rightuntil you find out that that
(41:28):
actually has that air dam andyou're paying 1200 bucks, give
or take, that that it comes outso um no, but I was.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
I was trying to segue perfectly into professional I'm
going to.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
I got it right here.
So if you want to do damage,free towing and you never want
to cause damage.
We have some great news fromthe OPP in a recent post that
the Ontario Provincial Policeput out about a towing company.
And you'll ask me gee wait, isthat a towing company?
Because that doesn't look likea tow truck.
(42:01):
That's a funny looking rotator.
Ontario Provincial Police EastRegions and Center is in Center
Hastings.
Some great work by SmokiesTowing.
After a single vehicle crash onHighway 62 in Centre Hastings.
It happened on June 28th whenthe driver swerved to avoid a
deer, the car went over theguardrail and plunged 30 feet 9
(42:22):
meters onto the rocks in theditch.
Thankfully there were noinjuries.
It took a skilled tow operatorjust 10 minutes to get the
vehicle back on the road withoutany further damage or road
closure.
Speaker 2 (42:37):
What do you mean?
Road closure that truck'sblocking the whole stinking road
.
Speaker 1 (42:43):
Yeah, only for 10 minutes.
Technically, he left the laneopen by the looks of it.
Yeah, the OPP.
Now here's looking at you, opp.
Speaker 2 (42:51):
You said I had cojones before the OPP.
Now here's looking at you, opp.
You said I had cojones before.
The OPP's got balls for postingthis.
Speaker 1 (42:57):
No, the OPP are stupid for posting this and the
reason I say that, and as we'llgo on to read it, one comment
from the post no disrespect inthe world to Smokies.
No.
Okay, smokies had this equipmentat their disposal, they went
ahead and did it.
My problem with this post isthis the only ontario provincial
(43:19):
police postings you will findabout tow trucks, or how many
tow trucks they took out ofservice.
How many tow trucks have beenshot at this month?
How many tow trucks um you knowgot caught racing and stunt
driving to scenes that they'veimpounded?
Now you finally take the timeto give a towing company credit
(43:40):
for something on something thatisn't even a goddamn tow truck
yeah, like for those, for thoseof you audio listeners out there
, it's a logging truck with acrane.
Speaker 2 (43:51):
it's a tanana max logging truck with a log grab on
the tailboard and it's got thecar grabbed in between the a
pillar and the B pillar,crushing the roof in slightly
picking it up over top of thetruck over the guardrail over
top, loading it into a bin.
Speaker 1 (44:08):
Um, it sounds like they may do scrap hauling and
that, so like there's actually atub on that log hauler, if you
look at it, where the car cansit in.
Yep, so it may be built with apurpose, yep, but the fact of
the matter it is that is not atow truck.
That doesn't even fall under atow truck under the OPPs new
regulations and it says loggingon the hood.
Speaker 2 (44:27):
Locking right on the front of it.
Speaker 1 (44:33):
So my problem with this is and I'll go on to read a
comment that I think it's veryfunny and hits the nail pretty
well in the head.
This is adding insult to injury.
What the fuck is wrong with theindustry and the law
enforcement we deal with here inontario?
For people that follow the oppsocial media accounts, we can
all agree that we barely, veryrarely does the opp call out a
towing company by name, otherthan when it's making headlines
(44:54):
for plates being removed or thetow truck being impounded for
excessive speeding on the way totheir first available request.
But this has to be a joke.
Congratulations, a goddamnlogging truck.
I think it's congratulations toa goddamn logging truck after
all the shit this province hasmade the industry go through.
What a joke.
I kind of laughed at the noadditional damage.
(45:16):
The car was probably awrite-off, but just shows the
lack of knowledge and ignorance.
If the car wasn't a write-off,sure as now, but hey, at least
the logging truck did a greatjob.
I know a lot of companies inOntario that invest in the right
equipment and training.
Some of us have to help withextrication and I've never seen
a good job post on those.
Regardless if all otheremergency personnel were thanked
(45:39):
for their assistance.
But let's not forget theamazing work a logging truck
that totaled what was left of acar that doesn't need a tow
license or a tow driver becauseit's a goddamn logging truck.
Don't mean any disrespect toSmokey's Towing.
Some great work by Smokiestowing after a single vehicle
crash on highway 62 and centerHastings.
Yeah it's true, like the, theOntario provincial police has
(46:01):
made an absolute joke of theindustry, as it is right.
From you know the corruptionbehind the scenes, from you know
blasting every time a tow truckfails an inspection or gets
impounded, right, if you haven'tfollowed ontario provincial
police east region and seen thispost.
Last time I checked it wasstill active.
We were surprised.
(46:21):
We thought it would come downafter a bit.
But, like you guys have alreadypooched this industry to hell,
you have made us jump throughhoops.
Keep in mind this was threedays before all the regulations
became official.
Yeah, right, and then you youknow what I mean.
You, you congratulate.
It's the first time we've everseen one called out by by first
(46:42):
name, yeah, like by company name, and it's because of something
like this and it's embarrassing.
It's goddamn embarrassing.
Like we don't go out here forthe recognition by any stretch
of the imagination.
Goddamn embarrassing.
Like we don't go out here forthe recognition by any stretch
of the imagination.
We have done recoveries wherewe have helped trap people
inside vehicles.
We have done you know what Imean like worked hand in hand
with many first responders andwe do not expect the praise for
(47:03):
it.
That's fine, right, as thisposter goes on to say, even
though many other, every otheremergency personnel that
responded to something will getthe recognition and the thank
you.
We, you know, we'll go onhumble without it, no problem,
but when you see that kind ofshit, it stings, it stings a lot
(47:24):
, and whoever is in charge oftheir social media and I'm sure
they thought it was just it's afunny post, hey, this is pretty
funny.
Da da, da, da da.
It's a funny post.
Hey, this is pretty funny.
Da, da, da, da da.
But it doesn't speak to thetrue issue going on within the
towing industry, especially insuch a crazy time in Ontario
with everything going on.
I think it was sensitive and Ithink they fucked up.
I think if it was meant to befunny, they missed the mark
(47:45):
because it doesn't read funny itreads stupid.
Speaker 2 (47:48):
Maybe, just maybe, here in Ontario we're going to
see the industry start pivotingmore towards these
unconventional roles, solely forthe fact that that logging
truck, like that poster says,doesn't need a tow license.
Now what if I get a roll-offtruck with a flat deck?
Well, that's not a tow truck,that's a roll-off truck.
(48:10):
Hmm, I wonder.
I don't think I'll need a towlicense for that because it's a
roll-off truck, but I could haulcars with it.
Probably won't need a towlicense.
Probably won't need to put adriver through $1,100 worth of
training to operate that, aslong as they got their DZ.
Speaker 1 (48:25):
People are going to argue it, people are going to
play with it, people are goingto find ways that they can to
get around it.
A hundred percent right.
I know one of the definitionsis like having a wheel lift on a
flop.
Speaker 2 (48:36):
That definitely makes it a tow truck, doesn't make it
just a like a float truck butat the same point that's gonna
screw a lot of people, because Iknow a lot of equipment movers
that haul medium-sized tractorslove the 40 tb nrc beds because
they're strong decks.
A lot of them didn't remove thewheel lift.
Speaker 1 (48:56):
They just never use it because they need because
they use it as a stabilizer.
Speaker 2 (48:59):
Yeah, they need it for the support.
So now that's deemed a towtruck, when that thing would
never see a car in its life.
And now I wonder if it has tobe registered to a towing.
Speaker 1 (49:09):
I don't know what the fine.
I'd have to go over again andsee what the fine.
If it's not registered to atowing like I don't know what
the fine.
I'd have to go over again andsee what the fine.
If it's not registered to atowing company, it shouldn't be
a problem and if it's registeredto a towing company, right, but
but no it's.
I don't know we've talked aboutto see enough.
I really don't want to bore ourlisteners with it.
It is a subject that definitelygets me a little hot and
bothered in all the wrong ways.
(49:30):
Um, it is something that Ithink the province has
completely continued to pooch Um, and hopefully we'll get it
solved out.
You know, sooner than later,before we start seeing logging
trucks taking over recoveries inNorthern Ontario Like there's
operators that spent money onrotators and training to do
exactly that.
Speaker 2 (49:49):
But you could also say what about a high ab crane
on the back of like a lumbertruck?
It's not a rotator.
It's not a tow truck.
You could do most of the things.
Speaker 1 (49:59):
No, no, the goddamn high ab guy unions will start
arguing that it is and make usgo through seven years of
certification to run one ofthose too, like the crane guys
did, which I mean I'm not again.
We've we've touched the craneguys did, which I mean I'm not
again.
We've touched the crane debateenough.
Yeah, I think that we should.
That should be.
One of our goals is to set up,get a crane operator and a
(50:20):
rotator operator on the show andwe're just going to go in the
background and shut our camerasand mics off and go here, boys,
have a good talk about why is arotator not a crane, and you can
argue why it is.
That would be a good show.
That would be a good show.
What side are you on?
Team rotator, team crane, teamrotator probably?
That's not fair.
Then we're just going to beatup on this poor crane operator
and he'll never want to comeback on our show again we'd
(50:42):
never have him back on the showagain.
That's fair.
There's no purpose to have acrane operator.
All they do is lift things upand pick up, put them down so
same plane.
So, as we kind of touched overin the episode, go get those
logging trucks.
If you're in Ontario, they aregoing to save you millions of
dollars in licensing over thenext year and you can do the
same recovery you can with alight duty float without all the
(51:02):
hassle.
If you are towing Fords, please, for love of God, 21,.
You're 21 and up.
So if it's legal to drink, goahead and double check that it
doesn't have the lowered air dam.
If it does, maybe change upyour approach.
If you have a trick to how youtow these Fords that do have
that dam.
I think I got a couple ideas inmy head, but until I actually
(51:26):
get my hands on one to try it, Idon't want to give them away.
Comment down below or on theYouTube side.
Do not forget to like andsubscribe.
Do not forget to visit thewebsite or email us directly at
thetowinglifeatgmailcom and donot forget to tune in again next
week for another episode of theTowing Life podcast.
Take care, toodles.
Speaker 2 (51:56):
For some reason I wanted to say quack, bang out.
At the end of that he's anotherYouTuber, the fat electrician.
Speaker 1 (52:05):
He says quack bang out.
Yeah, you want to steal hisline.
Speaker 2 (52:09):
Yeah, it's a good line.
It was just fitting, I don'tknow.
It just went with the flow.
I was like, oh, that would gogood, here you have a line what
is it?
Speaker 1 (52:16):
toodles or some shit toodles yeah is that what you
say every time?
Speaker 2 (52:20):
toodles.
Yeah, 140, some odd episodesthat I've been a part of you
said toodles toodles, oh my god.
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