I come from a family of Wrecker Service owners and I'm telling you, nothing is more convenient than having your own tow truck and roll back! When you're in the "car business" it's a must have. Having your own tire machine is also a must have. Makes life a million times easier. 😁
You are so right, my buddy had a used car lot for a while. His uncle towed cars, his dad was a mechanic and he could sell dust to a Nevadan. A tire machine, even an old one saved him alot of money
I have car trailers with low decks, easy to push cars on them. I want a two car hauler, but haven't built it yet with the '52 GMC COE I have. Currently I have a manual tire changer, been looking for a used machine for a while now. Learn to rebuild transmissions in addition to having means to haul cars and change tires, and the only thing you need to pay someone else to do is machine work and alignments. To do those require over $50k in equipment.
A little info. The j hooks should be hooked under the rear not over. You'll get tired of replacing mashed steel brake lines on cars if you always hook over the top. Don't push the sling so far under the car, ideally you want the hooks on the sling just forward of the bumper under the car so when the car's hanging they don't contact the bumper, you also don't want the chain from the tow hook tight when the car is lifted the sling should be holding the car not the chains tight chains bend bumper brackets. the safety chain from the boom to the sling is a good idea, cables do break. Good luck with your wrecker.
Two things.. 1. No need to narf up your bumper with the chains. The rubber sling is supposed to carry the car, chains from the base of the sling to the top are just there in case the sling should fail..so it's alright to leave a little slack so they don't butch up your sheet metal. 2. ABSOLUTELY take the load off your winch cable when towing. Drop the sling and let it dangle from the chain rather than the cable. Your winch will thank you. It's there to lift, not to be abused by every pothole and speed bump you hit in your travels. Other than that, looks solid! Maybe think about remounting the A frame to your trailer hitch cross bar so you can shorten it up a tad and run a bit less angle..but your truck seems to like it fine for this load at least. That may change if you move something hefty. All in all, good junk...nice work as usual. 🤘
I agree, everyone needs a wrecker! I have plenty of small scale cars and many wreckers to go with 'em. LOL!! Cool build, great to see it in action!!!👊😁👍👍✌🇨🇦
DD's speed shop is official now all you need to do is put DD's speed shop going up the arm of the boom and you'll be straight. I think it's awesome man.
I like you saved that state truck and gave it new purpose. The whole thing looks nice and works. More lights for sure. Great video you guys are super. Thanks for sharing.
You hooked everything underneath the car including the wrapping that chain around like you did before getting to the last hook on the swing frame absolutely correct Dan. Many of my drivers never would do it until they lost a rig and besides being embarrassing, they had to fork the money for the damages as I paid as long as done right and no more. You will learn eventually how to when hooking that chain on the first hook to put the chain on the inside so you don't have to thread it later like you did. I have owned so many tow rigs that I have lost count of them. I had even the heavy haul rigs with a rotor on the boom assembly so you could lift and then turn the load in the air from the side of the road like over (brain fart, posts and railing).. guardrail!!!! and then set it on the right side so it could be hauled. So basically you grab the chain in your hand, pull on the part going to the J hook and then set it on that low hook.... the chain going to the top hook is in front of the finger grab.... ok... wrap around hand with the end going up is on the front instead of towards the thumb on your hand.... damn its hard without a picture, the other hand will hold that frame work of the strap assembly. I am dying here trying to explain what should be simple for me
Dan I'm retired from law enforcement back when I started in 1987 most cars had steel bumpers now cars had plastic bumbers most wreckers comp done away with sling stripes because sling straps damage plastic numbers here in the states
@@dontinsley1451 I highly doubt he’s hooking anything made after 79, your 100% but it don’t matter if it don’t matter, I miss points & carburetors, life was so easy back then
Nice work as usual Dan. Take an old tow driver's advice. It's more of a pain but use your J Hooks over the rear, not from under. A hard stop will make the towed vehicle ride up the sling. Your chains go slack just enough for the J Hooks to drop. Sane for Lower Control Arms up front. If the Hook is pointed down, ya can't loose your cool. Keep up the good content.
@@mikeslatz1351 I have had to replace 2 rear brake lines from 2 separate damage incidents from exactly that. This is from a modern deck truck using j hooks to pull it onto the deck. 1968 AMC Javelin. In the same city where this video was made.
I always wondered how those strap tow truck could tow a car without losing the load going down the road, thanks for the detailed demo with the axle chains, it finally all makes sense... And yes, every car guy wishes they had one of these!
Spend some time on tow forums learning useful tricks. If you don't have a set of chains with J-hooks I promise you want them. As for springs the classic tow mod is getting some tall U-bolts from a 4x4 store then harvesting both spring packs from the heavy duty truck of your choice in salvage (not pickup trucks, real trucks) . Cut those bolt and use whatever leaves look right to you as overloads then bolt them to your stock leaves. I use anti-seize on the spring bolts. To separate leaf packs cut the stock pins then replace them with quality socket head cap screws and metal lock nuts, using the round bolt head as your new spring pad centering pin. Next you'll need overload stops. If you have overload stops its easy to cut short sections of heavy wall box tubing then weld it to the stops so it just touched your new "custom" overloads. If not go cut some rivets and harvest stops off a heavy truck, but make sure the result touches your new overloads with no weight on the boom. The result does not sag much at all under load because the overloads engage immediately. You'll figure it out as you go because it's obvious with parts in your hand and except for new U-bolts costs next to nothing. That's the way insert wrecker booms and full wrecker boom conversions like my Holmes 440 have been done for many decades. Next useful mod is dual rear wheels (those sidewalls make quite the anti-sway difference!) and maybe a mechanical wheel lift but if ya go that far best to use the truck you have then build another project since it's cheap when you wrench.
Dan, I used to be an automobile repossessor, on the repo trucks with inbed booms, we remove the factory limit straps, and attach bungee cords from the lower a frame to the tailgate so the tail gate will close when the boom is up. And when the boom is down so is the tailgate. But you have to lose the bumper or French it in like a roll pan. Ofcorse a square hitch receiver would work as a bumper aswell. Just thought I'd share the info. We used to call them hide a booms. And you could hide them under a canvas tannue cover. And on the expensive ones the cover would move out of the way when the boom was ingauged., looks good though. You would have to pull out the latches on the tailgate though.
Everything looked good, one thing I do different is, Not back that far under the vehicle. Most of the time I put the base of the sling right under the bumper. I was really impressed when you wrapped the chain around itself. That is the way I was taught. I had a boss tell me I was wasting time wrapping them around. I still did it the correct way. I towed with a 440 and a 880, The 880 has twin booms and twin winches. They worked great at pulling vehicles out of ditches. You could run both lines out and connect to both sides or even the front and the rear of the vehicle and just work them back and forth. I made some really mean wheel chocks, I used extra heavy duty expanded metal and angle iron. the bit right into the asphalt and didn't budge.
Man that’s a well built truck. My only advice, you really don’t have to go that deep with the sling, what can happen in a panic stop the vehicle can ride up on the sling and drop a J hook. I know not likely but it is possible. And once you install that plow, you’ll definitely feel a little more stable on the steering. Great Job Great video 👍🏼
Very nice set up Dan. Look on line for wireless signal lights, they are awesome. I built a ramp truck with an old car trailer and a dually, best thing ever. Now I can move my old junk as well. Just one thing careful on lettering, here a lettered vehicle must have commercial plates and commercial insurance. I just lettered "Private.. Not For Hire" to get around that.
Hey Danny Like what you are doing I towed all my adult life, so I have a little advice and like what you do. back in the day the A frame that attaches to the sling was telescopic and had spring loaded locking pins so you could get the Hook bar where you want without moving the truck. I do recommend that you place the hook bar in front of the bumper and place a 4x4 under the car at the bumper supports or frame and the J Hooks from the bottom of the axle and not the top. that way you will not get chain slack in an emergency stop and not bend brake lines and reduce the chance of having a bumper with the happy to see you look. the thing is totally awesome keep up the good work
Someone probably Said it already. Black rubber bungee strap. Wrap around steering wheel. Wheel not locked, strapped pulled taught n shut in the driver's door. Wheels return to where you set the front tires because locked wheel doesn't always translate to dragging straight n trailing behind you proper. Cool build. Thanks for sharing.
It looks good. I wanted one a while ago until I found out the insurance on a tow truck was crazy. My agent told me I'd be better off with a tow dolly or trailer.
You need to put short chains on top of sling, fold up the sling and chains on lower hooks to pull sling in more, I’m sure you seen other wreckers like that
I remember the sling type tow truck back in the 80s and before. Then it seemed like over night they changed to these that lift at the tires. I guess it was because so many vehicles went to front wheel drive.
I ran a Holmes 850 for my first wrecker. Holmes was my favorite, after that I did start to like the Jerr-Dan. Id still happily leave the new one and run a mechanical.
Having a great time watching your videos Brother and one of these would save so much money towing all my junk I need one of these in my life lol 😆. And something to pull motors and trannys would rock. Thanks for showing us all how to make this work
Nice work, besides all the welding and fabrication, you also hooked them over the axle rather than under and took all the precautions you can when towing! I will say to keep an eye on the frame where the front bolts hold the main brackets onto it. The leverage there is incredible. I have seen them not only crack, but break the frame after extended service. Just something to check once in a while. Especially if it isn't reinforced in that area.
Dan. You might want to try not putting the sling quite so far in. You actually should try putting the bar on the sling right under the bumper. You will find that it will tow better. And if you have to make a sudden stop. The car won't climb over the top of the sling
Finally Dan i have been waiting on a tow truck build for a while been lovin the episodes just kindd of a shame its not a ol square body or C20 still awesome job buddy cant wait to see it cruising the streetsof Winnipeg
You da man Dan awesome build I use to drive tow truck for a pick n pull called Adams pick your parts back in the day was fun I enjoyed it for a couple of years
