Giz us a tug! (The recovery truck thread)

[Minimad5]

 

Three-quarters of my Dyane off to Rock Ferry to be welded, circa 2002.  Yep, that is another (slightly stretched) Dyane towing it...

May i ask who / where in Rock Ferry did your welding ?

(Being nosey as it's where i live)

[Vin]

Found this picture a couple of weeks ago ,it dates fro 1985 when a Harvey Frost in the back of a V8 109 was still perfectly acceptable as a recovery vehicle.

 

 

This made me have a little think and a rummage through my photo boxes to find what I was looking for.

 

I took this in about 1991 I think. A local lads crashed escort being collected one summer Saturday morning by George Eva's of Scunthorpe.

 

 

Sad thing is, seeing this picture again, the reg number of the transit milk truck, although not clear, came back to me -  H475 BEE... :?

[chaseracer]

May i ask who / where in Rock Ferry did your welding ?

(Being nosey as it's where i live)

It was done (very well) by a mate in 2CVGB, better known for his gearbox expertise. He's an inveterate nomad, but had briefly settled on the Wirral long enough to rent a unit. AFAIK, he's in the southwest somewhere.

 

Currently...

[mat_the_cat]

This was a couple of weeks ago, when the water pump pulley parted company with the shaft:

 

 

The truck was a 52 plate, which I thought was getting on a bit for a working vehicle. Seemed in good nick though, and 'only' had 400k or so miles on the clock.

[worldofceri]

Right; Photobo11ocks seems to be worjing now!

 

First up is one of our thirteen tonners in High Wycombe.  Can't remember the problem exactly; possibly a gear linkage failure.

 

Also in high Wycombe:  I noticed the clutch was slipping as soon as I turned out of the yard the morning I took this Iveco out, but I didn't fancy the hassle and delay of going back and transhipping the load onto another truck, so I waited until I was about half way through my deliveries before ringing in.  To my surprise I was told to park up and wait for recovery; I'd expected to be asked if I'd limp home (which wouldn't have been a problem).  Turns out they'd had a few expensive episodes of Iveco gearboxes 'suddenly' going bang so they weren't going to risk another.

 

This next one was not my finest hour.  I managed to twat a railway bridge on the Wycombe-Princes Risborough road.  It's an arched bridge marked at about 16'0'' and the truck is only 12'6'' high, and even though it's arched, the 16' clearance spans nearly the whole width of the road.  Somehow (not paying enough attention I suppose) I managed to clip the back 3-4 feet of the box on the edge of the arch.  It ripped the rear frame to which the tail-lift mounts away from the box so was competely undriveable.  What a fanny.

 

This one wasn't me.  This Mitsubishi was practically brand new when someone suffered a truck-tree interface.

 

Again, can't remember what the problem was here.  The unit broke down just outside our yard and a replacement unit was sent out so the driver could carry on.  I was despatched just to wait for the recovery.  Disappointingly Crouch's finest turned up before I'd managed to get my head down!

[Pillock]

Followed a week later by

Because

[Stixy]

.

[Craig the Princess]

 

My LDV400, hauler of all manner of BL chod for the past 5 years.

[philsford]

Here is one of an old Mini of mine. I think this was 2007 and I had just brought it from a guy in Ipswich with no tax or MOT and it had been in the garage unused for a few years. It turned into more work than I thought.

I was using my Moms 2001 Rover 75 (diesel) to do the towing which it wasn't brilliant at, I had a moment with it once with my escort on the back once which put me off towing with it for a while. It  was handy having a trailer though which makes it possible to go anywhere and fetch anything.

 

 

[dollywobbler]

Before becoming a writer type, I decided it would be a good idea to get into vehicle transport. I was wrong, but did at least choose a quality* steed. 

 

 

Was nicely done actually. Proper long wheelbase, so no iffy overhang and would barrel along at 70mph no bother. Once, the rear section of the exhaust fell off. This made it no louder at all. Turbocharged, but no PAS. 

[Hertz]

How my Alpine was delivered to me a couple of years back. Not a great start to ownership. I have a Renault Alpine thread somewhere that I started ages ago, I'll update it when I have time as the car has come a long way since this pic.

 

[mat_the_cat]

 

 

The relative sizes look different to how I'd have expected them - don't know whether the 2CV is bigger than I imagined, or the truck is smaller.

[purplebargeken]

It's a modern 2CV which is automatically 500% bigger than the original.

[Roverageous]

Right; Photobo11ocks seems to be worjing now!

 

First up is one of our thirteen tonners in High Wycombe. Can't remember the problem exactly; possibly a gear linkage failure.

 

Also in high Wycombe: I noticed the clutch was slipping as soon as I turned out of the yard the morning I took this Iveco out, but I didn't fancy the hassle and delay of going back and transhipping the load onto another truck, so I waited until I was about half way through my deliveries before ringing in. To my surprise I was told to park up and wait for recovery; I'd expected to be asked if I'd limp home (which wouldn't have been a problem). Turns out they'd had a few expensive episodes of Iveco gearboxes 'suddenly' going bang so they weren't going to risk another.

 

This next one was not my finest hour. I managed to twat a railway bridge on the Wycombe-Princes Risborough road. It's an arched bridge marked at about 16'0'' and the truck is only 12'6'' high, and even though it's arched, the 16' clearance spans nearly the whole width of the road. Somehow (not paying enough attention I suppose) I managed to clip the back 3-4 feet of the box on the edge of the arch. It ripped the rear frame to which the tail-lift mounts away from the box so was competely undriveable. What a fanny.

 

This one wasn't me. This Mitsubishi was practically brand new when someone suffered a truck-tree interface.

 

Again, can't remember what the problem was here. The unit broke down just outside our yard and a replacement unit was sent out so the driver could carry on. I was despatched just to wait for the recovery. Disappointingly Crouch's finest turned up before I'd managed to get my head down!

You, Sir, have made my day. Having had to deal with P&H for the last four years, and am the problems that that entails, I'm glad to see they have problems of their own.

 

Bitter? Me?

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[cms206]

Getting dragged back to base after breaking down on a humpback bridge with a Volvo B10M...

Autotec Recovery - W4 TOW by cms206, on Flickr

... and one of our old Darts going for a scrap a few years back - don't think the concept of overhangs applied here.

M8 Recovery - K12 REC by cms206, on Flickr
SA02 UEY: The End by cms206, on Flickr

[Joey spud]

Nothing to do with me but always raises a wry smile.

[worldofceri]

… had to deal with P&H for the last four years, and am the problems that that entails…

Another satisfied customer!

[stuboy]

[Sigmund Fraud]

[mercrocker]

Pretty sure that ragtop Zephyr thing used to live near me.....Kind of thought it might end up like that

[2MB]

Busted radiator... Some years ago now

[philsford]

Got a couple more of projects that I have picked up.

 

 

Brought this Fiesta about 6 years ago as a non runner with no MOT. I traced the fault to a relay which I happened to have a spare of in stock.

 

[ruffgeezer]

I badly want another Mk2 fiesta before they rocket off into OSF unobtainium prices.

[twosmoke300]

Or dissolve

[worldofceri]

A couple more from work.  The first one is a 5 tonne VW Crafter, probably laden to around 4 tonnes.  I asked the recovery driver if it felt a bit wobbly up there (they roll like heck even unladen with that big heavy fridge body) and he said "Yeah, I was slowing right down for roundabouts!".  Luckily this one didn't 'do a FredTransit' anyway.

 

 

 

And another big wrecker.  Not recovering one of our's for a change, but a visiting unit.

 

[Noel Tidybeard]

better irony is when  one  of the big names ends up turning out to recover  a vehicle marked up in the name of another becasue of warranty recovery  etc 

in a similar vein when we were using the olop slowmotions at work they had to be recovered by RAC- we work for a company owned by acromas who own.... you guessed it the AA!

[oldcars]

Here is me when i attempted the return journey after picking up the Reliant, went well, 75 miles then the radiatior went. Guage was faulty and it showed as fine, hit a hill on a bridge near Middlesburgh and it went. Coasted into the side and there was no where to stand. Recovery chap was spot on, the wombles wanted to cone off the whole of the east coast of england 

Winched it up and then secured it on once we were off the motorway.

 

[Fabergé Greggs]

[MrDuke]

Worst photo of whole thread:

 

 

I can't even remember what the actual recovery truck was, but it's worth posting just for the whole exploding-Iveco-gearbox comedy angle. Literally seconds after I made it into the layby in a painfully loud 3rd, the entire box seized solid - even neutral didn't work anymore. How I laughed*.

[JohnK]

Not my cars, but my truck doing a bit of graft ...