Date: Fri, 13 Sep 2002 10:31:47 -0400
Reply-To: "G. Matthew Bulley" <gmbulley@BULLEY-HEWLETT.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: "G. Matthew Bulley" <gmbulley@BULLEY-HEWLETT.COM>
Organization: Bulley-Hewlett
Subject: Re: long-distance towing
In-Reply-To: <5.1.0.14.0.20020913081425.009eec60@postoffice.idirect.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
NC law forbids flat-bed tow trucks from securing the vehicle by any
"sprung" portion of the body. All cable/chain anchorages MUST be
un-sprung, (or darned close to it) which means A-arms, trailing arms,
tie rods, half-axles, etc. are fair game.
The thinking (of the NCDOT) is that the body of the car must be free to
bounce up and down as the flatbed rumbles over railroad tracks and speed
bumps at 70 mph. It is possible that if a tow truck driver latched onto
a typical body anchorage while the vehicle was static, once the load
became dynamic (3,000 lb van bouncing DOWN, then UP over a railroad
track) that the typical body anchorage could break under the inertial
load of 20-50k lbs. It makes sense.
It would be nice if vehicle manufactures accommodated this with
un-sprung anchorage points.
Developing business and guiding change since 1996,
G. Matthew Bulley
Bulley-Hewlett
Marketing & Communications
Business: www.bulley-hewlett.com
AIM = IExplain4u
Phone: +1.919.658.1278
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf
Of SStones
Sent: Friday, September 13, 2002 8:24 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: long-distance towing
At 05:34 PM 9/12/02 -0500, you wrote:
>I saw a really beautiful baby blue Jaguar XKE convertible absolutely
ruined by
>two idiots.....one that did the towing, and the other that permitted
it. That
>XKE flexed sufficiently to cause the doors not to close properly.
I'm not denying that many "Professional Tow Truck Drivers" are
incompetent,
but what the heck did they do to it to permanently warp the frame? All
modern tow trucks lift cars by the wheels, be they front or back, a lot
like the stresses put on a car by having it sitting on the ground. What
did
these guys do to it?
Poor car.
>I turned down an authorized AAA tow and sent back and got a flatbed.
Only
>way to
>go. Why should I tow, when all the real towing competitors have the
flat-bed
>service?
>
>Go for full service!!
That's still going to be supporting the car/van by the wheels on the
back
of the truck... I'm not trying to be argumentative (Heck, it took me
three
tries just to spell it) but a flat-bed operator could screw it up just
as
good by hooking on to the wrong thing. I've seen a car lowered off of a
flat bed into a dealership service lot with the cable hooked over a
tie-rod.
So long as it's a 2 wheel drive van it oughtta be okay towed by any tow
truck, so long as the owner is there to make sure the operator isn't
doing
anything idiotic.