Bradshaw Professional Vehicle Recovery Service
Skillful Vehicle Recovery for a Wide Range of Vehicles
24/7 Roadside Assistance
Fastest response in the Area
Licensed and Insured
All Major Credit Cards Accepted
What is Vehicle Recovery?
Do you know what we mean when we talk about towing vs. vehicle recovery? If you drive a small vehicle you may not, but if you’re a tractor-trailer driver you probably do know what’s involved in the recovery of trucks off the road.
For us, vehicle recovery does not refer to vehicle repo or stolen vehicle tracking. It’s doing whatever it takes to get a vehicle back on the road to be driven, towed, or hauled away.
Proper vehicle recovery for an absolute minimum of additional damage requires skill, experience, and quite literally tons of special equipment.
Vehicle Recovery Steps
When any type of vehicle is off the road, whether stuck in mud on a soft shoulder or after an accident sends it careening, a vehicle recovery gets it back to the road and lined up for a wrecker. That’s often a lot easier said than done. The vehicle can be heavily damaged, tangled up with guard railing or trees, or deep in a ravine. These situations call for special recovery equipment and an experienced operator. Equipment includes chain saws, cutoff saws and cutting torches as you might expect, as well as D-rings (bow shackles), towing dollies for won’t-roll damage, and various types of wide nylon straps. Additionally, personal safety equipment for everyone involved in the recovery is needed.
Winch Outs
Heavy recoveries are usually done by winch outs. If you do a lot of off-roading, you probably have a winch on your 4-wheeler. The steel cable (winch line) is attached to the vehicle via straps (or if that’s not possible, hooks) and the winch reels the cable back onto a drum much like a fishing rod-and-reel. The person doing the hook-up and handling cables and straps is called a rigger, and is usually managed by the tow truck operator.
There are important differences between tow and recovery straps. Recovery straps stretch some 10-15% to make pulling smoother and more productive, and they have loops for hook-up. (Hooks and shackles are avoided whenever possible as they become heavy flying projectiles if something snaps). For a truck or car mired in mud, a rigger may us a snatch strap for a quick recovery. But for big rig recoveries they will need to use some combination of recovery straps, extension straps, and tree straps / trunk protectors. Before winching the car or truck it may be necessary to flip it back over or rotate it to a better orientation.
There are various types of pulls — straight pulls, angle pulls, and two-way pulls (typically using two tow trucks) as well as double- and triple-line pulls for extra capacity. There are strict regulations covering equipment used on vehicle recoveries; for example, cables and straps need daily inspection and maintenance. You can then feel comfortable knowing that the vehicle recovery is carefully and professionally planned — from the load rating and hook up points to how to deal with obstacles and potential snags.
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