A tree, an exploding truck, and a ginormous tow truck

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Author	Topic: A tree, an exploding truck, and a ginormous tow truck
bruiser Member	posted 05-12-2008 01:17 PM An oak tree in my back yard died. Estimate it was 70 to 80 feet tall. Only way to access it was from the front with a crane. I had been getting estimates, and all of them were fairly steep. My neighbor had a crew come in this past Saturday to remove three trees. I asked them for an estimate to remove my tree, and they gave me a good price, as they were working on the side, wink, wink. I gave them the go ahead. After they finished my neighbor's trees, they pulled the crane up in my front yard. They already had some logs on it that their chipper wouldn't handle. They had the tree down in about an hour. They also put some more logs on the crane truck and I noticed the truck was sinking. I mentioned that maybe they should unload some of the logs and then reload them as they might get stuck. No, this truck will make it out of here. I'm sure you've already guessed what happened. When they tried to move the truck, it was mired down. So, they unhitched the chipper from the other truck, hooked the chains to the crane truck, and tried to pull it out of the yard. The fun now begins. The crane truck's power was also being used to help the other truck. They started to pull the crane truck, and the driver of the crane truck revved it up. BOOM!!! Sharpnel starts flying from under the crane truck. Clutch, pressure plate, bell housing, flywheel, pto, and trans were in pieces. The force was such that the gear shift lever went completely through the cab floorboard. They guys call a ginormous tow truck. The kind they use to retrieve heavy equipment. The tow truck shows up, and it is almost as wide as the street, and is probably bigger than the crane truck. This has traffic blocked in all directions. Pretty soon a crowd gathers, and some of my neighbors break out the lawn chairs and beer. In the meantime, I see a mini van pull up and stop. A woman is driving and she leans out the window and is yelling and screaming that she needs to get by. I'm in the house, but I can still hear her. She gets out of the van and leaves it, and walks up the street. I walk down and asked the tree removal crew what she was saying. They said she was yelling she had to get to her drug dealers house. She needed her stuff. And I thought my 'hood was drug free. LOL Yes, the big tow truck was able to retrieve the crane truck and tow it away. I'm left with some ruts in the yard. They said they'd come back and fix the yard, but I have my doubts. IP: Logged
LaneH Member	posted 05-12-2008 05:54 PM Oh, man. I was expecting the crane to eat the mini-van. TheAsplunh people (off-hours) are the goto people around here for rational tree trimming and removal prices. ------------------ lane h. can be reached at laneman@erols.com "Never let your mind remain so open that your brain falls out." IP: Logged
setnahkt Member	posted 05-12-2008 06:06 PM Would have liked to see that. We have enourmous (two pairs of duals at the rear) tow trucks for towing over-the-road buses; and smaller (but still large) for towing city buses. There are some interesting hazmat implications; hazmat that is part of a vehicles's equipment is exempt as long as the vehicle is moving under its own power. If under tow, technically I'm supposed to make out hazmat shipping papers for things like the fuel, batteries, and tires and possibly placard. I once asked a State trooper about it; he said "technically yes but nobody is ever going to cite you for it." IP: Logged
bruiser Member	posted 05-12-2008 08:00 PM This tow truck had 3 sets of duals on the rear, another set just behind the cab, plus the two front tires. Sixteen tires altogether. The tow truck driver just inched it out. The truck being winched out was a Ford L8000. I think I heard the tree guy say it was 44000 GVW, plus the logs and crane. The tow bill was $325. It took about an hour to get the truck out, and it was about a 15 mile tow to the tree guys headquarters. IP: Logged
SPQR Moderator	posted 05-12-2008 08:02 PM Years ago, my father had a tall palm tree about 20 feet high that he wanted removed. Some local landscaping guy bid the job for him for some amount that escapes me. He set up a pickup truck and started to chainsaw away. My dad and I looked askance at the setup and sure enough, the palm fell down onto the pickup truck smashing the cab in a classic dead-center hit. IP: Logged
10SNE1 Moderator	posted 05-12-2008 10:09 PM $325 sounds extremely reasonable. IP: Logged

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