Recovery and Towing

[cosrec]

A third way of doing a roll over is a combination of lifting and straight winching and I would think it’s the method we use the most. Why because for reasons known only to rolled over vehicles they usually pick places to roll where access to topside is awkward. I haven’t put any calculations on but the lifting rope is taking more strain than when straight lifting but a lot less than when straight pulling. I have put some pictures on that show this method. Notice the boom is well elevated. The second winch is not doing any pulling as such only twisting axles down to get them to bite. Such is the nature of our roads straight on alignment to vehicles is often impossible so vehicle has to be parked at an angle hence two vehicles used as casualty would turn one over. Th[ATTACH=CONFIG]37104[/ATTACH]is vehicle had to be winched literally to ground level and only stabilised its self when ropes were slackened of allowing the drum to rotate s[ATTACH=CONFIG]37103[/ATTACH]lowly back to bottom total weight of mixer 32 ton Also the vehicle was initially laid over centre which increases force needed considerably

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]37102[/ATTACH]

[zoltan]

What did you manage to attach the lifting cable to on the mixer?

[cosrec]

The lifting straps are wrapped around the drum and anchored to the chassis suspension pionts. This also holds the drum on to the rear cradle of the mixer as it is only held on by gravity

[Big ray]

Found this link showing the importance of a good plan....

http://www.fridaypage.com/images/fridaypage/070408_incidentaction.wmv

 

Ouch` that hurt, glad it was not my Recce truck.:kissoncheek:

[cosrec]

What if the toppled truck above is a curtain sider? Surely you have to unload the goods then and through the top side curtain? Or do you take a view on the nature of the load and whether or not the curtain will support it during the lift?

 

Some more pictures showing recovery of some larger vehicles basically using the methods I have described. You will notice though we are using air bags to obtain initial lift. This is probably were differences between civilian and military methods creep in. I don’t know? But I don’t think air bags are in use by the military for vehicle recovery. The beauty of these is they are very gentle on the bodies of vehicles. The art of them is to place them where the load is acting and pinning vehicle to floor. They act over large areas and on a curtain sided vehicle say will hold the whole load in place while the vehicle is to point of balance. Or a fridge full of hanging beef with the side broken away the length of the vehicle to be stood up successfully

[cosrec]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]37330[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]37329[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]37328[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]37327[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]37326[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]37325[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]37324[/ATTACH]

[radiomike7]

Cosrec, looking at the Malcolm Bright Volvo, how do you now get it back on the road? I doubt you coud drag it sideways as the 6x2 recovery is parked too close, but if the second recovery pulled it forward would you not get to a position where the second machine would be dragged over sideways as it attempted to hold the casualty upright?

 

Good thinking for removing the prop from the mixer while it was on its side, much easier than grovelling about underneath once it is on its wheels.

[cosrec]

Cosrec, looking at the Malcolm Bright Volvo, how do you now get it back on the road? I doubt you coud drag it sideways as the 6x2 recovery is parked too close, but if the second recovery pulled it forward would you not get to a position where the second machine would be dragged over sideways as it attempted to hold the casualty upright?

 

Good thinking for removing the prop from the mixer while it was on its side, much easier than grovelling about underneath once it is on its wheels.

 

In this case the unit was winched round at right angles by the wrecker at the front and then almost straight up the small embankment reason it uses the length of the trailer to act as a lever lessening force required to actually move vehicle and so the trailer was subjected to a sraight pull up rough ground instead of a protracted pull at an angle across it. Once vehicle is back on its wheels it takes virtually nothing to hold it there but you are right and the wrecker with the EKA gear on was repositioned twice before vehicle made it to Motorway. That job was made more akward by the fact all though not clear on pictures every single axle had been knocked off on the NS mountings except the rear unit one which was completly of and tangled under the landing legs of trailer.

You have also reminded me of a little trick we use before winching artics round at right angles on sloping ground we knock a lump of timber or wedges under the tails of the 5 th wheel plate. this is just a little more help to stop trailer from leaning as you pull around on a slope

[cosrec]

Ok done another successful recovery. What’s next well if it won’t drive it will have to be towed away? Chances are that it will be on a suspend tow. Before doing this it would be very nice to know roughly what you are picking up and carrying and how much you can carry. Why is this so important not wishing to be a doom and gloom merchant but the moment you travel on a public highway with a vehicle on suspend tow you are wide open to prosecution from H&S CU regulations to the point were its insane. Please note I am not knocking anybody here if they are doing it for pleasure or business all I am asking is do you know how much your vehicle will pick up carry and how do you know? In the event of an accident this will be the first question asked.

Edited November 14, 2010 by cosrec

[abn deuce]

I have had these clips saved in my favorites for a while and perhaps now is a good time to share them

starting with a nice big lump of steel a crane

 

next a artic that needed help to navigate a small town

[abn deuce]

I m sure you have seen the clip of the tow truck righting an artic that then rolls backward pulling the tow truck over , well in a simular vain there's this one , that just goes to show you that just because it has tracks instead of wheels you still need to set the park brake.

I wonder what the boss thought of this !

 

[N.O.S.]

Jeepers creepers, abn - where did that pipelayer end up? :shocked:

[abn deuce]

My thoughts as well !

A real pitty the camera person didnt follow it down the slope . Unknown what happened to it next !

I think the rest of the crew decided they needed to be else where about that moment .

[cosrec]

First vidio thats my sort of recovery something to get brain cells, winches working. Second vidieo how embarrasing trying to explain you way out it. Third vidieo watched that a lot of times keep thinking what sort of noise would tracks clanking round be making when it got up to warp speeed. If you notice theres no pin in drawbar dumb or what.

[cosrec]

When doing a suspend tow you are doing pure lifting and as such fall within H&S regulations and all that entails e.g. inspections proof loading etc. It also means your insurance need to be told what you are doing. They in return will probably need a stability report for that vehicle. The stability report recommends the absolute maximum load that vehicle that can travel down the road with and it is all protection you have if things get nasty after an accident. It will also get you in bigger trouble if you are proven to have exceeded that load. Any competent person can prepare the report but will need a few details in order to do so. To explain more I have done a simple drawing with 2 fictitious recovery vehicle(s). The calculation is Front axle wt times distance to fulcrum (centre of axle or middle of bogie if six wheeler) divided by fulcrum to point where picking up e.g. spacer bar or underlift. This is the point where front wheels leave the floor then a factor of safety is introduced to ensure 40% of original weight remains on front axle. On this example it works out at 12 times 5 divided by 6 =10 tons this is the point at which the vehicle will tip up Times this by 0.6 and this means theory says it can carry 6 tons safely down the road. Not bad for a 10 ton truck. Then a check is made on rear axle(s) loading to see if it’s within manufacturers rating and complies with C&U regs if not the rating is brought down further until it does. For every ton picked up one ton is taken away from the same distance in front of the fulcrum and this means 2 ton is being applied to the axle. Therefore at 6 tons lift the rear axle ends up with 17tons bearing down on it So in the example of the 4 wheeler if it has a 12 ton rear axle the maximum rating will be 3.5 tons not so good.

Try again with 6 wheeler example you get 12x5 / 8.25 = 7.27 ton Tipping point times factor of safety .6 = 4.36 tons Max. Rear bogie will be around 20 tons design wt and when loaded to 4.36 ton on boom will bearing 13.72 tons so will be street legal.

If you own a recovery vehicle do the calculation using own vehicles weights and dimensions you will be disappointed and its up to you if you choose to ignore them. But believe me you will get a proper arse kicking if any thing goes wrong

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]37606[/ATTACH]

Edited November 14, 2010 by cosrec

[cosrec]

When I did posts about snatch blocks one of the uses I put was spreading load. I have put a couple of pictures on to describe this. This is handy on soft curtain siders and damaged boxes. If no airbags are in use This example was a fridge van trailer that was very old and very rotten. It had 16 tons in it with four large wide straps and 7 snatch blocks it was possible to lift it up with no further damage. Obviously the blocks were only there to enable the use of the four straps and make sure all had equal loading.

You can also a winch wire from a separate winch this was used as a restraining wire because artics act different to ridgid’s when they come to the point of balance. When standing up artics the whole combination is lifted, by only applying power to the trailer. This means as it is going the unit lags behind the trailer due to slack in the fifth wheel. At the point of balance the unit flops over centre and will crash to the floor if unrestrained followed a fraction of a second later by the trailer this double shock is what causes the damage. Artics are therefore restrained until the unit wheels are on the floor the trailer suspension can then sort out what happens after that.

 

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]37700[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]37701[/ATTACH]

[cosrec]

Here is a tip that could be of use on lighter vehicles that have overturned completely. Daft as it sounds these can be really annoying to get to start to turn over. If a light vehicle has overturned and is on its roof and say its roof has got flattened or is a soft top and its lying on wet grass or hard surface it seems you can winch as much as you like all that happens is the vehicle sledges towards the winch truck. To stop this the light transporters we have carry with them a lump of 4”x4” timber about 3ft long with a v cut in one end .We rig with a bridle as shown in picture works every time

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]37710[/ATTACH]

[antarmike]

Here is a tip that could be of use on lighter vehicles that have overturned completely. Daft as it sounds these can be really annoying to get to start to turn over. If a light vehicle has overturned and is on its roof and say its roof has got flattened or is a soft top and its lying on wet grass or hard surface it seems you can winch as much as you like all that happens is the vehicle sledges towards the winch truck. To stop this the light transporters we have carry with them a lump of 4”x4” timber about 3ft long with a v cut in one end .We rig with a bridle as shown in picture works every time

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]37710[/ATTACH]

 

London Transport used a pole strapped to the chassis and ropes taken through open top deck window of buses lying on their sides, but what surprises me is the winch vehicle righting the buses is always using hemp rope and Capstan winches. I have often used Capstan winches, and have never had one slip, but I wonder if you get a bus halfway back up, and the winch starts to slip, because you haven't enough turns round the drum, what you do next. There is not normally a reverse on a Capstan winch!

 

The Aeroparts rear Capstan winch for a Land Rover does have a reverse, Yes I know that!

Edited November 20, 2010 by antarmike

[cosrec]

Apart from the capstan winch on the crane of the Leyland martian used to deploy the Main drag winch (for which i found it useless) i have no experience of Capstan winch use so i dont know. One observation though the toughest part of the pull is the initial lift dropping to virtually nothing as it approaches piont of balance. Thus if it has got the vehicle moving and halfway up it would be pulling only about a 1/4 the original load so it is doubt full it would start slipping

[antarmike]

I think LT's recovery vehicle(s) were bus based (else was an AEC lorry) and it had double capstans, one on either side at the rear, just behind the rear wheels, They used two men and two ropes, one on either side of the vehicle to control the lift. I am tyrying to remeber where I have seen the photographs.

[cosrec]

On the back cover of Olslager auto library Wreckers and Recovery Vehicles there is a picture of an AEC Materdor standing up a sixwheeler double decker it is using a pole fastened to the chassis of the bus. Alas my scanners broken so i cant put it on

[N.O.S.]

You only had to ask No rope going to anything on the other side for a controlled lowering though....?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]37762[/ATTACH]

[antarmike]

From the same source, this is I believe the capstan equipped lorry I referred to.

 

I think the capstan is hidden under the raised panel, which are removed for use, just ahead of the rear wheels, and there is a similar capstan on the other side of the vehicle.

Edited November 20, 2010 by antarmike

[antarmike]

You only had to ask No rope going to anything on the other side for a controlled lowering though....?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]37762[/ATTACH]

Three springy wooden pads for it to land on!

[antarmike]

Whilst searching for another picture I found this one. Who needs recovery vehicles anyway?

 

When the driver of this vehicle knocked out his front axle, they just loaded it on the back and drove it to AEC Southall for rebuilding!