Rock and Roll

During the recent flooding in Calgary not just homes were flooded but a huge number of vehicles were left stranded and ruined by the rising water.

These two 6500 pound rock trucks were two of the many big vehicles that needed to be rolled onto flatbeds and towed to repaired after water destroyed their engines.

Big Rig Towing gets calls for any number of recovery and towing situations. This tow proved to be one that was less dangerous than some but not without its challenges because of the size of these huge trucks.

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Rotator

photo 4A tow truck rotator is essentially a big crane mounted to the deck of the tow truck and can be used for everything from lifting heavy machinery fallen from rigs that have flipped over or for removing a load from a rig that needs less weight so it can be towed. It can also lift heavy equipment from one place to another to assist in getting cargo off one rig onto another.

Big Rig Towing has a number of rotator tow trucks and an can boast they have the only 75 ton rotator in Southern Alberta. Especially once the weather gets cold the highways become more treacherous. An expert rotator operator can make all the difference in getting your towing situation resolved quickly and safely.

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Two Cranes are Better Than One

Big Rig Towing was called to the far reaches of Northern Alberta, and contracted Jamie Davis Towing to assist in a touchy recovery.

Near Fort McMurray, on what is commonly referred to as the Highway Thru Hell, this heat exchanger was separated from its rig and ended up in the ditch. The exchanger unit weighs 60,000 pounds and is worth a staggering $1,000,000.00!

It took two large rotators worked in tandem to seamlessly recover this precious cargo without further damage.

After two day of planning, examining and hard work the exchanger was flawlessly loaded onto a trailer and sent back to the manufacturer for repairs.

The expertise of both these companies and operators saved the exchanger from incurring any more damage and saved the happy client thousands more in repair.

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The Slider

I don’t care what anybody says when 70,000 pounds starts to slide sideways and is out of control, run!!

This heavy piece of equipment was being loaded onto a trailer when it decided to get a little gnarly.

Big Rig Towing used its heavy crane to hoist it back into position and kept it stable until it could be fully loaded and tied down.

Moving heavy equipment is a job for the professionals. When they say don’t try this at home they mean don’t try this at all if you don’t know what you’re doing

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Roller Rollover

It just doesn’t matter. If you’re big and heavy and you roll over, you need something bigger and heavier to get you back on your feet.

40,000 pounds is big but surprisingly it only takes a few degrees off center and even something this big can roll.

As you can see it took a couple of Big Rig Tow trucks and their cranes to upright and get this roller onto a flat bed.

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Heavy Grain

Grain is heavier than you might think, especially when there’s tons of it.

We talked about cornering too fast in the past and the dynamics of load and centrifugal forces. Everyone knows if you’re too heavy and too fast over you go.

Luckily no one was hurt in this roll over and Big Rig Towing was able to get this rig back on its rubber with very little damage except for lost cargo.

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Implosion

It sucks when you are forgetful. You misplace your car keys; you forget to put out the garbage, maybe even a birthday or an anniversary.

When you forget to properly vent a sealed storage tank before emptying it hot gas/air in the sealed container is left to cool. The air pressure difference inside is so great that the structure is compromised.

That can lead to catastrophic implosion like what happened to this tanker and that sucks, literally. Once that happens you can just tow what’s left to the scrap yard.

Big Rig Towing sees more than its fair share of these types of accidents. Luckily no one was injured during this one.

So if you’re not planning on creating your own version of the Oscar Meyer Weiner car, stay alert and don’t forget to vent.

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Tilt

photo 1How many trucks get stuck in the ditch every year because they failed to negotiate a corner correctly or under estimate the steepness of the curb?

That would be an interesting statistic. I would think that cornering and knowing your environment would be the most important part of a big rig driving test. Surely you need to be able to know these things to get hired to drive one of these big trucks.

This flat bed was transporting a farm sprayer when it pulled over to let a car pass. A couple more inches and this would have been a roll over

Big Rig Towing pulls its fair share of hapless rigs and their helpless cargo from many a ditch in southern Alberta.

The only good thing about so much practice is you got to get good at something you do so often.

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Cornering

How many times have you gone around a corner without incident? Thousands, right? It’s that one time you lose concentration that gets you.

This 130000 lb scraper unit was on its way to a road wash out on highway 22 south of Longview. After recent flooding in Alberta this road needed leveling and grading and was counting on the scraper to help out.

Fortunately this was no roll over and Big Rig Towing had them out of the ditch and on their way unscathed and ready to work.

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Missed it By That Much

During the recent flooding in Alberta, many bridges and water structures were affected by the raging torrents.

On its way to repair a damaged bridge in High River the driver of this unit took  this corner too tight and the rear end dropped off the steep road side.

Big Rig Towing used the rotator to lift the back of the trailer while the truck and a grader pulled the unit forward out of the ditch.

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