Lean To

The danger in trucking doesn’t always lay with poor road conditions or weather. It can be as simple as just not tying down the load properly.

How many times have you seen a big truck with an even bigger load trying to negotiate around a tight corner looking like it was going to topple over or a flat deck with a load wider than the deck and not looking like it was centered?

You can tie it down but if it’s not in the right place to begin with you’re going to have problems.

Big Rig Towing lifted this heavy 65000 pound steel coil from it’s deck after it shifted during transport. Not an easy task to pick it up and transfer it to another trailer.

photo 1photo 2

Big Rig Towing & Recovery to the Rescue

Run Away CatThe city of Calgary called Big Rig Towing to recover this Cat 980 that some kids decided would be a good vehicle to take for a joy ride.

After losing control on a downhill they ended up in the ditch on their side.

After other attempts to rescue the Cat, Big Rig Towing was called. Because we have a 75 Ton Sliding Rotator and more than one 50 ton wrecker we can do some of the big jobs that others cannot.

This Cat weighed 70,000 lbs but was soon back on its wheels. Unfortunately with $100,000 in damages.

Once again, Big Rig Towing & Recovery to the rescue.

SEE THE VIDEO >>

no images were found

 

The Long & Winding Road

Wine RevoveryEveryone would like to have a wine cellar but 200 feet down is a long way to go to get a glass of your favourite merlot.

When a rig load of wine went off the highway in slippery conditions carrying a full load of bonded wine, it left the crew at Big Rig Towing a particularly interesting challenge.

First a recovery truck was winched down to the site to off load the liquid cargo. Then, some of the locals were engaged to help with the move.

All in all a full day’s work by the time the rig was recovered.

Time to put the feet up in front of a fire with a favourite glass of the grape.

no images were found

 

Stick in the Mud

You might think just because you have a four wheel drive that you are invincible in the winter. You might think that because you rig weighs twenty to thirty five thousand bounds that you can’t get stuck in heavy snow. You might even think that if you are driving a vehicle with tank treads like a bulldozer, that nothing will get in your way or stop you from moving forward in unfavorable conditions.

Not true.

This bulldozer operator had just enough confidence in his vehicle to get it stuck nice and deep.

Lucky for him Big Rig Towing had a solution and got him out of a sticky situation.

no images were found

Ice Pack

When you carrying 6000 lbs of meet you want to make sure it’s good and cold in the back. When you think that meat can begin to rot in less than 3 hours when not refrigerated, I guess going off the road into a snow bank isn’t such a bad idea.

Unfortunately for the great crew at Big Rig Towing the entire rig had to be shoveled out before it could be towed out.

A couple of hours of heavy snow hauling did the trick and got this busted rig back to the shop for repairs.

Luckily none of the beef was spoiled just a few blisters and a couple of sore backs.

no images were found

Gas Leak

The weight of an explosive does not directly correlate with the energy or destructive impact of an explosion, it can depend upon many other factors such as containment, proximity, preheating, purity and external oxygenation (in the case of gas leaks and BLEVEs).

BLEVE is an acronym for Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapour Explosion.

In the case of this super b full of propane that would not be a good thing, even if the rig is miles from any inhabited area.

This roll over near Rimby took Big Rig Towing an entire day to offload its cargo of propane before it was safe to right the rig and get it back on the road.

no images were found

A Penny For Your Thoughts

Just so you know, a penny laid on a railway track cannot derail a train. The possibility of that happening is none existent. A big object like a car or a very large boulder could send a train off track but most derailments are actually caused by breaks or fissures in the rail or defects in the wheels.

While Big Rig Towing is noted most for the recovery of large transport trucks it can also be an asset in any situation where heavy loads need leverage to be put right.

As in this train car derailment, when 168,000 lbs comes of its rails, you need a little more than your average tow truck to do the job.

Don’t try this at home. If you have something that needs towed, lifted or adjusted that weighs more than your family car, best choice is to call an expert in heavy lifting and towing.

no images were found

The Ditch

Sometimes it is almost impossible to see where the road ends and the ditch begins. Add blowing snow to the mix and the equation becomes even harder to puzzle out. Under extreme conditions it is a testament to the drivers of big rigs that more don’t end up in the ditch.

When temperatures go below -30 ending up in the ditch, whether its day or night, presents a whole new set of problems. Not just for the driver of the rig but for the tow truck operators as well. Keeping warm and safer while working with thousands of pounds of frozen steel is a difficult process.

Because the human body is mostly made up of water and we know that water freezes at -32 c getting stuck in the ditch on a -40 night becomes more of a rescue than a tow.

no images were found

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.

no images were found

Man on a Wire

Not all Big Rig Towing jobs are the recovery of crashed or stuck rigs. Sometimes it’s as simple as a big snow fall.

When a parked rig gets a large amount of snow on its roof it can’t just take off down the road. If the truck gets up to speed and a few hundred pounds of snow comes flying off, it could cause damage to vehicles following or worse, sending a trailing vehicle into an oncoming lane.

Not all solutions have to be complicated hookups or rotator coordinated events either.

This snow removal campaign was remedied by hooking up a volunteer shoveller to the rotator and hoisting them on top of the rig to get rid of its snowy burden.

I know someone who won’t be shovelling the walk after work.

no images were found