Caps new toy

[CAP1]

 well, sorta new. new to me, but not REALLY new.

 finally went out and bought a rollback. can't afford a new one(friggin CRAZY priced). bought a 1982 F350 with a 351/4 speed(granny gear first), power steering/brakes, a/c, but manual windows. i got it from the original owner. the interior is still nearly perfect. it's got a 17ft jerrdan bed, and a towbar(no wheel lift stinger). i may convert it to wheel lift back there, so i can haul 2 if necessary.
 when i called the guy, he had told me about 2 leaking cylinders on the hydraulics......d/s tilt, and the slide cylinder. they were literally pissing oil out. last week, i rebuilt the tilt cylinder. it was/is amazingly simple, but very time consuming since i'd never done one before. tonight, i just replaced the head seal on the slider cylinder.
 gonna give my body shop friend a call on monday, and have him come by and take a look, and give me an estimate on a repaint. think i might go slightly custom.......for some reason, i got the urge to put flames on her.

 anyway, i like it. drives VERY nice, although with the 4.10's, she's not very fast on the highway...but then again, i don't want to be that fast on the highway with a customers car on my back.



 and while i had the camera out to snap these pictures.....this pulled in for gas.....

[Tracerfi]

  I am a car fanatic

[RngFndr]

WTG Cap!

Big plus for a shop to have its own Ramp Truck..
Always had plans to get one, but had a special
deal with the local Tow guys, so it was never a
super pressing concern.. Never got round to it!

Nice, not having to wait for someone else tho!
Awesome!

edit:
Rockin Buick Special with side pipes, wide whitewalls, and moonies..
Uncorked pipes too, with black stains, so they are real, musta sounded choice..
Don't care for the baby poo brown tho..

[CAP1]

WTG Cap!

Big plus for a shop to have its own Ramp Truck..
Always had plans to get one, but had a special
deal with the local Tow guys, so it was never a
super pressing concern.. Never got round to it!

Nice, not having to wait for someone else tho!
Awesome!

thanks! i also had/have such an arrangement. the main one i used to use, was owned by a guy i worked for for 10 years, and i've known him since i was 17. he's anal about who he hires to drive his trucks, and he's anal with maintenance. the problem is that very little of his towing for the commercial companies brings him to cherry hill, and i was literally his last customer in that town. traffic is such that it's a pain in the bellybutton in or out of cherry hill.......so he had to stop giving me the "good" rates.
 there's an indian owned company that i tried, based on advice from friends that own their own shops. funny thing is he hired one of my friends drivers, lol. at first, he was stupid fast, and good pricing. after awhile though he started getting slower, and prices started going up. myself, and a fleet customer of mine that used to use him stopped using him when he hit them for $170 to tow one of their cars from 5th st. in philly to my shop. that was a 9 mile tow. their deal was anything within 10 miles for (i think) $65. i could've understood them adding the $15 toll, but that doesn't bring the bill up to nearly 200 smackers though.

 the final thing that put me over, was a VERY good customer, with whom i've been working for 15 years(between my own place, and when i worked at this shop for previous owner) had a breakdown in his 96 buick. he was at a supermarket 3/4 mile away. had his wife with him. she's in the beginning stages of dementia. took the tow company an hour to get to them. in that instance, even being just me, i could've set my phones to call forward to my cell, jumped in the truck, picked up his car, and had him and his wife home in less than an hour.

 i don't think i'm gonna make much extra money with it, but at least i can offer a bit of convenience to my customers.

[RngFndr]

thanks! i also had/have such an arrangement. the main one i used to use, was owned by a guy i worked for for 10 years, and i've known him since i was 17. he's anal about who he hires to drive his trucks, and he's anal with maintenance. the problem is that very little of his towing for the commercial companies brings him to cherry hill, and i was literally his last customer in that town. traffic is such that it's a pain in the bellybutton in or out of cherry hill.......so he had to stop giving me the "good" rates.
 there's an indian owned company that i tried, based on advice from friends that own their own shops. funny thing is he hired one of my friends drivers, lol. at first, he was stupid fast, and good pricing. after awhile though he started getting slower, and prices started going up. myself, and a fleet customer of mine that used to use him stopped using him when he hit them for $170 to tow one of their cars from 5th st. in philly to my shop. that was a 9 mile tow. their deal was anything within 10 miles for (i think) $65. i could've understood them adding the $15 toll, but that doesn't bring the bill up to nearly 200 smackers though.

 the final thing that put me over, was a VERY good customer, with whom i've been working for 15 years(between my own place, and when i worked at this shop for previous owner) had a breakdown in his 96 buick. he was at a supermarket 3/4 mile away. had his wife with him. she's in the beginning stages of dementia. took the tow company an hour to get to them. in that instance, even being just me, i could've set my phones to call forward to my cell, jumped in the truck, picked up his car, and had him and his wife home in less than an hour.

 i don't think i'm gonna make much extra money with it, but at least i can offer a bit of convenience to my customers.

Well, depends on how ya look at it..
Improves your service to customers, that usually brings more biz..
Also a good way to get your Co name out and Around the area..
Mobile billboard as it were.. Same deal with a kickass shop truck..

[CAP1]

Well, depends on how ya look at it..
Improves your service to customers, that usually brings more biz..
Also a good way to get your Co name out and Around the area..
Mobile billboard as it were.. Same deal with a kickass shop truck..

 yea......good points. i did actually borrow a friends dealer tag, and haul in a honda civic that was pronounced dead by anbother mechanic. 900 bucks later, and it's off of life support, and the owner is happy as hell.

[Shuffler]

Well, depends on how ya look at it..
Improves your service to customers, that usually brings more biz..
Also a good way to get your Co name out and Around the area..
Mobile billboard as it were.. Same deal with a kickass shop truck..

Commercial insurance.... and list every driver for it.

[CAP1]

Commercial insurance.... and list every driver for it.

 my garage keepers covers anyones car once it's loaded up. commercial insurance is gonna run me about 2800/year, and that's a good enough policy to cover pretty much anything bad that could happen..........

[RedBull1]

Cool stuff Cap!

[ToeTag]

You could slaughter a pig in the cab and never notice!

[captain1ma]

atleast its not pictures of your big toe again! 

[CAP1]

atleast its not pictures of your big toe again! 

 dude....you have no clue how much i fought to NOT post those pics in a couple of the fso threads last month.........

[Biggamer]

Cap my dads boss/good friend has a rollback very sim to yours only its a 82 dodge 3/4 ton bed looks about the same in length and it has the stinger and its worthless you can only put a little car on it or it will wanna lift the front wheels off the ground just to much weight back there for a smaller rollback...your is in better condition though looks great and grats on the new Toy<<S>>

[CAP1]

Cap my dads boss/good friend has a rollback very sim to yours only its a 82 dodge 3/4 ton bed looks about the same in length and it has the stinger and its worthless you can only put a little car on it or it will wanna lift the front wheels off the ground just to much weight back there for a smaller rollback...your is in better condition though looks great and grats on the new Toy<<S>>

 thanks......and there's a reason you rarely see dodges used as tow trucks. i drove one of these back in the 90's. i've had pickups, and pretty much any car that i could safely tie down on the bed. it'll work ok. 

[Shuffler]

I always laugh when I see a company buy a 2500 then put a big bed and lots of tools on it. Just sitting there it is close toi max weight and they have not even loaded raw material yet.

They drive them around like that and wonder why they do not last long.  Load any truck to it's max and leave it that way.... they won't last long either.

Our flatbed has the same v6 diesel in it that is normally installed in firetrucks along with the PTO. We do not haul cars though. We haul plate. That can add up to a lot more weight quickly. lol


Cap I was curious about that 3500...... could they have put that side view mirror any further back??