Heavy Duty Towing

it will help you in the future to get certified but your probably gonna start in one of the smaller trucks until you can show you know what your doing. i started out in a 2 car flatbed working overnights then over time moved up to a med duty then heavy duty truck. i no longer work doing that. too many winter recoverys lol.

 

I have been in heavy duty towing for most of my life. Yes training and certification courses such as WreckMaster, TRAA National driver certification, among others will help but the best way to get into the field is to start knocking on doors and asking around. Do not expect to start outright away in a heavy wrecker, I don't care how much truck driving expierence you have you will have to earn you way into a heavy duty. Any company that puts someone straight into a heavy is asking for trouble, it takes a long time to learn the industry and the basics on smaller vehicles before you start messing with heavy trucks as things can go bad real fast.

If you have mechanical skills that will help, heavy towing requires a lot of field repairs to make trucks towable, pulling driveshafts or axles, plumbing into air for brakes, fixing broken components to make a vehicle towable, and most companies expect a heavy driver to do roadside repairs since except for a few large companies there is not enough heavy work to keep someone busy full time every day. Also expect crazy hours, we work when the work is there, some days you will sit all day with nothing to do then get a 10 hour job come in a 5pm or better yet 2am, hours of service and bad weather mean nothing, if there is a wreck or breakdown you go right then even if you just sat down to dinner or got into bed. The hours are much worse than most trucking jobs and you have to be a top notch driver since it becomes you job to get drivers out of the bad spots they get themselves into everyday. Keep in mind you will be hooking up a 40 foot long 45,000 pound truck to what ever you are towing and trying to steer that around the same tight spots you go with a regular truck or trailer, lots of fun when you are towing a truck and trailer combination.

I see you are in Woodbridge NJ, you might want to start by calling Dave's up in Manville, he has a good size operation or John Tumino in Ridgefield Park, he has many locations throughout the state and may have an entry level position available or he will know someone who does. John Glass, owner of Morristown Auto Body in Morristown is the president of the Garden State Towman Association, he may be able to point you in the right direction. You also can check out towcareers.com or tow411.net, these are towing specific websites, one for employment and the other is a forum board like this one. Also check out towman.com, it is a trade magazine for towers and they have several shows each year, the closest for you will be this November in Baltimore. It is an awsome show and there are a lot of contacts to be made there if you decide to attend.

If you have noticed, I have 23 years in towing and am looking to get out and take a regular daily driver job, I love what I do but have had enough of it. It has provided a good life for my family but I am tired of laying in slush and ice at 3am to hook up a truck or laying on a pee covered truckstop parking lot in 100 degree heat and especially tired of spending 8 hours hand unloading a trailer on the side of a highway that is upside down in a ditch. The recovery work is exciting but the labor is intense and the pay is only average. Most tow operators make 20-30% of the tow bill (without tax and fuel surcharge, storage, etc) so this works out to about $20 or $25 an hour for the actual hours worked, less if you count all the standby on call time.

Please do not think I am trying to discourage you, I am not, I just have seen so many guys come and go, I am our driver trainer where I am at now, I train 5 guys for every one that is still towing 1 year later, so I am just trying to give you a true picture of what the job is. I would hate to see you spend $2,000 or more on Wreckmaster or other classes only to find out you do not like it.

Stay Safe and Cya in the Ditch!
Brian WM991219

 

brian991219, I have no interest in running the big draggin wagons, but I must say, that your post has to be, IMHO, one of the most informative, best written posts I have ever seen on this site.

My company castrated a brand new 386 from 455hp to 350 HP because the beancounters told them that it would get better fuel economy. The truck was deathly sick. Had to pull a loaded container through the Rockies on Denver. The truck coughed up and died. A wrecker came out to get me out of the Rockies and pull me back to Denver. It was my first time ever riding shotgun in a rig that total weight had to be 120+000 lbs (I was just under 80). He pulled me up the mountain, exited off, got back on 70EB, pulled the mountain again, got to the top, geared down and walked her back down. He drove to the Pete dealership to the east of Denver, drove around the lot and backed my truck and trailer into a parking spot. Awesome driver.

Thing is about that POS company truck, they had to tow me 4 times out of the mountains.

 

Tripple6 That is a every day deal in the life of a Heavy guy. Pulling a loaded tractor trailer becomes second nature. I back the trailer into a stall and split them before backing the tractor into the shop a couple times a week. The drivers that have never been on the hook before are always in awe.

And the comments about laying in slush and freezing water @ 3 a.m. on side of the road, and the piss covered truckstop parking lots in 100 deg heat all are right on the money..

Its not a job for everyone that's for sure.

 

that was a great post brian way better then mine lol

 

Dave's in Manville started my driving career while I was still in high school. I started in a small truck and over time you move up...

 

I can say that both of the prior answers are very true about heavy towing operators...

You have to work up to it and its not a everyday 9 to 5 type job. I got the scars and divorce to prove it also.

I have been towing for 34 years now and currently on one of my "BURN OUT" segments where I am over the road for a bit.
Its a hard dirty job with little or no respect and lots of risk. Think about standing 1 foot off the white line while vehicles go past at highway speeds. It is down right deadly at times to operators.

 

36 years tcuking, mostly in NJ, and the companiew you have been given are top notch places.