I did my good deed for the day a little while ago. And I have to admit that
I had my fun out of it.
A member of the local volunteer fire department came by and asked if I had
anything big to help pull a stuck truck out of a ditch up the road. As the
story unfolds, it appears that a road tractor has mired up to the axles
while turning around off the shoulder on a rural road. His trailer is
diagonally across the highway, blocking it. Not a safe situation by any
means, but at least it wasn't the main road. But, a wrecker couldn't be
gotten any time soon.
As this fellow and I start walking out back to my equipment area, it starts
pouring down rain again. It has already rained all night here. I told him
that I would have to disconnect from what I am working on, in order to get
my truck out. He was impressed. We passed by the ton truck, the aircraft
tugs and the old road tractor. We went to the TRUCK. The M936A2 Medium
Wrecker. Turbocharged and aftercooled Cummins diesel. It has such a sweet
idle. He said something like, I think that'll do it. If not, the guys up
s**t creek.
Well, I did have to air up a low tire. He was again impressed that all I
had to do was hook the air hose into the coupler on the front frame rail.
We hopped into the truck and made the two mile drive listening to the oohs
and ahhs from the passenger.
At the stuck vehicles location, we had to laugh at the sight of what we
approached. There were no less than four 4x4's hooked together trying to
pull this trucker out backwards by the trailer. Most all the tires were
boiling smoke, even in the rain. Well, it didn't take long for them to
notice the TRUCK pull up. All the 4x4s scattered as I turned around and
backed up to the trailer myself.
I got out and was reaching over into the bed when a couple of the fellas
hollered that they had plenty of chains. I said no thanks, that I'd use my
own. I pulled out the 1/2 inch heavy duty and drug it around, and they made
tracks with their little 5/16" 'tow' chains. I put a loop over the trailer
frame and a loop in the pintle hook on the wrecker. My friend offered
guidance as I took the slack out of the chain, and I told him to stand clear
of everything in case the chain broke. I heard a 'Yeah, right!' come from
somewhere.
I put it in low range, and broke idle, nothing more.
I pulled trailer sideways so that it lined back up with the tractor for a
straight pull out of where he was stuck. I kept going, and so did the truck
and trailer. It never slowed down a bit, just pulled it straight out onto
to the road, where the truck driver promptly locked his brakes down. It had
no affect what-so-ever, I just drug the whole rig, all tires locked, another
twenty or so feet, ' to straighten in on out'. I did get a good chuckle
from it.
Lots of 'Holy S**t's, were heard. My friend said that I never spun a tire,
and it didn't sound like I ever got above a fast idle. He was laughing at
all the open mouthed expressions as I dragged the locked down rig along the
pavement. I had to admit that I just couldn't resist it, after he locked
his brakes on me.
Anyway, after being stuck for over two hours across a highway, and having
numerous attempts fail to get him free, and not being able to get a
commercial wrecker available any time soon, he was out. What was it worth
to him? He offered twenty dollars to cover my troubles. I told him, he
better be glad that the road was blocked, or he'd still be sitting stuck in
the mud. I was more concerned with not having to work a wreck where a
teenager went under his trailer across the road, with no safety flares or
markers being out. He didn't even have his flashers on. What do you think
his tickets and fines would have set him back?
I had fun with the TRUCK, and I helped to prevent a possible accident in the
community, and I got insulted, all together. What else could a guy ask for?
Being a member of the volunteer fire department and rescue squad does have
its enjoyable days.
John
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Jun 05 2001 - 23:18:40 PDT