What king of tow truck for Chinook?

[pdemarest]

I'm hoping this never happens but if I needed my Chinook Premier towed in for service what kind of setup should it be? One of those tilting flatbed rigs or the usually front-end two? Anyone have experience with this? Given the long overhand in the rear I'm thinking that towing it could be tricky.

[BobW9]

I had to have my 2000 Concourse towed last fall when the steering went out at a gas station (as in turn the steering wheel and the tires do nothing). It took all day and 3 tries by Geico to get the correct tow truck that could do the job. And this after I repeatedly told them it must be a tow truck that can tow flat. This is a very large tow truck like you might see for a semi, because of the 10-12,000 lbs, and also because it has a special arm that goes under the front, moves up a little bit via hydraulics, and then tows the Concourse with the front tires just inches off the ground. It is very cool to watch and a clever design.

You can NOT use a normal tow truck, which has to hike the front up too far, as the back will drag.
You can NOT use a flatbed tow truck, as the angle to pull the Concourse onto the bed is too steep and will drag the back.

Note that after all Geico's mistakes, not listening to me or letting me talk directly to the tow services before they came... they proceeded to drop me from their road service. Like it is my fault their people will not listen.

Anyway, ask for a truck that can tow 12,000 lbs flat using that arm. Note that they should really disconnect the rear differential (drive train) to tow that way. In my instance the case/bolts were frozen and the guy said there was even odds he'd crack it if he pushed further. So he kept the Concourse engine running and towed at 25 miles per hour for about 6-8 miles. Not great, but with the traffic lights and such, there was time to keep it cool (engine running is needed for oil circulation and free moving transmission, or something). Cars stacked up behind us were not so happy (and rush hour by then, too). I did get a ride in a really, really, cool truck

Bob

[Blue~Go]

Bob,

That's good info. I would have figured a flatbed, but I can imagine the problem. I wonder if one could pull it up onto a flatbed stern first? Maybe that would just be the same problem only the overhang would be hitting the flatbed vs. the ground (?)

Road service people who don't pay any attention and send the wrong equipment.... grrrrrr

Then they have the nerve to cancel you? Double grrr.

[pdemarest]

Bob - sounds like I won't be "saving 15% in 15 minutes by switching to Geico". Your experience confirms my concern that it will be very difficult to find a suitable tow truck through AAA, a service that left us stranded in our SUV on a county gravel road because "we don't tow unless you're on a paved road". The rear overhang certainly limits towing options but its part of having a shorter wheelbase, which is why these rigs are so easy to turn around.

[BobW9]

Hey, Blue.

Believe me, both the previous tow trucks tried front and back, the first was a flatbed and the second was a regular normal-type beefy towtruck.

Tried the flatbed rear first, but by the time you get a cable under it and start pulling, it drags against the rear before the tires get close to the bed to start going up. The rear overhang was just too much. We did have a bike rack off the hitch, but it still wouldn't have worked without it.

Yeah, Geico cancelled the road service, but on the other hand they didn't argue the bill, and I think they might have had to pay the first two trucks something, and I saw something like a $300 bill on the last one that actually did the tow. Those super flat-tow trucks are expensive (I think there is a name for them, but I can't remember what it is).

Actually, it might be called a Heavy Duty tow truck or wrecker (wrecker is sounding familiar). Oh, and they do normally tow using the drive wheels, but the rear overhang, again, was too long for the truck to get its fork-lift thing far enough, sigh.

It looked like the tow truck in this picture, towing the white garden-type truck (I just found the image using google, but mine looked very much like this one).

[Blue~Go]

Good to know (well, err, sort of). I notice they are pulling the stake truck by the front wheels as well. Maybe also because of an overhang.

I can think of one other way a flatbed *might* work, but then I haven't tried it. That would be a method I sometimes use if there is a sharp dip that I need to get past. So what if one went stern first, and then used an inclined plane (ramp) made of Lynx blocks to gradually approach the flat bed? That presumes their cable is long enough and that they are open to options.

On boondocking: That's one problem that seems to be common to many towing services - they don't want to help you if you are more than "x" feet from a paved road (even if the gravel road is a nice level forest road or the like).

[Rokrover]

What BobW9 said ^^^^^ I needed my Chinook towed 30 miles at highway speed when the fuel pump went out. I knew better than to rely on some generic roadside assistance company and went with a service who specialize in recovering tractor trailers off the freeway.

They immediately understood my needs over the phone and dispatched a truck with hydraulic lift that scoops under the front tires like the photo shows. Absolutely - the driveshaft must be removed to avoid transmission damage!

I saved some time and money by doing this myself and laying the shaft inside. The four bolts attaching the driveshaft to the differential are indeed a chore to remove without an impact/air gun. I persisted with hand tools (12-point offset wrench) and fortunately the Chinook has enough room to lay its driveshaft inside. I was later admonished for soiling the fine carpet

[Kirah]

FWIW, there are roadside assistance services that specialize in RVs. My mother used to full-time in an old Bluebird motorhome (40+ foot bus), and they had to have it towed once. She was subscribed to Coach-net, and they got the right kind of tow truck out to her in less than an hour, first try.

[Blue~Go]

I wonder if a Blue Bird would actually be easier though (Wanderlodge was my first true motorhome crush ). They are pretty high up and don't have the (proportionately to wheelbase) long overhang. Probably a flatbed would work fine? Or maybe they use something like my ramp idea and pull it up backwards (I still wonder if that ramp idea would work?)

Speaking of Coach Net, I should probably renew with them. I had them faithfully for a number of years (never used the service though I have heard good things), but then they changed their pricing structure one year and it seemed annoying for some reason (that I can't exactly remember now). Probably by now whatever they have will seem fine since I didn't just have something better/clearer like I did then.

The good things I heard were related to them understanding what they were dealing with when you break down with something that's not a car. Also (I don't know if other services do this), they can sometimes send a technician who can diagnose and/or fix some things where you sit, so you don't have to be towed (saves them money, but saves potential towing issues on your vehicle too).

BG

PS: Wanderlodge (Blue Bird factory motorhome conversion). Is that not the coolest Class A ever?! (But, ha, there is more complication just in the instrument panel than there is in my entire Chinook.) Still though.... swoon!

[Rokrover]

We had a seasonal regular at our RV park with an immaculate Blue Bird RV, powered by Cat, of course. He informed me Blue Bird is best known as the school bus manufacturer so their RV’s sit on a rugged chassis and are nicely over engineered to meet high safety standards. Indeed, “swoon” is the operative word.