Towers know that you don’t just plop some towing equipment on any chassis and call it a tow truck. It’s not a marriage of convenience but one of form and function. A number of important factors contribute to the choices you make, and the chassis — the foundation of every tow truck — provides your starting point.  Selecting the right one for your type of business can make all the difference in the world. 

          Crafting the right truck requires careful coordination among a quartet of experts. “End-user, body builder, truck dealer, and truck OEM [original equipment manufacturer] — those are the players,” said John Hawkins, vice president of sales for Miller Industries in Ooltewah, TN. “For the most part — especially when you’re dealing with medium- and heavy-duty trucks — each vehicle is customized for a specific towing or recovery application, so understanding how the vehicle will be used — and subsequently the speccing — is vital to success.”

Considerations

          Jesse DeGraeve, owner of Anytime Towing in Traverse City, MI, has purchased his share of new trucks over the years. DeGraeve picks the equipment and chassis by researching the specs of each, then meshing the information together carefully.

          “When choosing a chassis, there are a lot of considerations,” said DeGraeve. “But the first needs to be ‘What is it going to be used for?’ The type of towing equipment being used on the truck is going to direct you to certain types of vehicles.”

          Once that decision has been made, said DeGraeve, then engine, power, and weight/GVWR [gross vehicle weight rating] need to be considered so that the chassis can support the towing equipment correctly. These considerations apply across the board, whether you’re performing light-, medium-, or heavy-duty operations.

          “It seems like after you look at those three items it narrows the chassis options down to three or four manufacturers,” continued DeGraeve. Beyond that, the decision comes down to personal preferences regarding items such as cab configuration, what brands of engine are available, options in the cab, and visibility.

          Climate is also important when choosing options for a new tow truck. “Here in Michigan,” said DeGraeve, “our light-duty and medium-duty trucks are 4x4s” — an option that may not be needed in, say, southern climates, which tend to be warmer.

                                      Getting It Right

          When discussing a new truck with a sales representative, DeGraeve finds that “Most of them have the specs of the trucks pretty well laid out so you can choose what is best for you. I actually have only test-driven one of my trucks before I bought it. It’s hard to do, because the truck is going to be very different without any equipment on it.” 

          How can a tower select the right chassis? List your preferences and then check availability, said DeGraeve. “My first truck was a Freightliner and I had very good luck with it. I now have four of them.” He is fortunate to have a Freightliner dealership nearby, so obtaining replacement parts and having the trucks repaired are fairly easy.

          DeGraeve noted that his shop has also used chassis models such as Chevy and Dodge 5500s. “We also have a couple of older Ford F-350s that have been good trucks,” he said. “We have reconditioned one of them so far and will be starting on the other one soon. It seems like that is sometimes a better way to go than buying new.” 

          He added that he put about $13,000 into redoing his light-duty wrecker (see photos) versus investing $60,000 to $70,000 to purchase a brand-new model. “It took a lot of time and hard work,” he explained, “but I’m not making a large payment every month.”

                                      Working Together

          Sales Representative Charlie Hall of Murphy-Hoffman Company (MHC) dealership in Chattanooga has spent more than a dozen years helping towers create new vehicles, both chassis and wrecker body.

          “I work very closely with the Miller Industries towing and recovery equipment, their engineering people, as well as their distributors, and naturally a lot of times with the end user,” said Hall, who handles Kenworth chassis for everything in the Miller product line, from medium-duty carriers to 75-ton rotators. Hall also coordinates with Kenworth’s engineering staff.

          “There’s a lot of forethought that goes into the chassis that [towers] put their unit onto,” said Hall. While there is a catalog of standard chassis specifications for each towing application, towers often need to install additional gear for the jobs they do — and, sometimes, special add-ons as well.

          “Most of the towers want big horsepower,” explained Hall. “They want all the bells and whistles that you can put on one. Normally on our stock Miller chassis — medium-duty and Class 8 — we have full-power windows and full-power mirrors. We even put a sunroof in the truck. They’re pretty well decked out,” said Hall, and have “any creature comfort options normally available.”

          Additionally, said Hall, “Some people want leather seats, some people want cloth seats, some people want green widgets, some want purple widgets. Even though you have stock specs, there are a lot of things that people want out there.”
          One important new wrinkle: Federal truck emission laws that took effect last year are affecting how towers spec their new vehicles. “There are limitations on where components can go and what you can do,” said Hall. “[The new laws] have limited fuel capacity and the style of exhaust that can be used.”

                                      Brand Loyalty

          Wrecker manufacturers hope that you’ll love their products and purchase them again and again. This “brand loyalty” for the wrecker unit extends to the tow truck chassis as well.

          “I buy my Kenworth trucks from MHC Kenworth-Chattanooga so that I can have the tow bodies and rotators installed at the Miller Industries assembly plant in Chattanooga,” said Bill Gratzianna of O’Hare Towing in Chicago. “But I still get great parts and service support from CIT-Kenworth here in Chicago and when I’m 500 miles from home and I need service on my Kenworth truck, I still get treated by other Kenworth dealers as though I bought the truck from them.”

          At Alpha Towing, Inc., of Marietta, GA, owner Mike Patellis is particularly fond of the Nissan UD cab and chassis these days. Why? “The UD will go 850,000 miles and about 15 years,” explained Patellis.

          Patellis also noted that the UD frame is constructed of tough steel, and the engine has an outstanding warranty. “The GVWR is perfect for towing cars and light trucks,” he added. “The visibility for the driver is wonderful, and he sits up high over the engine.” In addition, said Patellis, gas mileage is good: approximately 13 miles per gallon.

          There are, however, some tradeoffs in staying true to a particular brand. Patellis said that the parts for the UD chassis cost a little more but are worth the money because they last longer. “Dealerships are rare to find and very expensive; however, the truck is worth the money for the long haul,” he said.

                                      Looking Ahead

          While Patellis plans to stick with Nissan chassis for now, in looking to the future, he said the weight of the vehicle being recovered is becoming more important. “With cars getting lighter in weight, we will opt for the aluminum beds going forward,” he explained. “It saves fuel, money and tires, as the bed is lighter. As far as chassis specs, Nissan has several lengths and GVWR to choose from.”

          In addition, Patellis made an important choice that affects all of his tow trucks: “We decided to tow everything on a flatbed,” he said. “This helps eliminate damage claims.”

          Balancing wants and needs is crucial in designing new tow trucks for your business. “In our industry most folks want all the bling-bling they can get on their trucks,” said Hall. “There’s a lot of competition out there to have the biggest and the baddest and the meanest.” But to create that top-of-the-line truck, added Hall, careful discussion and planning will always be crucial, no matter how advanced the equipment.

Rebuilt Ford

           Anytime Towing’s Jesse DeGraeve rebuilt this old Ford F-350 and will be starting work on another one soon. To him, as noted in the article, this is “sometimes a better way to go than buying new.” He put about $13,000 into redoing this light-duty wrecker rather than invest in a brand-new model.