5 Main Types Of Equipment Tow Companies Use To Transport Your Vehicle

If you call up a tow company to move your vehicle, there is a good chance that they are going to use one of the five types of equipment discussed below. Knowing the type of equipment that most companies use to tow vehicles will allow you to better understand the process when your vehicle is towed and ask more informed questions about the towing process.

#1 Boom

When your vehicle gets stuck down a ditch or embankment, one of the primary tools that tow truck companies use to pull your vehicle up out of its predicament is a boom. Booms are usually attached to special tow trucks that are used for this express purpose. These tow trucks generally have a metal structure that is attached to the bed of the truck and extended up into the air a couple of feet that the boom is attached to. One part of the boom is attached to your vehicle, and the tow truck reals in the steel cable attached to the boom to raise your vehicle up and out of the embankment. This type of tool is also used on construction equipment to manipulate and move around materials in areas that are difficult to get to.

#2 Wheel Lift

Wheel lifts are a common way to tow vehicles. Wheel lifts consist of a long steel bar that extends outward from the tow truck to the vehicle behind it that is being towed. There is a horizontal bar attached to the long steal bar that is attached to the vehicle being towed and that raises the front wheels of the vehicle off the ground during the towing process.

#3 Quick Pick

This tools is a combination piece that combines elements of a boom and a wheel lift. It has the equipment like a boom to pull your vehicle up an embankment, but is also equipped with a tow bar so that the vehicle can be towed to a safe location by the same truck that pulled it out of the embankment.

#4 Slide

When your vehicle is all wheel drive, or has a flat tire or blown tire, or isn't capable of the wheels moving, a tow truck with a slide is used. A slide refers to a tow truck that has a hydraulic bed that can be slide to ground level, where your car is driven onto the bed or pulled on it it with a winch. Then, the slide is lifted so that your vehicle is resting on the flatbed of the truck.

#5 Belt Lift

Belt lifts are not commonly used anymore, but they use to be one of the primary ways that vehicles were towed. With a belt lift, a long chair was attached to the axle of your vehicle and then to the tow truck. This method has largely been abandoned because it can easily damage the axle of the vehicle being towed.

The next time your vehicle needs to be towed, be sure to find out what type of towing equipment they will be using so that you fully understand what they will be doing to your vehicle and how it will be transported. For more information, contact companies like Niemans Service Inc. 

Share