Road and workshop
Page 55
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by Handyman
Vehicle recovery: tricks, trucks and tactics (16)
• Not all recoveries spring from road accidents, and the wrecker operator has to be prepared for the unexpected at any time. In one riverside transport depot, the staff arrived on a Monday morning to find that vandals had been on the loose over the weekend. Apart from starting a number of vehicles and "pranging" several lamps and radiators, they had let three tipping vehicles run down the stone slope of the river embankment at low water.
One tipper ended up in deep water with its rear end pointing down into the
dredged channel there was every possibility of it slipping further at the next tide. The two nearer the bank raised no problem: both could be reached from dry land and a good lashing arranged, the jib blocks of the Harvey-Frost rig picking them out with ease.
At low water, however,, the other tipper was still half submerged. Only one hour was left in which to rig a lashing that would take the weight of the vehicle plus whatever grip the river mud might exert. But the real trouble was that in any case a boat had to be used to get to the vehicle, even at low water, as no part of the chassis was visible.
Therefore, considering it a nearimpossible task to fix a chain around the chassis, especially from a boat, the operator decided to lash on to whatever was within reach above water. This is where things began to get out of hand.
Concluding that as the tipper body sub-frame could stand up to an 8-ton hydraulic heave several times per day, the operator saw no reason why the anchorage of the body should not stand a lashing that would bring the vehicle back to dry land. Therefore a 1in. wire was taken right around the vehicle by boat, and positioned under the rear tipping brackets and around the base of the hydraulic ram unit, the cable was shackled to itself in a loop and power turned on.
Unfortunately, all that happened was that the body began to rise as if tipping, and the chassis and cab began to tilt and slip further off the mud shelf into deep water; it was quickly realized that this would not bring out the vehicle without serious and unnecessary damage. Pulling was stopped and the vehicle held in a quarter tip position, it being agreed unanimously that by one means or another, a lashing just had to be worked around the chassis frame. Just how this was to be done was another problem!
But if you stand looking at a task long enough, someone is bound to tell you how he would do it . . . But joking aside, in this instance someone among those watching did know what was required. He was an off-duty watchman—an exseaman. Despite his 68 years he offered his help and know-how. Shown a sister vehicle and just where a lashing was needed on the one in the water, he said: "Leave it to me." He left for a while, and returned with 30ft of soft lin. rope, a quart bottle and a 9ft clothes prop borrowed from a neighbour's back-yard.
He tied one end of the rope to the empty bottle and went off in the boat. First he probed around to establish the point on the submerged chassis indicated to him earlier; he then dropped the bottle into the water, put the forked end of the prop over the rope close to the bottle neck, holding the rope in his other hand firmly. He pushed the bottle down with the prop and felt for the chassis some 3ft below the surface, pushing the bottle below and under, releasing the bottle from the prop and letting go some slack rope. Up came the bottle, this time from inside the chassis.
Thus a rope or line was threaded around the chassis frame at a strong point. Ample rope was pulled through and the crane cable eased gently, the tipper body sank down on to the chassis and the vehicle slid much deeper into the channel. However, since a rope was now around the chassis it was no problem to attach one end to the hauling cable and pull this through and around, shackling the end to the main run.
Gentle power tightened the loop, a little more power (carefully applied) slowly withdrew the vehicle from the mud, up over the shelf and slid it to dry land, the twin H.F. blocks making light work of bringing it up the embankment. Job now complete, thanks to a new trick learned from an old sea dog.