All you need to know about vehicle l'ecovery
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The Association of Vehicle Recovery Operators is holding its annual conference and exhibition at Birmingham next week. Tim Blakemore previews the event
IF YOU have any interest in vehicle recovery (and what commercial vehicle operator can afford not to?) then the Hotel Metropole at Birmingham National Exhibition Centre is the place to be next weekend. From Friday May 14 to Sunday May 16, The Association of Vehicle Recovery Operators will be holding its annual conference and exhibition there.
The conference begins at 10am on Friday. The first presentation will be made by Michael Guy from EMMU (The Emergency Mobile Unit) and promises to immediately capture attention because it deals with a subject that must be of concern to all responsible recovery operators — namely resuscitation and life saving.
It is not Michael Guy's intention to go into great detail about life-saving techniques — those who wish to know more about that may visit EMMU's exhibit — but he will give what he describes as a "Cook's Tour" of some ways in which AVRO members might save lives. He will also be telling the conference of the background to EMMU, a voluntary organisation mainly staffed from the Royal Lancaster Infirmary.
Another branch of the emergency services will be represented at the Metropole later in the morning when the West Midlands Fire Service will be giving an illustrated lecture on co operation between the fire service and the recovery industry.
The final speakers before lunch on Friday will be Lieu tenant-Colonel Jim Moore and Major Glen Caddye, whose presentation on vehicle recovery in the army should be of great in terest. Lieutenant-Colonel Moore and Major Caddye intend to des cribe the various recovery systems they use and how their role differs from the civilian one.
The subject of training, for which the army is particularly well respected, will also be touched upon.
On Saturday May 15 two conference events precede AVRO's agm at 12.30pm. They are the recovery club panel at 9.30am and an open forum at 11am.
The title of the forum makes it evident that there is certainly no complacency at AVRO's head office in Leicester. "What the hell has AVRO done in the past four years?" is a question which I am sure will be answered loud and clear next week.
For those who are more interested in the hardware of vehicle recovery there will be much to see in car park number four of the hotel. Only a selection of the exhibits (in alphabetical order) is described here. At the last count there were around 40 names on the exhibitors list.
Agricultural Motors Ltd of BOyers Wharf, Court Lane, Iver, Bucks, will be on stands 68, 69 and 100. This company is the sole agent in the UK and Ireland for Weld Built and No-Mar recovery cranes, both manufactured in the USA.
The 16-ton twin-boom Weld Built model currently costs £7,500, and the 25-ton model with telescopic booms £8,500 complete with self-locking worm winches.
Ramsey electric winches are used on the smaller No-Mar remote control fourand five-ton cranes. An adjustable telescopic jib, two tool boxes and all fitting bolts and brackets are included in the Agricultural Motors price of £2,200.
Amalgamated Recovery Equipment of Portishead will be exhibiting all three models currently in the range of Vulcan Recovery Equipment for which ARE is the sole European distributor. The smallest model on display, on a Bedford CF 350 chassis, will be the LTD 4000 lift and tow equipment, for which prices start at around £1,867. ARE reckons that by taking advantage of the finance scheme it offers an operator could have equipment giving him the ability to recover, lift, tow, and relay passengers for less than £70 per week.
The CS 12000 "Cradle Snatcher'' has an hydraulic raise, lower, and extension boom and offers the facility for "damage free" and front-end slinging. Station Garage (Portishead) Ltd has taken delivery of a new CS 12000 equipped Dodge 50-Series and this will be on display.
Largest of the Vulcan range is the SC 20000 Super Cradle which has an articulating fully hydraulic boom for high lift, low lift or total lift, and can also effect "damage free" and frontand slinging. Depending upon Nhich winch is specified, the ,lost of this model is around E4,700.
Brimec (UK) Ltd of Bristol claims to have one of the best selling lift and tow systems available in its Towlift. This is said to be selling at the rate of about one a week. The vehicle which will demonstrate it at Birmingham will have a crew cab by Whiteacres.
Brimec will also have two )ther models on display — its ilideback semi-demountable, which is now available with 3lectro hydraulic operation, and he new tiltbed. This particular 'nit is one that has been sold to 'illings of King's Langley. It has 3n overhead car carrier.
Cowan Transport Engineering Ltd, of Newport Pagnell, Bucknghamshire, is on stands 43-47 Ind has three vehicles on show, dl fitted with Swedish Bro Wrecker equipment. They are a /olvo F12 6x4 with Bro Wrecker !O0A lifting gear for maximum weight hgv recovery, an ERE 4x2 itted with identical equipment )nd designed for fire service re>overy, and for the first time in he UK, a Ford Cargo with a Bro Wrecker TF 27 semi-demountable )Iatform body.
Cowan is sole UK distributor or Bro Wrecker equipment, which includes eight fully hydraulic recovery installations that can be fitted to a variety of chassis.
As one of the major suppliers of recovery equipment in this country, Brockhouse Harvey Frost will be suitably well represented at the AVRO exhibition with a large selection of equipment on display.
A Harvey Frost lift described as "self elevating" with centrally pivoted ramps is entirely new and can give over 0.61m (2ft) of ground clearance. When a vehicle is on the ramps the force of gravity tends to make them pivot, their movement being controlled by hydraulic dampers.
Also new is the Harvey Frost electric pick-up crane and a HF commercial vehicle cab removal sling and swan neck extension. Among the other exhibits will be a transmission jack, a car recovery transporter, a floor crane, trolley jacks and towing poles.
Carlton Forge Holdings Ltd was established at its Edgware Road, London premises in 1936 and has specialised in American vehicles for the last ten years. The company's exhibit at Birmingham is likely to include the new Chevrolet recovery vehicles, including the 5.2m (17ft) "slideback" two-car carrier. With a petrol engine this vehicle costs around £14,000; a diesel engine takes the price up to around £15,000.
Usually AVRO members carefully avoid using the word "wrecker", but they will be. pleased to make an exception, I am sure, for the Century Wrecker Corporation, an American company from Ooltewah, near Chattanooga, which will be exhibiting at the AVRO exhibition this year. The vehicle on display will be a 1982 diesel-engined Chevrolet, fitted with a 442XL model fully hydraulic, twin-winch recovery crane. The boom has a static, retracted rating of 12,000 pounds and 4,000 pounds when extended to 1.98m (6.5ft). Each winch has a static rating of 8,000 pounds. Standard features of this crane include variable speed hydraulic winches, power boom elevation and extension, boom safety valve and dual controls.
Crane Fruehauf Holmes' exhibit will be based on a Ford H Series 6x4 chassis, and will be the latest addition to its already comprehensive range of vehicle recovery equipment. The new 1701 model has fully hydraulic operation and is rated at 35.56 tonnes (35 tons). It has a single non-swinging boom which carries two winch lines, independently controlled, in addition to hydraulically powered rear jacks and outrigger legs. The boom has a maximum extension of 2.4m (8ft), giving a reach of over 3.25m (10.610 past the tailgate, and the geometry is said to be specifically designed for recovery work where heavy loads are involved at relatively low heights. A maximum elevation of 60 deg is possible, giving a height of 7.5m (24.5ft) from the top of the boom to ground level when fully extended.
The only vehicle manufacturer to exhibit at the AVRO show this year is DAF. OAF Trucks (GB) Ltd has chosen to use again its display trailer, which emphasises the importance of the well respected DAFaid service support scheme.
On stands 12 and 13 Haltrac Ltd, of Richmond, Surrey will be displaying its entire new range of 12 and 24 volt winches. Haltrac says that all the products on display will be available at special prices and the company's staff will be on hand to advise on winch specifications.
Marquiss Transporters of Annan, Dumfriesshire, Scotland will be on stands 95, 96 and 97 at the Metropole. This company is very serious about manufacturing recovery transporters, many of which are now in use throughout Britain, but manages to retain a refreshingly light hearted approach to naming the products. The popular "Fagin" model is so called, says Marquiss, because like the character from Oliver Twist, it will lift almost anything.
Both the Marquiss exhibits will be based on Ford chassis — one a new Cargo and the other a used D Series which has been converted and has a 1.2m (4ft) deep, seven-seater cab extension and 5.6m (18.5ft) transporter body.
David McAlister is one of the best known names in the vehicle recovery business in this country. His stand at Birmingham is sure to be a popular one. There will be information there on the new 50 ton tow jaw developed jointly by DMA Truck Care Ltd of Aldershot, and Neate. DMA's staff at the show will be happy to discuss also the interesting recent developments in the training courses offered by the company.
This will be the first AVRO exhibition to be attended by Motofit Ltd of Lichfield, Staffordshire. Motofit supplies high visibility safety wear to police, fire and ambulance services and has now decided to offer identical
products direct to the vehicle recovery industry. The company's ambition is to be the largest supplier of recovery safety wear in the country by 1984. Reg Fitt, managing director, said; "For too long now the recovery industry has been the poor relation when it comes to having the best safety garments. We aim to alter that."
Ryders International Winch Division of Liverpool will be exhibiting a wide range of hydraulic, manual, and electric winches in its show tent. These will include: 12V and 24V vehicle battery operated WARN model 8274 two-way remote-controlled winches capable of load pulls of up to 3.56 tonnes (3.5tons) with a single 8mm wire rope line or up to 7.1tonnes (7tons) with a snatch block and double line; similarly rated but new WARN 8274 hydraulic winches which can be fitted within existing vehicle hydraulic systems working at up to 1,650 psi and with flow input rates of 8-12 g pm for winching speeds of 15-22 fpm; two manually operated Maxpull winches with slow and fast winds and self-activating braking systems; and a range of WARN 12V "Miniwinches".
Tennant Motor Services (Leeds) Ltd will be showing its new range of Southern VP warning lights which include magnetic mount lamps, full width light bars and strobe lighting. Also on display will be the established range of Federal Twin Sonic, Aero Twin Sonic and Aerodynic light bars and Visibeam search lights.
TFL Truck Fitments is the name of the new company formed by Phil Renno and Dave Evans, both of whom will be in attendance at the Metropole to assure former customers of the now defunct TFL Division of Edbro (London) Ltd that they have undertaken to continue service and warranty on TFL — Edbro products.
They hope to have on display the new TFL "T" lift which is a free wheel lift unit of 10 tons capacity with hydraulic extension, as well as a Ferrari 750 KGM lorry loader crane.
TRM, standing for Truck Rescue and Maintenance Ltd, is the main dealer for lveco vehicles in West London and UK concessionaire for !soli of Italy. On display on the TRM stand will be the [soli SV17S hydraulic recovery equipment. All the control levers are mounted at the rear of the vehicle and a remote control pack is optional. The 5m (16.4ft) loading platform can be tilted to ground level by means of underbody hydraulic rams, and powered-loading-ramps are then extended automatically. An interesting feature of the SV17S is its system of levers which can be used to depress the rear springs and thereby reduce the loading angle to cater for the recovery of low slung cars.
Ty-Rite Ltd of Basingstoke, Hampshire will be at the AVRO exhibition again this year displaying its Danish "Easylift" damage-free car recovery system together with many other items of recovery equip ment supplied by the company. One of the attractions of the Easylift is that it is available with a wide range of accessories sc that the recovery operator may specify exactly the right tool for his particular job.
William Weaver Engineering Ltd of Birmingham manufactures many kinds of trailers, from mobile workshops to standarc general purpose trailers. Or display at the AVRO show will IDE three car recovery models — thE 1413, the 1713, and the nevi Superlite trailer. This lattel model has a short fixed real ramp, automatic tilting and I; offered with a choice of deckinf including steel runners, wood o aluminium. It is designed to givE maximum payload withou sacrificing strength. Weaver( now have a small design teeri working on new ideas for vehich recovery operators and will wel come visitors with specific re covery problems at the AVRC show.
West Humberstone Agencie: Ltd, registered insurance bro kers, will have two experience( members of its staff available or its stand throughout the three day show to discuss any in surance problems that visitinc recovery operators might have.
The two vehicles on display oi the Willingham's of Thorngum bald stand will give visitors al idea of what this company [ capable of building. Each of it recovery vehicles is custon built, says Willingham's, to sui the operator's requirements Willingham's is a vehicle recov ery operator itself, as well as manufacturer, so should cer tainly be in a position to lend sympathetic ear.