Old tow truck reference pics?

[LAV25]

Hey all, I'm hoping someone could help me out. I'm starting off on an tow truck/wrecker build, I want to have the towing gear be the old sling type wrecker (1970's and before), rigid boom, no pivot or anything like that. Something nice and low tech that my Uncle Bubba might have welded together. Got this here:



Does anyone have any pictures of what the inside of the bed of such a rig might look like? I'm mostly interested in the winch and its controls, but assorted bed junk (chains, jacks, etc) would be useful too. Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

-val

[towjockeyrc10]

I used to drive one of those many years ago, it is very very basic. that is what is called in the industry as a slide in unit. basically you undo the bed bolts which were just carriage bolts slid it in then replaced all of the bolts with longer ones. in some rare cases the boom would move up and down manually with a hand winch, and the winch cable used an electric winch motor to support the sling. I could explain in detail but it would be hard to do for me like this. but it is really super simple and very basic.

[towjockeyrc10]

oh and by the way that looks kinda like an old holmes unit. but it could be home made that was more common in those days.

[LAV25]

Thanks towjockey! So it wouldn't be incorrect to have a winch like, say, the RC4WD Bulldog



just bolted to the bed, with the cable going up to the boom?

-val

[towjockeyrc10]

that is the correct style of winch used. take off the fair lead not needed, the roller at the tip of the boom will guide the cable.

[towjockeyrc10]

another thing you can tell that the truck in the pic had just got all of that done, when those were used it bowed the frame backwards under a load, and the frame would stay bent after awhile. the body still lines up fairly straight and the tail of the bed isn't sagging YET.

[LAV25]

Thanks again towjockey. Mine is actually going to be a little different, going for a 6x6 that Uncle Bubba welded a towing rig together for. I'll make sure to send you a link once I make some progress!

-val

[towjockeyrc10]

I want a roll back so bad i can taste it but I need to buy a welder to make the bed.... going to use the gmc 5500 crew cab when i do it, but to be different i am going to make it a low rider. I drive one at work everyday and wish I could lower it too.

[jmz6]

This is a pretty simple slide in unit from the mid 1970's. Hope it helps

[LAV25]

Brilliant, thanks! That's a huge help, and I'm finally on a bit of vacation so I can actually start on this thing.

-val

[2500hdon37s]

needs to be more like this-
http://www.stricklandroadservice.com...es/maddmax.jpg

[LAV25]

I like that, 2500hdon37s, but what I've got in mind is this:



Obviously, the tow portion of it isn't really thought out yet, and I'm still busy fighting with the chassis and suspension, but the input on this thread is a great help!

-val

[LAV25]

Hey all, thanks for the advice and pics so far, I'm finally kicking this build off here.

<Shameless plea for views and comments>

-val