Latest / Towing News Now / From Small Towing Operations to a 130-Piece Fleet: Insights and Innovations in the Towing Industry

Transcript

From Small Towing Operations to a 130-Piece Fleet: Insights and Innovations in the Towing Industry · Towing News Now

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome one and all to the American Towing Recovery Institute podcast.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Remember this is your podcast to promote safety, education, positive public relations and networking within the professional and business-minded towing and recovery industry.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: I'm your co-host, dj Harrington, better known as the Tow Doctor, and my other host is Wes Wilburn, over 40-year towing industry veteran, the founder of American Towing Recovery Institute of Fayetteville, north Carolina.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: He has produced and conducted training and certification programs for leading towing companies, equipment distributors, towing associations, dot, fire departments, rescue, as well as military installations across the United States.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Wes has been published over 100 times in major towing publications published over 100 times in major towing publications.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Wes has developed many courses, including the most recent awareness-level course for all responders that specialize in electric vehicles as well as hybrid, natural gas and hydrogen vehicles.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: Wes has provided insight as the main speaker for over 30 years at more than 900 training classes and has been recognized as one of America's greatest towing trainers.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: He is well known for his straightforward but down-to-earth teaching style.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: No-transcript.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: Without further ado, here's my dear friend and a great guy for our industry, wes Wilder.
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: Hi, dj.
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: As always, I appreciate your kind words and I appreciate the introduction.
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: I want to thank our listeners the podcast On the Grow Each week.
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: We must be doing something right because we're getting more and more subscribers.
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: If you're listening and you have not subscribed on one of your favorite media iHeart, spotify, apple Play, google Play we're on them all Please hit that subscribe button.
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: Please hit that subscribe button.
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: Please hit that share button.
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: We really appreciate it.
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: Dj, just got back from Indianapolis.
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: Worked with Paddock's Towing there again Late outfit long-term relationship.
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: We did the two one-day classes.
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: On Saturday we were there and we did a heavy-duty one-term relationship.
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: We did the two one-day classes.
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: On Saturday we were there and we did a heavy-duty one-day class, and on Sunday we did a one-day light-duty class.
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: The whole team at Paddocks was helpful as usual Jeff, jacob, blake, ryan, jake.
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: The whole team there was super helpful.
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: We had a great class, had about 30 for each session, so it turned out real well, real thankful.
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: Nick Muzzy, come out and help me.
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: He's another one.
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: We're going to get it on a podcast interview here directly.
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: So we had a good school out there.
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: We worked at the Hamilton County Fire and Training Center, had a professional classroom Went right outside for the hands-on, had a loaded trash truck.
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: We did it on Saturday overturned.
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: One of the beauties of being at this training center is not huge ravines, but they did have hills and whatnot when we got off-road the overturned trash truck was downhill but we had some vehicles downhill.
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: Pretty good on Sunday for the hands-on, for the light duty.
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: So that was a good school.
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: Really thankful, like I say, paddock's long-term relationship, dj.
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: They're also the folks that donated that Tesla.
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: That's right Toed back across the country.
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: We're gearing up for the Estro Toe Show.
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: That's our next big event here.
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: It's coming up June 6th through the 9th Friday night we're going to do that auction.
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: It's really shaping up real well.
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: We got some antique towing items.
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: We got some memorabilia.
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: We've got a custom pedal car that I had, the pedal car.
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: William Brian Renwalski customized it, built a tow truck on the back of it with a boat winch real winch with steel cable, and they let it up real nice for the Esther 40th anniversary.
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: There's a 40th anniversary of their show.
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: We're thinking about maybe going live Friday night on Facebook during the auction.
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: Not that anybody can bid, but just everybody can see the event with us All the fellowship going on in this upstate, new York, like George at the show.
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: What do you think, dj?
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: Is that a good idea?
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: Do you think people would watch?
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: That's a great idea.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: And I started thinking you know, too bad, we didn't have pictures ahead of time.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: You know, the next time you do something like this, we should do an article in advance and sell raffle tickets to something as nice as this thing.
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a great idea.
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: We are going to float some pictures.
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: By the time this airs, they will already have floated but we're going to float some of the auction item pictures on Facebook so folks can see the auction and all.
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: But yeah, raffle tickets or something like that.
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: Maybe we'll do that next year I'm hoping we get a good turnout.
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: It's a beautiful little upstate, new York town, a couple hours out of New York City, above Albany.
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: It's a great little area.
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: It's a smaller show but there's definitely a lot of networking you can do there.
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: It may be a smaller show the right people are there is what I've found over the years.
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: We're excited about going up there.
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: The whole team's going up there.
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: Tim and Jake are going to be there to talk about the EV Club wrap and explain it to people.
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: Our beautiful wife, april will be there with me.
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: I'll be there, of course, as well.
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: Ben Walsh is going to be up there to help.
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: Nick Muzzy is volunteering his efforts to be, there.
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: You know I'm mentioning my wife DJ.
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: I got to say happy anniversary to her.
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: The anniversary's already passed and people are listening to this.
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: We record the podcast right before the day that we how do?
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: You word it recognize the recognized date of celebration for our anniversary Observed, Observed date.
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: Observed date, Observe date.
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we don't.
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: You know that whole remembering a date.
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: It didn't work for us, we just know it's a Friday, a Memorial Day weekend every year we observe our wedding anniversary, so that's tomorrow, as we recorded.
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: You know, I'm telling you, it's a life hack, ladies and gentlemen.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: Listen to me.
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: Just go to you know I'm telling you it's a life hack.
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: Ladies and gentlemen, listen to me.
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: Just go to you know the Observed Holiday for things like wedding anniversaries, it makes it a lot easier.
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: Dj Ought to be writing a lifestyle column or something for a newspaper, shouldn't I?
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: Dear Abby, it'll be dear Wes.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: There you go, oh brother.
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: It'll be dear Wes.
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: There you go, oh brother.
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: So I do wish one of us a happy anniversary.
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: My wife can't tell how much I love her and appreciate her for everything she does, and it is more days already passed as people are listening to this but we're right up on it as we record it.
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: So, as always, we want to think about the soldiers that gave their life.
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: That's what that is about, and I know you'll touch on it as well.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: Exactly right, buddy All the people who gave their life so that we could do what we do today, which is really something.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: So we should recognize them, fly your flags and participate in ceremonies at cemeteries in your area, if you can.
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, we live near.
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: Fort.
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: Liberty nowadays what used to be Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and it's the largest military base in the country I learned the other day on TV and there's definitely a lot of ceremonies and a lot of reverence paid and it's very.
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: It makes you just feel patriotic to see it all around you like this.
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: So we've got some a great guest coming up after the break but before that let's talk about where we're going, our next stop after the Esther show, which I do encourage.
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: Folks, if you're anywhere in that tri-state region, even a little further, got to come on up there.
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: You head North.
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: The weather's a little cooler out of the city up in the beautiful lake region up there.
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: As I understand it, the host hotel sold out at this point, but what I know several people are doing are getting Airbnbs and getting a whole house for the price of a room per night.
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: There's plenty of other hotels up there as well.
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: That's June 6th through the 9th For more information.
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: Estratoshowcom that's ESTRA, which stands for Empire State Towing Recovery Association E-S-T-R-A-T-O-W-S-H-O-Wcom for more information.
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: Then, the weekend after Father's Day, june 21st through the 23rd we'll be in.
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: St Louis Friday night doing that free electric vehicle seminar.
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: It's hosted by Cardinal Towing Bob Bowen group.
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: Then on Saturday, the 22nd, one day heavy duty and then on Sunday one day light duty.
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: Meals, goodies, all kinds of extra stuff is sponsored by Purpose, anytime we've been in their area.
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: They've been great to help with all the details make a class great.
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: The class is filling up, so if you want to attend it, you need to get in contact with us to attend.
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: You can go to our website for more information, wwwamtowriorg.
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: Also for folks that have attended one of our heavy classes in the last five, six years.
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: August 2nd and 3rd we'll be doing a train recovery class introduction to train recovery at Maggio's in Rockford Illinois.
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: It's August 2nd and 3rd.
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: It's a Friday night, starts in the evening event Runs through 6 pm on Saturday.
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: So if you're traveling by airplane west of O'Hare O'Hare you can get into real easy on that Friday morning and many times on Saturday night you can get a flight out.
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: Depending on where you're trying to get to exactly.
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: Flying out of a big city, you should be able to get out of there and get home.
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: It'll be late, but get home that Saturday night.
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: For more details, visit our website.
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: Also, we'll be doing an electric vehicle three hour class with the.
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: South Carolina Tow Association.
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: By 18th.
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: Check our website or their website for more details.
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: Also please denounce that.
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: We'll be coming back to Lake Station, indiana, while I'm go-towing one of the first places I did a school on my own in the 90s.
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: One of the beauties of doing a school with Wafco is that they do a lot of work with steel corals.
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: They get a real live steel coral 40,000, 50,000 pound coral and bring it and do what I call the Wafco Tow demonstration on coils Show you a lot of stuff Kevin's worked with and learned messing with those coils over the years.
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: That's October 19th and 20th DJ.
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: We got a great guest after the break, someone I met in the middle of the 90s, the beginning of my career, so we're going to ask everybody to hang around and come right back with our guests.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: You got it.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: Take a fast break, we'll be right back.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: Information in this podcast is made possible by generous sponsorship from Henry's Wrecker serving the community with quality towing and recovery for over 40 years.
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: Henryswrecker serving the community with quality towing and recovery for over 40 years Riesreckercom.
• 14:12
  Speaker 5: The EV Clever app is an app created for all responders and emergency service personnel.
• 14:16
  Speaker 5: The EV Clever app is the only app containing easy-to-navigate quick links to access manufacturer-suggested instructions for emergency situations dealing with electric and alternative fuel vehicles while on the side of the road.
• 14:28
  Speaker 5: That includes hybrid, fully electric fuel cell, compressed natural gas and hydrogen buses and heavy trucks.
• 14:36
  Speaker 5: These quick links are a convenient way to access information quickly.
• 14:40
  Speaker 5: To date, we have a total of 784 passenger vehicles and a total of 167 heavy duty vehicles.
• 14:48
  Speaker 5: This number is growing daily.
• 14:49
  Speaker 5: We have a dedicated research team that is constantly adding more vehicles to the app.
• 14:54
  Speaker 5: The information is accessed from available manufacturer provided emergency response guides.
• 14:59
  Speaker 5: We access this information and process it into an easily accessible app that you are able to conveniently access on the side of the road.
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: And that, my friend, is how you put all the information you need at your fingertips with the EV Clever app.
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: Go to ev-clevercom and download yours today.
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: You have been listening to the American Tone Recovery Institute podcast with Wes Wilburn, dj Harrington, each and every week.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: We do our best to bring you informative episodes like this one.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: Make sure you download and listen, and remember we're available on Spotify, itunes, andorra, stitcher, iheartmedia, amazon or wherever you get your podcasts.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: So, without further ado, wes, I'll turn it over to you so you can introduce our guests.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: Now we have 14,000 listeners, so this is because of our listening base, telling their friends to listen up and register, which is great news.
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: I appreciate everybody doing that and register, which is great news.
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: I appreciate everybody doing that.
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: Well, I'd like to introduce JT Rezor.
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: Jt, did I get close to your last name, correct?
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: Yep, pretty close, better than I've been doing.
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: Yes, sir, I've known JT for about 30 years as a rec master instructor.
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: He was the youngest student to ever come to a class at that point and take the exam and pass it.
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: What was that?
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: 1996, jt?
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: Yes, sir, so we've known each other.
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: Since then worked together on many different projects and levels.
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: Jt's one of the.
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: There's a few gentlemen that are helping me keep the classes going.
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: I was showing up and helping do the hands-on and taking it seriously, and JT is definitely one of them.
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: Jt, introduce yourself.
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: Tell us a little bit about your background.
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: JT Reeser from St Charles, missouri, second generation towing.
• 17:11
  Speaker 4: My family used to own Cardinal Towing here in town.
• 17:13
  Speaker 4: We've sold out a couple times over the years.
• 17:17
  Speaker 4: Now we're part of a big conglomerate that's buying companies.
• 17:21
  Speaker 4: Our parent corporation is now J&I Hauling.
• 17:23
  Speaker 4: We have seven towing companies all together now with 130 pieces of equipment.
• 17:29
  Speaker 4: So, like Wes said, I met him in 96 at 13 years old I was through the rec master class and we've kind of, just like I said, worked together ever since and on and off over the years.
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: So Cardinal grew itself up.
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: It consolidated with A&A.
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: A&a consolidated with this group.
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: We'll talk all about that in a minute.
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: Uh, you started with your father's company and worked your way up from the, from the ground floor, correct?
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: yeah, we started that.
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: That started the company back in 90.
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: We started with two trucks, we grew up to 45 uh and at the time we were one of the only companies in the area to have a rotator.
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: We had a 60-ton rotator.
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: That was his pride and joy.
• 18:21
  Speaker 4: He basically bought Speck for me to learn to run.
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: Go ahead.
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: And part of the from the buildup to moving in a different direction was your father passing away at a relatively young age.
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: He was 51 and passed of stage 4 melanoma cancer.
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: So that was back in 08.
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: We ran the business for several years after his passing and then decided that the family wanted to go a different direction.
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: So we merged with A&A, towing Through the heavy side.
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: From that we went from two heavies to 11, I think we had 11 heavies at the time.
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: The A&A Cardinal brand has always focused more on the heavy side and the police towing and now that we're merged with the company, we're merged with now, we're all around aspects of it, from equipment hauling to heavy recovery and normal car towing and account towing as well.
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: With all the different companies, it seemed like a lot of them had different focuses.
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: I know Bob Bolin is one of the companies and they had focus.
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: First of all, it's a very old company, isn't it?
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we were celebrating our 75th year, I think this year with the Bolins Go ahead.
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: That.
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: Bolin's been around.
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: And they kind of had grown their business towards equipment.
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: Talk about that about how the different brands focus in different directions.
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: Talk about that, about how the different brands focus in different directions yeah, so the bowling side.
• 20:20
  Speaker 4: They've always been a large company and they did get a real big into the equipment hauling side of it to where we've got, I think, 18 tractor traders and 5 tandem rollbacks for that side of it.
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: They still hold on to some of their long-term customers that they had on the heavy side Right.
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: As a matter of fact, that first school that I did there in St Louis that you came to, they hosted it, correct?
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: Yes, it was at our bowling location, which is where, when we do the school coming up in June, that's where we'll host it as well.
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a nice location near the city.
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: Y'all got a nice setup planned for the class.
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: I'm excited about it.
• 21:09
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it should be a good turnout.
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: We've got a couple scenarios planned for each day of it.
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: Talk about that.
• 21:12
  Speaker 4: Do you have something loaded to do for the heavy?
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: Be a good turnout, and uh, we've got a couple scenarios planned for each day of it.
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: Talk about some loaded to do for the heavy.
• 21:18
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm uh, we'll have.
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: I got a garbage truck um, it's partially loaded, I believe and then we have a we'll have a loaded tractor trailer as well to use.
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: That will, uh, we'll, we'll do a rollover scenario, probably with both of them.
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: And then we've got all types, every type of truck that you can imagine.
• 21:42
  Speaker 4: Here We'll have a bunch of our equipment trucks sitting here to do the different towing hookups and procedures on.
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: That's awesome.
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: The one-day class for our listeners has proven to be very popular.
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: We get a lot done because of people like JT helping.
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: It will make use of the time real well.
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: Some of the hookups they have complete for the towing side, where we can make points without using a lot of class time.
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: So the new format is very popular.
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: Jt has been a huge part of that Talk a little bit about helping with training.
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: What you, why you, why you're involved, how about that?
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: So I as we say what you why you're involved.
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: How about that?
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: So, as we say, I started training for this at a young age, you know 13 years old and dad was always sending me to every school or every seminar to show that he could get me involved with, so that I could gain the knowledge of it, and from that it grew to the passion, where I like it.
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: I enjoy the training side of it because it's.
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: It's nice when we go to these classrooms to see the light bulb click in these people's heads, and it's something as simple as an air hook if you showed them or a trick with the you know over, inflate an airbag or something like that to get, uh, a twisted axle up in the air.
• 23:12
  Speaker 4: And if you're not passing this knowledge along in this industry?
• 23:16
  Speaker 4: then, you know it doesn't do any good to the next person.
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: JT, I definitely agree with your father's philosophy of getting you to every training class you can.
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: So I remember seeing you at different shows, attending mine and others, and I think that's awesome.
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: Seen you at different shows, attending mine and others, and I think that's awesome.
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: One of the reasons that you're involved with helping is that you always had a natural ability, I noticed during hands-on to be a kind of a natural leader with students, but not in a pushy way, by bringing up what we talked about in the classroom, trying to put it to life in the field.
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: You've done an excellent job with doing that in the classes.
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: You've helped me out.
• 24:03
  Speaker 3: I'm very, very appreciative of that.
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: Thank you.
• 24:07
  Speaker 4: I mean, and that's where I do struggle with talking in front of the class, in the classroom setting, but it's more natural to be out in the field, and I don't trip over my words as much out in the field, so I find that it's more comfort zone out there doing the hands-on portion of it.
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's when I started years ago.
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: I was absolutely the same.
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: The first you had taken a little short hiatus, I guess, from towing and came to a class in Kansas City.
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: What five years ago now, six years ago, does that sound right?
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah?
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: five or six years ago we did a three-day rotator class up at All-City outside of Kansas City.
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: And I brought my son Wesley along, who had been to a couple classes, but not real serious, and it had been a while since he'd been to a class and you naturally took him under your wing and really mentored him during the class and I really appreciate that.
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: And that was again what I saw was kind of your natural ability to naturally share what you're thinking and your knowledge, not in a cocky way.
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: That's the challenge sometimes to find that balance.
• 25:25
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and I think it's a unique balance to find is that we all know as we get higher up in this level, you get to the rotator operators and there's a lot of ego involved in it.
• 25:36
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it's a challenge on that aspect of it to balance that to where you don't come off as cocky or arrogant when you're doing it.
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: And that's important, and also a little bit of that ego is important as well.
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: To have the effort to get out there and get this stuff done.
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: It's a fine line, all right.
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: I'm told we got to take a quick break, so hang around Right after the break we'll be back with more with JT.
• 26:09
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• 27:08
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• 27:16
  Speaker 2: That's 910-747-9000.
• 27:18
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• 27:21
  Speaker 1: Welcome back listeners.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: Of course you are listening to the American Towing Recovery Institute podcast with Wes Wilburn, dj Arrington, the tow doctor.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: I want to remind all of you, just like Wes said earlier, remember to like, review and share everywhere.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: And I want to remind all of you if you'd like to hear an industry expert like JT, just dial our hotline number here at the Podcast Center, 706-409-5603, and let us know of a recovery professional you would like to hear on the podcast and Wes will do his very best to get him on the podcast or her on the podcast.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: So, without further ado, let me pass it back over to Wes and Wes, we're talking about this upcoming class with you and JT.
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: Thanks, dj.
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we have this class coming up in June.
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: On the 21st, for the electric vehicle That'll be in the evening, there'll be a dinner sponsor.
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: That's June 21st and on the 22nd we're going to do that one-day heavy.
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: You said we're going to do two recovery scenarios and also do some tailing hookups.
• 28:41
  Speaker 3: Right, right, jt.
• 28:45
  Speaker 4: Correct.
• 28:45
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we'll take and do a couple different front hookups and a couple different rear hookups on some tractors and maybe a box truck or something like that that we've got around so that we can show.
• 28:54
  Speaker 4: Like you know, I know a lot of people around have had issues with the Kenworth 8-bag suspension.
• 29:00
  Speaker 4: We just show a couple different tricks on ways to hook those up and some different airing techniques to supply air and whatnot to the truck you're towing.
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: One of the things that we in the organization kind of came up with is make made up a set of what I call toe anything chains and they're not for your everyday standard toe but with axles, knockboost etc.
• 29:32
  Speaker 3: Using a 12 foot half inch chain with a foundry hook on one end and a miller frame hook on the other end and jt's been excellent in showing those and utilizing those.
• 29:43
  Speaker 3: I know you'd show that for a front axle knocked out.
• 29:47
  Speaker 3: What are some other things you utilize those chains for?
• 29:50
  Speaker 3: Jt?
• 29:51
  Speaker 3: Does anything pop into your mind?
• 29:58
  Speaker 4: Yeah, those are my favorite chains to use on the eight-bag suspension from the rear toes.
• 30:02
  Speaker 4: You can grab it right behind the frame chain, right behind the fifth wheel plate or in front of the fifth wheel plate on the on the front axle, and then come out and you capture both axles from the rear.
• 30:11
  Speaker 4: Now you're only two chains out of the out of the truck, as opposed to chaining each individual axle up and then two hookup chains.
• 30:18
  Speaker 3: So it just makes it quicker and to me it's more effective that way how are you uh connecting to the frame with the foundries and another another framework?
• 30:30
  Speaker 4: um, I've done them both ways.
• 30:31
  Speaker 4: Uh, it depends on what fifth, what fifth wheel plate it's got on there.
• 30:35
  Speaker 4: If it's got the the wide track on there where the uh frame chain won't get in there, I use the foundry hook on there where you're pulling straight down on there.
• 30:42
  Speaker 4: I use the foundry hook on there where you're pulling straight down on into the throat of the foundry hook coming underneath the front axle and the front axle of the truck, coming out the back axle and then, depending on the frame rail or the frame setup on the back, whether you use an angle iron in your end caps or your chain blocks or chain forks on your underreach.
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: That's one of the things I like about the demonstrations you're doing for us is you're showing them real world stuff, but still keeping safety in mind.
• 31:10
  Speaker 3: Yep, what other things do you like to focus on when we're talking about heavy truck tow with students?
• 31:18
  Speaker 4: You know we touch on the.
• 31:19
  Speaker 4: If you're pulling one axle, you're pulling four axles.
• 31:22
  Speaker 4: The old school way of just pulling one axle, you're pulling four axles.
• 31:23
  Speaker 4: The old school way of just pulling one or two is kind of gone by the wayside.
• 31:26
  Speaker 4: There's a couple videos and I know that you showed in class about what it actually does to the rear end of the trucks if you're not pulling pulling all four of them yeah, a friend judge z out there used to be in the talent industry does a great little video.
• 31:41
  Speaker 4: It gets a little rough, of course, with one of one choice of words, but short of that he explains it in perfect detail, where someone like myself perfectly yeah, so I you know we've touched on that we uh we go through the air hookup kits that that are out there, that you you know that we offer and uh show the different air points to to quickly air up the trucks where you're in the whole system up on them.
• 32:06
  Speaker 4: There's another big thing that we try to, we try to push in that on the towing side of it so that they can you know the different ways and methods to air them up you know, one of the things I haven't shared with you recently, but I, kim, mentioned it a meeting ago.
• 32:21
  Speaker 3: I should have said something to both you and Nick.
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: Both the comments about the towing hookups that we're doing is getting brought up in the.
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: There's two different places to give us comments One is anonymously and one is for the exam.
• 32:38
  Speaker 3: Both areas getting several comments per class about how much they appreciate that.
• 32:46
  Speaker 3: It's just not recovery.
• 32:47
  Speaker 3: We're doing hookups, talking about things that are dated today, telling issues, not just showing them the big recovery.
• 32:58
  Speaker 4: I think that's a big point of it because, let's be honest, everybody in this industry, especially on the heavy side, we're all in it because we want to go work them big accidents and the challenging recoveries but the majority of us are doing day-to-day towing is what we're doing.
• 33:12
  Speaker 4: The same hookups or the, you know, might be a front runner or a camber, but at the end of the day it's probably's probably, you know, your front axle hookup is going to be the same as it is.
• 33:23
  Speaker 4: So we try to just, you know, show different techniques and tricks on what we've picked up over the years on how to do it safely and efficiently absolutely.
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: That's what it's all about, so we're looking forward to coming out there in a couple weeks I hope our listeners if you're thinking about coming.
• 33:45
  Speaker 3: It's a great place to attend a school.
• 33:46
  Speaker 3: One of the great things that's been happening this year, dj's.
• 33:52
  Speaker 3: We're getting good class sizes.
• 33:54
  Speaker 3: That's good for many reasons, but one of the biggest reasons is the students and the networking opportunities.
• 34:00
  Speaker 3: So we're real excited to be coming out to your place for the Heavy on Saturday.
• 34:06
  Speaker 3: The Light Duty will be on the Sunday.
• 34:09
  Speaker 3: I know you're having some good stuff for the Light Duty as well.
• 34:12
  Speaker 3: We have sponsored lunches on the Saturday and Sunday and sponsored dinner Friday night.
• 34:20
  Speaker 3: So we're thankful for Purpose and they also get the famous Purpose gift bag.
• 34:28
  Speaker 3: They always have a nice little bag of swag I guess you call it for the students that are attending JT.
• 34:36
  Speaker 3: I appreciate you taking time out of your day.
• 34:38
  Speaker 3: Any closing comments?
• 34:41
  Speaker 4: to the listening audience.
• 34:42
  Speaker 4: We're happy to host coming up in June.
• 34:47
  Speaker 4: Hopefully we'll get a good turnout, like we've seen at the rest of schools throughout the year so far.
• 34:50
  Speaker 4: We do have some other goodies that will be some door prizes and stuff like that to hand out as well to the people.
• 34:57
  Speaker 4: Most likely we'll put together the 50-50 raffle or something for the towing museum as well.
• 35:05
  Speaker 3: Okay great, you guys, DJ.
• 35:11
  Speaker 3: They do a great, great job of hosting, don't they?
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: They sure do.
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: Well, jt is a wonderful because his whole family was.
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: But I got to remind all our listeners you guys don't brag about yourselves enough.
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: To learn more about this class, just dial 910-747-9000.
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: That's 910-747-9000.
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: And just ask them to send you more information on June, the 21st, 22nd and 23rd, and because there's seats available.
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: And after listening to you and JT speak, all of a sudden I'm sitting there saying you know, this guy's out there saying I'm not that far away.
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: I could actually drive over those three days and go to one super class.
• 36:10
  Speaker 3: And Doc, they got a good deal on a hotel in a nice area there, right JT.
• 36:16
  Speaker 4: We do.
• 36:17
  Speaker 4: We've got some rates locked in on the flyer to register for the room by a certain date.
• 36:24
  Speaker 4: We've got some discounted room rates at some decent hotels, some pretty nice hotels in the area.
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: Fantastic.
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: See, those are the kind of things that the listener, JP, is sitting there After listening to you and talking about the hookups and so forth and the different processes that you're doing.
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: You can't do today's business with yesterday's thinking and hope to be ahead tomorrow.
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: And that's just what JT talked about today.
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: It was excellent.
• 36:57
  Speaker 3: Well, as always.
• 36:59
  Speaker 3: We thank our listeners.
• 37:01
  Speaker 3: Jt, thank you for taking time out of your schedule.
• 37:04
  Speaker 3: Anybody who wants to be in contact with JT just reach out to us and I'll get you all connected up.
• 37:11
  Speaker 3: As always, dj, we appreciate you.
• 37:13
  Speaker 3: I appreciate my team back here.
• 37:16
  Speaker 3: They're working diligently hard getting us ready for the New York.
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: Toe.
• 37:20
  Speaker 3: Show.
• 37:21
  Speaker 3: So to our listeners be safe, hope to see you somewhere soon, good to yourself, good to your family, and the rest will come in this world.
• 37:29
  Speaker 3: God bless it, thank you.