>Valdez to the rescue. I hooked up to the tow truck using his J hook, which
>was slipped into the mountings on the back of the flatbed. I pulled but
>nothing happened. It didn't even move. I drove forward about a foot, and
>backed up a bit to try and give him a bit of a tug, just wee little thump on
>the end of the chain that might dislodge the beast, and not an instant
>later, I am sitting in the drivers' seat, covered in broken glass. The slip
>attach on the back of the tow truck had bent and the chain had come flying
>at the rover. Not with a whole lot of force, just enough to get flung at the
>windshield with enough force to give it a nice big spider. Great. I had the
>little fragments of glass on me. The chain didn't come near to actually
>coming through the glass, but it sure got my attention.
>
>The tow truck offered to pay for the glass, I wasn't too concerned as I knew
>I had a spare, but it just annoyed and scared me. I'm never ever using chain
>in any kind of recovery operation ever ever again. It wasn't even a tug,
>just a little thump and the thing came flying at me with an alarming amount
>of force. Could have been ugly had I given it some real power, not just a
>halfhearted try. What really ticks me off is the only reason I used the
>chain is because the tow truck operator offered it to me. Ordinarily I would
>have used the winch or a tow strap. That was really dumb on my part.
The chain wasn't the problem. Using the hold down on the tow truck
bed was. That type of attachment[1] is not designed for dynamic use.
You put a hook or chain link into it, put it under tension (using a
load binder or the truck winch) and make damn sure it stays under
tension. If you get slack into the chain, it WILL COME OFF AND KILL
YOU. I see tow truck drivers do incredibly stupid things all the
time, it's a wonder more of them aren't killed.
I'm glad you weren't hurt, though.
David
[1] For those not familiar with the backs of tow trucks, it's a T
shaped slot. You put the free end (or part of) the chain through the
wide spot, and the narrow part keeps the chain from coming free. As
long as the chain is under tension, constantly. If the chain gets
slack, it will come loose and kill you. But I think I mentioned that.
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