Tru-Hitch towing units.
- Thread starter LowBoy
- Start date
"O-K" ????? ….. I'll bite …. what am I not seeing here ??? …. never seen this contraption before either …… so I see the glad hands and the 1/2 fenders ….. is there a king-pin under the stand pipe ??? …. and i'm guessing this is a towing attachment that acts like a fifth wheel trailer ??? once everything is hooked up …..
There is some info about them on the tow truck forum I belong to:
http://tow411.yuku.com/
They will want to see your big rollback on there too. There is a ton of rollback and rigging info on there.
http://tow411.yuku.com/
They will want to see your big rollback on there too. There is a ton of rollback and rigging info on there.
Hahaha, I just found/registered on that site yesterday Mitch. I was looking around for info on these units, but didn't see any. I better go back and look some more I reckon. I like the whole concept of these. It turns the load you're towing into a trailer, as it pivots on the 5th wheel. My Big Ben I use now to tow is handy, but scary. It doesn't like you to turn at all...but sometimes it's kinda necessary. That's why I'm interested in these Tru Hitch's now.
Last weekend, I set out on a "mission of mercy" to rescue a buddy that had some problems with his '97 Western Star out on I-70 in Washington, Pa. He lives out by me in Massachusetts, we're 70 miles apart. He had the motor done in that Star last year, (Caterpillar C-15 550,) by a reputable dealership in Connecticut, also a KW dealer. He had an oil leak under the head ever since the motor job, so he brought it back in a month ago under warranty to stop the leak. Then, he deadheaded 645 miles to Moundsville, W. Va. and put a load on, went about 20 miles and while pulling the big hill on I-470 coming into Pa., he encountered some white smoke and a skip that made him decide to park it at a Western Star dealership in Canonsburg, Pa. to have them check into it. He didn't like the way they were acting, so he called the dealer in Ct. and they said they'd be glad to make it right if he got it home.
I got the call on or about last Wednesday, to brainstorm a way to get the truck back to Ct. I said I have the Big Ben, and he has a nice spare truck at his house, (a 1999 379 Pete daycab) that's registered, insured for an emergency. (He jumped into a company tractor out in W. Va. and continued working the entire time to stay productive...still in it actually.) Sooooo, I took the preceding Friday off to get ready for this mission. I went to his house, got the 99 Pete. Got it home, used the JCB (yes...I got it running, whoo hoo!,) to hook the Big Ben onto the 5th wheel. I dressed it up with every chain I thought I could use, and loaded every tool I could possibly think of that I would need, as it would be a lonely Saturday out there if I was missing something. By planning ahead, I figured I'd be removing rear flap brackets, light bars, etc.
I made a "bed" from an 8"X12" hemlock block that was the right height between the seats and put the sleeping bag and pillows right to it. Brought clothes, jacket, tools in cab...it looked like I was a homeless guy driving that truck. Went to bed for a few hours Friday night, and blasted off at 1:00 a.m. Saturday morning headed to retrieve the wounded warrior.
Arrived in Canonsburg, Pa. 12 hours later at 1:00 PM. Jumped out and went to work like I was on the clock. It took 3 hours of unadulterated work to prep. and ready the truck to tow, after all, it wasn't just down the street; it was 645 miles back to the shop so I wanted to do everything just ONCE, not again in the dark somewhere. I used triple the amount of chains that a normal tow monkey would have. Anywhere a chain was required, I used 3 of them. I didn't want to look in the mirror at any given time and say "Uh oh"...LOL. I had safety chains for the safety chains. That truck was coming with ME...that's all there was to it. Made it back to Buckhorn, Pa. that night around 10 pm, and was feeling pretty sluggish by then after 21 hours. (tow guys are exempt from log books and stuff, right?
) It would have been an hour less, but when I was about to get onto I-80 from I-99 around Milesburg, I missed the ramp and ended up going about 10 miles north on a buggy path until I found a farm with enough acreage to turn around at. I was almost crying about that mishap, due to the distance I had to go to turn around, but I'm too tough a guy for that. I passed 3 Amish buggies going up through there with flashing LED lights on them, thought I was seeing UFO's coming at me until I saw what they were up close. I wanted to kick my own A$$ for missing that ramp that took me almost 45 minutes to get back to.I tipped over (literally) across the makeshift "bed" for 5 hours, woke up, washed my face, got a coffee and put her in the wind eastbound again. Arrived safely and set the Star on the concrete at the dealership in Ct. at 10:00 a.m. Sunday morning. Mission accomplished. I will admit, I'm getting too old for these kind of excursions anymore, but I'd do it again for a friend in need; that was a "payback mission" as he let me borrow that Pete last year to tow one of my own trucks I brought home once, so I owed him one. Felt good to return the favor.
More Big Ben Pictures.
Mission of Mercy pics continued...
Now you can see why these Big Ben's are a little "scary". They have their uses, but they're limited. THIS is kind of pushing those limits, in terms of distance, etc. But this particular one isn't the most heavy duty version they make either. There's better ones out there now with more flexibility, options, etc. This old girl has been around town a while,but she did the job. I've moved 3 trucks this year with it, and it's worth it's weight in gold when you can do it yourself, if you have the resources to do so.
Mission of Mercy pics continued...
Now you can see why these Big Ben's are a little "scary". They have their uses, but they're limited. THIS is kind of pushing those limits, in terms of distance, etc. But this particular one isn't the most heavy duty version they make either. There's better ones out there now with more flexibility, options, etc. This old girl has been around town a while,but she did the job. I've moved 3 trucks this year with it, and it's worth it's weight in gold when you can do it yourself, if you have the resources to do so.
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Thanks for the pics Tiny and Mitch504...
Mitch, I went to tow411 and searched for anything on Tru Hitch...nothing came up in the search field for some reason...do you know which thread there may be something on them in by any chance?
Lowboy, there's a welding shop near me that used to make wreckers with a hitch very similar to that but it had a swivel between the A frame and hitch. I'm sure they could send you something to weld on where I see the patches where those two part come together that would solve your turning problem. PM me if you'd like their phone number.
That's appreciated Steve, however, I'm pretty sold on one of these Tru-Hitch systems that I spoke about that Tiny and Mitch posted pics of. They're the hot setup for long-distance tow jobs like the one I did recently. This Big Ben has it's limits, very handy but not very versatile compared to the Tru Hitch system.
This one I have does swivel to a degree, but the way I had it hooked up to this particular truck to keep it tight without fore and aft movement, I had the drawbar tight against the frame with a piece of angleiron under the rails to keep the chains in the right place. That configuration made it a heck or a lot stiffer than I'd have liked it to have been, but again, I never had to adjust the tension once in 12 hours/645 miles.
The Tru Hitch pivots on the 5th wheel; it turns the towed vehicle into a trailer. I'm convinced I need one of these contraptions in my arsenal now.
You may want to look into a "Quick swap" unit from Industires NRC,.
http://nrc-industries.com/index.php?page=quickswap_tag_axle
We had one of the tag axle units on a Itl 9900 at a dealer a worked for. Very well made good working unit. The tag axle is a must to get some weight on the front end with the larger trucks.
http://nrc-industries.com/index.php?page=quickswap_tag_axle
We had one of the tag axle units on a Itl 9900 at a dealer a worked for. Very well made good working unit. The tag axle is a must to get some weight on the front end with the larger trucks.
td25c
Well-known member
Never used or been around a Tru hitch unit. From what I understand it kind of works like a non ground bearing gooseneck. Looks like a handy tool. http://www.truhitch.com/
I appreciate that Buckfever...but there wasn't much anyone could do right there. Scored a cylinder, skipping, blowby, etc. Cat warranteed it so I drug it back to Connecticut where the shop is that rebuilt it under warranty. We didn't like what we were hearing at the Freightliner/Western Star dealership where it was, so we decided to get it out of there.