On our narrow winding roads I get a lot of calls where the vehicle is in a deep ditch or partialy over an embankment parallel to the roadway.
Trucks available are F-550 wrecker,twin line & HD 3500 flatbed & single operator most of time.
If its a truck with a solid rear bumper & its just high centered in the ditch with 2 wheels on the road & 2 in the ditch I'll back the wrecker about 15 feet off the rear of the truck,chain x 2 to the rear axle or frame , secure the steering wheel in a full turn position pointing out of the ditch then winch towards me & this works great.
It's when we get a vehicle in a deep ditch or over an embankment where there is an uphill bank on the opposite side of the road with no anchor points (for snatch blocks) & minimal road width,the only option we have sometimes is a hard side pull,usually we will terminate the wire rope's @ the d-rings on the tailboard with snatch blocks @ the stuck vehicle (to eliminate 50% of side load off boom) & chain d-ring on boom to the d-ring on tailboard opposite of direction of pull.(anybody still with me?)
If available we have used another vehicle on roadway as anchorpoint for snatchblock for different pull direction,the problem with this is the donor anchor vehicle has to be substancial ( approximatly twice the resistance of casualty) or it will pull towards casualty on hard pull.
Simple question....anyone ever bent a boom on a side pull?
How about some recovery techniques descussion?
I havent seen a boom bent on a side pull on any of our lighter trucks. One of our medium Freightliners cracked a weld on the outer boom when they did a side pull with the boom extended most of the way out. It has been my experience that most class A trucks will slide sideway or tip up before any damage occurs.
I agree with Gale. The truck will move before you reach the booms retracted capacity.
We too have had many occations to perform a side-pull. I have also attatched the free line to the truck, as you mentioned, to help support the boom. Couldn't hurt, right?.