[SPEAKER_02]: Guys, I have a fun episode of TFL Talking Trucks Podcast because we have a special guest in the studio.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's my new friend, Charlie.
[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for coming down.
[SPEAKER_01]: Glad to be here.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm a downer guys.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's actually up.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm sorry.
[SPEAKER_02]: You're from Texas.
[SPEAKER_02]: She did come up because you went north.
[SPEAKER_01]: Home is about 400 foot elevation.
[SPEAKER_02]: Exactly, and you came up here to Boulder, Colorado, Colorado, where we're based out of yes, but you emailed me what not even like ten days ago Oh, I think it was Tuesday or Wednesday.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yeah a lot is transpired in the last seven days.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're a men of action.
[SPEAKER_01]: I would say
[SPEAKER_01]: My wife and I are very much accused and we accept it and we own up to it of being spontaneous.
[SPEAKER_02]: That's amazing, that's cool.
[SPEAKER_02]: But the reason why this is so special is because I get to learn a lot from you, because you own your own towing and recovery company, you're basically based near Houston, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: About an hour north of downtown.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so and you have a lot of cool toys.
[SPEAKER_02]: You got a lot of cool trucks and you brought a couple of cool trucks here to Colorado with you.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_02]: And that's kind of a separate story because we've done videos our fraud with you.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_02]: We've done video a drag race with you.
[SPEAKER_02]: But on this episode, I kind of wanted to hear a little bit of a backstory about how it started and also some record stories.
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_02]: You know what I'm saying?
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, because I think all of us like to play, you know, in our mind, when I was a little kid, you know, I liked a crane here, you know, pick up a toy and move a toy from here to there.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, maybe that's why it's a podcast.
[SPEAKER_02]: There we go.
[SPEAKER_02]: So, and also, I want to ask you about your fleet of trucks.
[SPEAKER_02]: Because, well, TFL truck, we own our own, you know, several vehicles of our own, but you work your vehicles every single day.
[SPEAKER_02]: So, I wanted to learn a little bit from you about which trucks you have, how they behave, you know, how they work for you.
[SPEAKER_02]: So, well, let's start with a backstory, really quickly.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I've started in the record business in 2001.
[SPEAKER_01]: Buddy, mine, I needed a job.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he said, hey, why don't you come to work?
[SPEAKER_01]: I had a CDL.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'd been all in heavy equipment.
[SPEAKER_01]: And just kind of in between jobs, it'd be in a young man at that point in life.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he said, he said, why don't you come get in this truck?
[SPEAKER_01]: I got it said, OK, let's give it a shot.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he had a big freight line or flat bed that was open and available.
[SPEAKER_01]: put me in the truck, put me to work, and I have been in the business almost every day since.
[SPEAKER_02]: You just kind of fell into it and liked it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's something that has the groom me really quick.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've really enjoyed it through the years.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I have a hard time sitting in an office.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just, I, in transitioning into this part of ownership of a business, has been a little bit difficult because I spend a lot more time inside an office than I do out in a truck doing things.
[SPEAKER_01]: But it's nice to see the guys be able to get out and go do their stuff too.
[SPEAKER_02]: So what was your once you went kind of on your own?
[SPEAKER_02]: What was your first truck?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I worked for somebody else for a long time when I left.
[SPEAKER_01]: I had a huge, great big fancy truck, a 75 ton rotator, and when I left, I started we had a truck.
[SPEAKER_01]: We called it the, what a burger don't get mad.
[SPEAKER_01]: We called it the water burger truck.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was orange and white.
[SPEAKER_01]: OK.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it was a 91 international with a old home 750 bed on the back of it and it was just a beast of an old truck.
[SPEAKER_01]: There was nothing new in fancy and shiny about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I worked on it every single day before I put it to work and after I got done working and from daylight till dark and it really paved the way for us to be able to grow and expand and it was a good truck at the end of the day.
[SPEAKER_02]: All righty.
[SPEAKER_02]: So then we'll get to your fleet coming up soon.
[SPEAKER_02]: But we're looking at the picture here.
[SPEAKER_02]: This is one of your jobs that you participated in.
[SPEAKER_02]: And when I first saw this, I was like, there is no way, because a cement mixer truck, a giant semi.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's probably pretty heavy.
[SPEAKER_02]: How much did this guy weigh?
[SPEAKER_01]: So this truck was being around about 70,000.
[SPEAKER_02]: So this cement becks are went through a neighborhood bridge, like a wooden bridge, which it didn't, it didn't, wasn't supposed to cross.
[SPEAKER_02]: And it fell through the bridge.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_02]: And you were out on this job.
[SPEAKER_02]: So how do you even approach a job like this?
[SPEAKER_01]: So I worked this job with a friend of mine.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a company, they're local called Gabby's Crain.
[SPEAKER_01]: Talk to them and wind up bringing out our rotator to help their Crain.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he did most of the heavy lifting on it.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can see in the picture they are all of the big Snatch Black with all the lines on it.
[SPEAKER_02]: And they'll sort of vertical lines.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, all the vertical lines.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it was originally laid back the other way a little bit towards its roof a little bit.
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: We used the record to pull it over and to help lift on it in that picture and it's one of those.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a sheer drop-off right there and the tailboard of the truck was literally planted in the silt in the mud that was underneath the bridge and this one was a big job.
[SPEAKER_02]: This was definitely a big job because like when we go off-roading, we have small jobs, you know, maybe one of the jeeps or the bronco gets stuck, you know, and we use a maybe a stretch rope, you know, like a kinetic rope or maybe we win something out.
[SPEAKER_02]: But when you get to a job like, oh my gosh, that's a big crane.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, when you get 100 or 110 ton.
[SPEAKER_02]: When you get to a job like this, you need to figure out where to hook up your lines to, right?
[SPEAKER_02]: You don't want to pull off of a bumper, for example.
[SPEAKER_01]: You always need to hook onto something that's solid, for sure.
[SPEAKER_02]: So, tell me a little bit about it, because every job is different, right?
[SPEAKER_02]: Every job you go to.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what's kept me in it so long.
[SPEAKER_01]: Keep my interest up.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that's really amazing.
[SPEAKER_02]: Holy cow.
[SPEAKER_02]: They're picking up with a chain.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's a big chain sling, it's huge.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a lot bigger than it looks.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, in the picture, you can see the holes in the chain from here.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's a giant chain.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a big chain.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, so, and finally, you guys, I guess, you're a potato or explain what they're a potato.
[SPEAKER_02]: Uh, tow truckers.
[SPEAKER_01]: So a rotator tow truck is everybody calls it a crane.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's really not a crane.
[SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't have It's the red one right in the red one on the right.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so you see on the crane.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's got a bunch of counterweights on it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and he We don't have counterweights on the tow trucks.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're very capable.
[SPEAKER_01]: They'll do a lot of stuff that cranes will do But it's not quite the same thing
[SPEAKER_01]: And this thing is made to pick up something out of the ditch, and if it's not drivable, then you hook up to it and take it down the road too.
[SPEAKER_01]: Where's the crane's not going to do that?
[SPEAKER_01]: The tow truck is designed.
[SPEAKER_01]: The crane is designed for a static lift, straight up off the ground.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_01]: Where is the tow truck?
[SPEAKER_01]: As multiple winches, multiple lines like this, particularly one has five winches on it.
[SPEAKER_01]: and it's made to where you can pick something up that's on its side and roll that over and catch it all at the same time.
[SPEAKER_01]: Where is a crane is just made to lift.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_02]: So you need to know a lot of geometry and physics.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: It takes experience for sure.
[SPEAKER_01]: There are people that just jump in and go, but I would really advise against it.
[SPEAKER_02]: Just assess the situation, right?
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, approach it, assess it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and training goes far.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's, it didn't used to be the best training in the world, but there's always been some kind of training.
[SPEAKER_01]: And people that want to be in the business, they want to be professionals that will get the proper training.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just as with any industry, you know, hard training isn't maybe as formal as some other professions, yeah, you know, but there is training that's available and operators should really take advantage of it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Or maybe you could shadow also somebody right you could you could support another and that was how I learned early on was Was on the job, you know, I was a young man working in a company driving a big truck And I was doing toe-in and the the older guys It's always what you can come watch, but you're not gonna make any money Okay, that's fun and in the learning at some point one day I was able to stand on my own two feet and I didn't have to call for they open anymore I was able to do most of those jobs by myself
[SPEAKER_01]: Not this, but most of the time.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, yeah, no, I'm plus you have now employees and other trucks and you can, if there's a big enough job, you can bring multiple vehicles to the right.
[SPEAKER_02]: And you said you had a CDL, so I have a question.
[SPEAKER_02]: We see this, you know, I70 up here in the mountains, it's a mountain, interstate highway.
[SPEAKER_02]: And that's where we do the I gauntlet and we see recovery trucks, including the rotator
[SPEAKER_02]: Pulling a fully loaded semi truck with a trailer, you know, just towing them down the road.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just dragging that or pulling.
[SPEAKER_02]: Uh, we'll just just rolling on the road.
[SPEAKER_02]: Like just hooked up and it was recovered and now it needs to be brought and go up.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, just pick up the front axle and just go down the highway.
[SPEAKER_02]: But that truck and trailer supposedly weigh about 80,000.
[SPEAKER_01]: the tractor train.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, both.
[SPEAKER_02]: Combination.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_02]: But then.
[SPEAKER_02]: So is there a, is there a rotator crank track?
[SPEAKER_02]: What is its capacity really?
[SPEAKER_02]: Because being in the mountains and pull these pulling such a heavy load, it's probably a big deal.
[SPEAKER_01]: All these heavy dudes, all tow trucks, period, should have a tag on them.
[SPEAKER_01]: capacity.
[SPEAKER_01]: I go tell you how big the winch is, how much the boom capacity is and the lift capacity and the torque capacity.
[SPEAKER_01]: So most of the heavy duties that are out there, usually a 35 ton truck in the most of them are all 80,000 pound torque capacity.
[SPEAKER_02]: So it's meant specifically for that job.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's exactly exactly.
[SPEAKER_01]: To recover our semi trailer basically.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's meant to pick that up and go down the road with it.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, because it looks pretty impressive, because the semi truck by itself
[SPEAKER_01]: The depends on what size they are, they might be anywhere from 60 to 90,000 pounds themselves.
[SPEAKER_01]: By themselves.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Before it's ever gets loaded with anything else behind it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just the truck, the way it sits, the two that I have today, I think one weighs about 72 and one weighs, I think, right at 69, 70,000.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so they're big boys by themselves.
[SPEAKER_02]: They're cool.
[SPEAKER_02]: Maybe you can pull up a couple more images.
[SPEAKER_02]: We can go to the gallery.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, there's another image in kind of a top left, I guess.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's, and that we don't have that trick anymore, but that's after a rolled over track.
[SPEAKER_02]: That's what I'm talking about.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_02]: But going down like I 70 like this, you know, that's a big deal.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_01]: So you don't just grab it and go.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we actually run breaks to the trailer.
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, so airlines.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, we run airlines.
[SPEAKER_01]: The record, the tow truck, it'll have two airlines usually everybody swaps it over from glad hands to quick connects because it's easier for the industry.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you hook up your quick connects and run your line back there to a glad hand and hook up to the brakes on the trailer.
[SPEAKER_01]: Gotcha because and that's that's a safety unit.
[SPEAKER_02]: You need assistance.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean like you said the tow truck may be 70,000 by itself You're rolling another 80,000 you know 140,000 You need stopping power absolutely That's a lot of weight absolutely All right, so before we do a little bit more record stories how about?
[SPEAKER_02]: Tell me like what's your about your fleet a little bit like right currently we have
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's see.
[SPEAKER_01]: We have two rotators, three flat beds.
[SPEAKER_01]: We have the 550 and we just bought a medium duty truck.
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, tell me about, well, you also have the off road recovery truck that you brought over here.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_02]: Tell me about the 550.
[SPEAKER_02]: Is there?
[SPEAKER_02]: Let's go there first called the black one, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, the black 550.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a one of the first neck trailer on it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I go.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, here, here's a picture of it at the toe show.
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_02]: So first of all, why Ford?
[SPEAKER_02]: Why, why, why 550?
[SPEAKER_01]: Why if I grew up in a Ford family?
[SPEAKER_01]: And my dad had always had Ford trucks.
[SPEAKER_01]: We had Ford Mustangs.
[SPEAKER_01]: We were just a Ford family.
[SPEAKER_01]: Mom drove a Ford Bronco.
[SPEAKER_01]: That was just who we were.
[SPEAKER_01]: We grew, you know, all on a Ford family, and it has stuck with me, and that's what I've driven a lot of other things and not to beat up on the other ones, I just prefer these.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've always had good luck, especially the late model stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like that truck right there, it's a 22 model, that truck today has about 50,000 miles on it.
[SPEAKER_01]: That truck I built it and bought for me to help out when the other guys were busy.
[SPEAKER_01]: Somebody else drives that truck today, a driver named John, but that truck is a very capable truck.
[SPEAKER_01]: You could see that it's actually got knobby tires on it.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's four-wheel drive.
[SPEAKER_01]: I built a goose neck hitch that added onto the back of it.
[SPEAKER_01]: run all synthetic rope, all of our two trucks run synthetic rope, and it's just a very, very capable good truck.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, tell me about this contraption, you're carrying, there's some other images, you're carrying a container, basically like a shipping container.
[SPEAKER_02]: So what's going on here?
[SPEAKER_01]: So I am, that's a good picture right there.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I, I am very much of the mindset that I would rather have fewer trucks to do a lot of things versus a lot of trucks that do specialized things.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to, I want to have each and every truck maximize the profit that that truck can make as much as possible in the South with all the squeeze and blood out of a turnip.
[SPEAKER_01]: We want to do that as much as we possibly can for each truck.
[SPEAKER_01]: So if I could have 6 or 8 or 10 or 12 trucks versus 30 or 35, then I can be more profitable.
[SPEAKER_01]: I have fewer drivers and then that also benefits the drivers on top of that because then the drivers have more capability with the one single truck and they can make money something and out something into something else and switch and trucks and then they learn a lot more and they can they can do a lot more and it helps them on payday to help provide for their families as well.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this deal here, I designed it's kind of hard to see, but those are set of Collins dollars in the back that people are going to say, oh, that's over capacity.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not.
[SPEAKER_01]: I actually towed that 220 plus miles from our house to the Texas toe show this year.
[SPEAKER_01]: everything went flawlessly.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've had a back injury, I haven't finished my stuff lately, but this setup did really, really well, and it's just one more tool in the box to be able to use a truck like that to do more things that doesn't typically do everything.
[SPEAKER_02]: So what are you thinking?
[SPEAKER_02]: Like if there's a semi-truck and it's got a container on it and it's fell off.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's say on the side No, you should provide typically that's going to be a loaded container.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so this is for only for empty ones.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, I designed this to do 20 just and 40s We are working on this system in another system similar
[SPEAKER_01]: to be able to do this.
[SPEAKER_01]: This worked really well.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's very simple.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just, so a lot of people will have a set of these dollars on their truck, and then the piece that's on top of the doll, it's black, it's between the dolly, and the container itself.
[SPEAKER_01]: It has attachments on it to lock that in there, and it sits on the dolly.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you could be in the truck, pull these pieces out of the toolbox, throw the dollars together, hook this thing up and go down the road with stuff that you have on the truck every day.
[SPEAKER_01]: Instead of going back to the office, getting in an 18-wheeler that's got a big trailer when the slide-knacks will trailers and having to go haul something like this or putting it on a rollback.
[SPEAKER_01]: Whatever, this truck can haul these just as easily as a rollback can.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe not as fast because you just pull the lift on the bed and go down the road, but it's just as capable to go down the road Is any of those are
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that's what you're saying all about verse 20.
[SPEAKER_02]: So you said 50,000 miles on the Ford So you've had pretty good luck with all the power stroke.
[SPEAKER_01]: So this is 50,000 miles, and I'm probably gonna jinx myself because I'm sitting here on camera today Oh, there's just a word anywhere.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think this is a quick one with that.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not sure.
[SPEAKER_01]: So that truck has had zero chassis problem.
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, now we really have to knock
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I also have an F650.
[SPEAKER_01]: So this has the power stroke and it tends to be the okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: I have a 2023 F650.
[SPEAKER_01]: What does it look like?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's white.
[SPEAKER_01]: With a black flat bed it may not be a picture of it anywhere close.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right here.
[SPEAKER_02]: Can you just Google F650 really quick?
[SPEAKER_02]: This is a bigger medium duty chassis basically.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's on 19 five towers just like this but it has a 26,000 pound GVW.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sorry about that.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh that's okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: It has a 26,000 pound GVW on the chassis.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that truck is a gas truck.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like this.
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's mine's a regular cab.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Low pro just like this truck.
[SPEAKER_01]: Very similar to that chassis there.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's a gaser.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a gaser.
[SPEAKER_01]: OK.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I wasn't sure about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I bought it.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the being a Ford fan I wanted the Ford chassis, but the Ford chassis since COVID has come in mess things up for a while.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Ford chassis is the bigger ones are much harder to get hold of to get exactly what you want.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I needed a truck.
[SPEAKER_01]: I needed to upgrade from a truck.
[SPEAKER_01]: I call it a self-loader.
[SPEAKER_01]: It looks like you see the repo trucks.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was that style of truck.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I needed something
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was worried would be in the gasser, but it has really been a good truck.
[SPEAKER_01]: That truck is well.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that truck has about 80,000 miles on it now, and that truck has been a zero issue truck as well.
[SPEAKER_02]: So that's a lot.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, it's a good amount of miles.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, you said then 2023 a 23 model.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_02]: So that's a decent usage.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yep.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's been used quite a bit and it has plenty of time that it sits around to just like any other tow truck.
[SPEAKER_01]: And but it's not a race truck.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're not going to break it in and speed records in it.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not quick.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not fast on the top end, but it's a go out get the job done like duty tow truck.
[SPEAKER_02]: Nice.
[SPEAKER_02]: And okay, now let's bring up once again on your page.
[SPEAKER_02]: They off-road recovery, the red truck.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, for example, what's going on here?
[SPEAKER_02]: So you're F350 stuck sideways.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so I was going out to rescue these guys in a Jeep.
[SPEAKER_01]: They were having a hard time finding somebody to come get them.
[SPEAKER_01]: And they were down in spring.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I went down, I picked, I answered the phone, absolutely, we'll come out, no problem, come get you.
[SPEAKER_01]: And they dropped mid-pin, where they were at.
[SPEAKER_01]: And saw them, looked at the satellite images on the maps.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's all where they were at.
[SPEAKER_01]: No problem.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I get out there and I was walking a fine line.
[SPEAKER_01]: down the dirt trail there and somebody else it I don't know if it was a skitter that come out because you can see the ruts on the other side too really big ruts something came out and made some ridiculously massive ruts at some point and I got a little bit too close to that one
[SPEAKER_01]: And the whole truck slid over a little bit, and it looks, the picture looks terrible.
[SPEAKER_01]: I shared it to the picture obviously on Facebook, and you know, you can see on the actually in the comments, I posted more pictures, you know, it says five minutes later, the truck, I had the truck out.
[SPEAKER_01]: So you've got 12,000 pound winch of them.
[SPEAKER_01]: In the front.
[SPEAKER_02]: So you're trying to help yourself out, is it?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I just left the other winches in neutral and self recovered up out of the hole.
[SPEAKER_01]: I backed up a little, so you see, I was a little too close, slid off in the hole that he was in.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was able to pull myself out.
[SPEAKER_02]: But by the way, it's really hard to see scale on some of these images.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_02]: Because you're F350.
[SPEAKER_02]: You were kind of having, I want to say a little bit more fun with this build.
[SPEAKER_02]: Right?
[SPEAKER_02]: Your truck, your F350 has a six inch lift in its own 42s.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's a picture I took when that's at our house coming out here.
[SPEAKER_01]: The day we left to come here.
[SPEAKER_01]: So that was on Sunday morning when we were leaving the house.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the, what it looked like when we were leaving.
[SPEAKER_02]: So tell me about a little bit about that.
[SPEAKER_02]: F350.
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_02]: Because you also wanted to go to the off-road games, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, we did go to the Matt's off-road games.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not this year, but last year.
[SPEAKER_02]: The previous year.
[SPEAKER_01]: And saying hello.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was a blast.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a bunch of pictures on here of that as well.
[SPEAKER_02]: And that's what I'm talking about, scale, right?
[SPEAKER_02]: Because when you see a vehicle by itself, it doesn't look, yeah, there's a special.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's next to Matt's truck there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, there you go.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it just makes my truck look so small.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's not tire, it's the tire, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: The tires on that truck are massive.
[SPEAKER_01]: And see, it's not much taller.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not much taller than, then my truck is, you know,
[SPEAKER_01]: Matt's got a really impressive, very capable truck.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not as roadworthy as ours is, but it's a very capable truck by far.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, can you, like, click through his more images?
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, just so we can see a little bit more.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just, there's Dr. Murphy's Diesel, that's next to it.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's HB, that's not a rick up there with his truck.
[SPEAKER_01]: There as he is staying on top, that's my father-in-law on the front.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we had a little sand hollow sand all over the truck there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yeah, totally.
[SPEAKER_01]: We had just got stuck and that's a good picture.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's just, give me that.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a six by 10 American flag.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the the view of it kind of makes it dwarf the truck a little bit, but That angle everything.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, it's like, you know, I have a tundra, right?
[SPEAKER_02]: Huh?
[SPEAKER_02]: And I put it on 34's and it looks okay And then I parked my tundra next to your F350 and my tundra looks tiny right?
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes So it's everything.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, there's a tiny cyber truck next to you.
[SPEAKER_02]: Look at that.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, God cute.
[SPEAKER_02]: Did it?
[SPEAKER_02]: little tiny one so yeah so but by the way you said world worthy right so you're after fifty with a six inch lift on thirty forty-two's yes you pulled a trailer a thousand miles to come here little over thousand miles yeah so this is a usable vehicle you could use for meaning absolutely we traditionally we don't drive it this far yeah but I got a you know
[SPEAKER_01]: you get you get to hear a spontaneous spontaneous you get to hear in the naysayers and then you and I were emailing and I told my wife I said, you know what?
[SPEAKER_01]: I said, let's go to Colorado and I said, she said, what would we drive in?
[SPEAKER_01]: I said, well, you're probably not going to like the nine-day conditioning seats, but it's a good comfy ride.
[SPEAKER_01]: I promise.
[SPEAKER_01]: She's like, what are you talking about?
[SPEAKER_01]: I said, well, we're taking the red one.
[SPEAKER_01]: She's like, really?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, that's the one we're taking.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it did fantastic you know the before we got up here to the mountains in the flatter parts of Texas I mean the truck did really well at 10 miles a little over 10 miles a gallon and we were way in a scale ticket I waited wait is over 16,000 pounds with the trailer with the trailer loaded full of fuel everything was a little over 16,000 pounds yeah, and that's a buck used in emerald
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, and you can see how tall how upright this truck is, right?
[SPEAKER_02]: You got a big kind of I was going to say how push her on.
[SPEAKER_01]: So this is me, Steve, in the front of it.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can't see me, but this I'm five nine.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's me holding a phone in front of my face and I level to take a picture of it.
[SPEAKER_02]: You're basically looking at the top of the hood, basically.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so there's stick.
[SPEAKER_01]: Did you know there's stickers on top of the hood?
[SPEAKER_01]: No, there's stickers on top of the list.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's how tall the truck.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you can always tell.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm six, three, almost.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, there you go.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that's a tall truck.
[SPEAKER_02]: That's a tall truck.
[SPEAKER_02]: It is very tall.
[SPEAKER_02]: So, let's see, can you go back to the gallery a little bit more?
[SPEAKER_02]: What are some of the other stories?
[SPEAKER_02]: Do you have another one at least?
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, let's scroll through here.
[SPEAKER_02]: Let's see.
[SPEAKER_02]: What's going on with that space shuttle?
[SPEAKER_02]: Are you talking a space shuttle?
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's one of my guys that's his name is Chris.
[SPEAKER_01]: No Chris for a long long time and when he came to work force That was the rotate that we bought for me that I ran myself and Chris come along and put him in that truck and This is the sort of thing that Chris does a lot of he does a lot of these concrete pump trucks
[SPEAKER_01]: And these pump trucks are 120,000 and 30,000 pounds.
[SPEAKER_01]: That was a big boy.
[SPEAKER_01]: Those are big.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this one just happened to be with a great backdrop, with the shuttle on top of the 747, down by NASA on the south side of Houston.
[SPEAKER_02]: I got you.
[SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, you're not doing the shuttle.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's just in the background.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just in the background.
[SPEAKER_02]: It was just posing, but you could throw a shuttle.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I mean, the thunder did.
[SPEAKER_01]: If the thunder did, we could shoot you.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's, I believe it, my whole, yes.
[SPEAKER_01]: You told me you told the plane once though.
[SPEAKER_01]: I did.
[SPEAKER_01]: I told the, uh, that was years ago and I worked for somebody else.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the, it was a Gulf Stream G6 I believe.
[SPEAKER_01]: They had a airport in Houston.
[SPEAKER_01]: Did it go off-roading in the plane?
[SPEAKER_01]: They thought they wanted to, until they did, and it was a really bad experience for them.
[SPEAKER_02]: They went up the runway.
[SPEAKER_01]: They went off the taxiway, trying to make a U-turn at the end of the runway.
[SPEAKER_01]: And when that, when that wheel hit the grass, they made it about 10 or 15 feet into the grass for they found the soft spot in the landing gear on that side, just went outside.
[SPEAKER_02]: So you, yeah, you have to help out and kind of move it back.
[SPEAKER_01]: They had a company that specializes in aircraft recovery, which oddly enough, I don't we don't share pictures on social media this, but we actually do aircraft recovery as well.
[SPEAKER_01]: Our guys were out just yesterday doing a aircraft recovery in Houston.
[SPEAKER_02]: Like just near the airport at the airport.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it's a small airport now.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not talking, you know, George Booth, come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come and come
[SPEAKER_02]: All right, do you want to see some more images?
[SPEAKER_02]: Check it out.
[SPEAKER_02]: Let's see.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, tell me about the Bronco.
[SPEAKER_02]: You also have a Bronco, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: But that's not for work.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's for fun, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's more for just for me.
[SPEAKER_01]: My dad had a 69 Bronco.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is a little further down.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a blue Bronco right there on the right.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's me out playing and talking on the phone at the same time.
[SPEAKER_01]: Two things you should not do together.
[SPEAKER_01]: And my wife had a broncho at the same time.
[SPEAKER_01]: She had a 22 model wild track, four door, fantastic machines.
[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely great trucks.
[SPEAKER_01]: And she was out in town one day and one of our grandkids with her and one of our daughters.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was talking on the phone to somebody about something at work, and I come up with this big sand hill, and I had made it, I don't know, six times before that, and I was doing it one more time.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a pretty good incline, it's hard to tell in a picture.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I got to the top, and the truck was moving nice and easy, and I see, I said, oh, I got it, whoop from here, and I gave it more gas, and the bottom fell out, and that was it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Boom, and then you said, honey, you're still in town.
[SPEAKER_01]: I said, here I'm going to send you a pin.
[SPEAKER_01]: I need some help.
[SPEAKER_01]: So my wife had to come rescue me.
[SPEAKER_02]: So it was a Bronco Bronco Rescue.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was a Bronco One Bronco Rescue.
[SPEAKER_01]: And she's actually brought out that black F5 50 before to come rescue me when I was in the off-road truck, the red one because I was stuck in somebody's backyard and the bottom just fell out of one side.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just just as fast as you could drive into it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just grass, you couldn't tell that there was
[SPEAKER_01]: And the bottom fell out of one side, the portal trick was leaning, and I was rather displeased.
[SPEAKER_01]: Mama came to the rescue again.
[SPEAKER_01]: There you go.
[SPEAKER_02]: That's why you own a towing company.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's that's why we we help each other.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, there's a trailer you're pulling, too.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's like a fifth wheel or something.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so that's uh, so I was saying that I had built a goose naked attachments for the bag of that truck.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's another good picture of that, too.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's two and a fifth wheel travel trailer within a adapter.
[SPEAKER_01]: One of those cone-looking adapter goes to the fifth wheel to a goose-naked ball.
[SPEAKER_01]: And like I said, I like versatility.
[SPEAKER_02]: So when you pick up a call, it could be a motorbike, it could be a trailer, it could be an airplane.
[SPEAKER_01]: This little truck has the bed as a 20,000 pound tow rating.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we hold U-holes and small box trucks, shuttle buses, shuttle vans, all sorts of things with this little truck.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's just a really good, that's the benefit to it, it gets around tight spaces easy, it's really small, it's full will drive, it's not like the red truck, of course, as far as capability.
[SPEAKER_01]: But some of the slick dirt roads, the sloppy places that we need to go to, to pick up a car and to tow it out, it's very good at that sort of thing.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, when we test the pickup trucks here in Colorado, we usually get four world drive trucks, right, on loan or the ones we purchase, obviously, and I remember somebody was asking me, like we were testing Duelies, right, with big Gooseneck trailers on top of them, doing a shootout on the Igonthlet, and somebody was asking, why get a four world drive Duelie?
[SPEAKER_02]: There's like, you're on the road, right, you're you're hauling stuff from here to there from one city to another city.
[SPEAKER_02]: Why fall will drive?
[SPEAKER_02]: And I'm like, it's that one day that you need on your in the dirt lot, you're in the gravel lot, something happens.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's that one time that you need it.
[SPEAKER_01]: So real quick story about that, but self recovery.
[SPEAKER_01]: I first brand new truck I ever bought was 2014 F-150 regular cap short bed looks a lot like the other one coyote motor six-speed Fantastic truck.
[SPEAKER_01]: I absolutely love it to this day still have it and I parked in grass where I parked my tow truck at the time I parked in some grass behind it a little shower came through that day wasn't even a lot of rain.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was just a shower
[SPEAKER_01]: and I had to use the record to pull myself out because that poor truck, that one day I couldn't use the four wheel drive that didn't add.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you didn't have it, yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because the truck just wasn't designed to be there.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, he was just wet, grass was slippery, clay stuff underneath it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's why they're four wheel drive.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, this truck, four wheel drive very rarely ever gets turned on.
[SPEAKER_01]: but sometimes.
[SPEAKER_01]: But versatility, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, versatility.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, if I can, if I can just go down, you know, a sloppy dirt road with this versus having to call out that other truck, then the driver that's driving this truck doesn't have to call me and say, hey, I need you to come do this for me.
[SPEAKER_01]: I can't get it myself.
[SPEAKER_01]: That truck now has the capability to go do that by itself.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, very important.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, you're making that investment, right?
[SPEAKER_02]: You paying more for that full-world drive system up front.
[SPEAKER_02]: Maybe you upgraded your tires, like you said before, right?
[SPEAKER_02]: But it's an investment that really pays back.
[SPEAKER_02]: It is in the long run.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and most of the miles on those tires that I put on a paid pretty penny for them, because it's hard to find off-road worthy nineteen five every, heavy duty too.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I found some, and I said, I'm going to
[SPEAKER_01]: It's spent the extra money on them and they go down the road, it sounds like an old old rave, a bicepile tire, there's an old road, but it's fantastic.
[SPEAKER_01]: They do a great job.
[SPEAKER_01]: They won't last as long as these kind of tires do that are in that picture, but when you need it, you need it because those right there are good on the street and nowhere else.
[SPEAKER_01]: You get into that gumbo kind of stuff we have at home or the slick clay.
[SPEAKER_01]: that they put down on this base on roots, you know, and we have some of that too, that thing will be sliding all over the place.
[SPEAKER_01]: Even as a four-wheel drive, it'll be sliding all over the place.
[SPEAKER_01]: And now with the upgrade on the tires, the truck can go out and it's own and do those kind of jobs.
[SPEAKER_02]: That's good.
[SPEAKER_02]: So I want to focus on like, you know, Ford more than the big semi tracks because we're more focused a little bit on, you know, the pickup track world.
[SPEAKER_02]: So I want to hear a little bit about maybe some feedback from you about the Ford tracks, something you want to improve.
[SPEAKER_02]: We also want to talk about power trains, right?
[SPEAKER_02]: Electric versus diesel versus hybrid.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_02]: Where do you want to start?
[SPEAKER_02]: Do you want to start feedback or power trains?
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, whatever, let's talk about power trains.
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_02]: Electric diesel.
[SPEAKER_02]: Have you said you've owned them all?
[SPEAKER_02]: Can you?
[SPEAKER_01]: I've owned a Ford Lightning, which is a great soccer mom card, but that's about all that's good for.
[SPEAKER_01]: You called it a car?
[SPEAKER_01]: I did.
[SPEAKER_01]: I did because it's just, I'm a Ford guy.
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't beat me up.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: But it's just not a very good truck.
[SPEAKER_01]: To me, a truck needs to be able to pull trailers.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now does the lightning pull the trailer well?
[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely.
[SPEAKER_01]: From here about 50 miles down the road and then do you better find a place to charge it because that's all you're gonna get out of it So which one did you have?
[SPEAKER_01]: Can you can you explain that?
[SPEAKER_01]: 2020 two or two model that's when they came out yeah yeah I think it was a 22 model or an early 23
[SPEAKER_01]: It was a standard rain's layery it couldn't find an extended range at the time.
[SPEAKER_01]: Interesting.
[SPEAKER_01]: They were all platinum fans.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's too much.
[SPEAKER_02]: There's like 22 inch wheels on it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and this that was the platinum extended range was almost $100,000.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I said, I'm not doing that.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I'm interested in this other truck.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I went into it, knowing, watching some of y'all stuff with the truck you had, knowing kind of what the capabilities were going to be.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, we had an extended range, also.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, but I think that part of the problem was
[SPEAKER_01]: the way that I was thinking about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I knew it wasn't going to be the same as having, you know, like the trimmer that you guys have.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've had one of those two.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I knew it wasn't going to be like that, and but I thought that it would be better on range.
[SPEAKER_01]: even be in the standard range because we hooked a trailer up to full charge should have been 230 miles, soon as you plug in a trailer, you lost half of the range, right?
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, that's what the computer estimates.
[SPEAKER_01]: The computer estimate boom half of its gone.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this was a 6,000 pound trailer with a V-nose and I think it was eight foot tall.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's kind of tall, but it has a v-nose, it's not, and it's not a camper, no, it's not a, it's not a great big travel trailer with a flat nose on it, it's, and I have another box trailer that's eight foot wide, and 24 foot long, it's not that kind of box trailer.
[SPEAKER_01]: It weighed 6600 pounds.
[SPEAKER_01]: We went about five or six miles.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was a beautiful day outside in the 60s outside temperature was, not a cloud in the sky, and it said ding, reduced range due to external temperature.
[SPEAKER_01]: and I thought maybe I should turn around now because it reduced the range to 73 miles.
[SPEAKER_02]: And you were trying to reach a job or something like that?
[SPEAKER_01]: No, I was.
[SPEAKER_01]: My wife and I, who are you testing it?
[SPEAKER_01]: We do.
[SPEAKER_01]: Every truck that we get, if I own it, it's going to work except for the little black truck.
[SPEAKER_01]: That truck only holds one thing.
[SPEAKER_02]: A-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S
[SPEAKER_01]: before my guys are in a pinch and I need to take something to them.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, there's a wreck somewhere and I need to take that trailer to them.
[SPEAKER_01]: I need to know that I can get that trailer to them and get it back.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because we're not just in the middle of city sitting in downtown Houston.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're on the an hour north of downtown, it's kind of a rural area.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's plenty of city around us too, but we cover a lot of territory for small company.
[SPEAKER_01]: and I need to be able to get the tools that the guys need to them.
[SPEAKER_01]: Whether that tool is in the middle of summer and ice chest with a bag of ice and some watering it, or if it's a trailer with extra supplies in it, or a skid steer, which we own a skid steer too.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just to collect wreckage or something.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a 18-wheeler wreck.
[SPEAKER_01]: We scoop up cargo or truck parts or whatever it is.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we have that was our our first offered recovery unit was a skit's deal.
[SPEAKER_01]: We bought a winch box for the front And there's some pictures of that on here too.
[SPEAKER_01]: It has a 20,000 pound winch in this thing's got a big blade on it And that was our first for rain to offer recovery was that thing.
[SPEAKER_02]: Gotcha.
[SPEAKER_01]: But if I own it, it's going to work.
[SPEAKER_02]: So for your purpose, that, well, standard range, let's explain that.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's a smaller battery truck.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_02]: Right.
[SPEAKER_02]: So for your purposes, it didn't work.
[SPEAKER_01]: And when you're doing the power to reach out.
[SPEAKER_01]: It just, not long enough.
[SPEAKER_01]: I did not keep it long because I just couldn't pull with it.
[SPEAKER_01]: What I needed and wanted to do.
[SPEAKER_02]: okay that's fair how about so we talked about these old tracks already we talked about the gasser the 650 you had which both of them were great for you any hybrids have you have you experienced any of the F-150 hybrids yet?
[SPEAKER_01]: No, I have not.
[SPEAKER_01]: We've owned a car that was off hybrid before based car.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're just fantastic.
[SPEAKER_01]: We still own it today.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a great car, but we have not had any hybrid trucks.
[SPEAKER_01]: With that said, I am not against the hybrid.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the hybrid is a great.
[SPEAKER_01]: If I could have that black 550 that's a superduty, if I could have that truck or that 650 that was a hybrid, a hybrid version of that and save anywhere 10 to 20% in fuel, because most tow trucks that most of our stuff is in town, short trips.
[SPEAKER_01]: We do plenty of rural driving too.
[SPEAKER_01]: We do some out of town driving.
[SPEAKER_01]: Obviously, we're here.
[SPEAKER_01]: But we do plenty of that kind of work too.
[SPEAKER_01]: And most of the driving though is in town, red light to red light stop and go.
[SPEAKER_02]: And that's really where the hybrid shines.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's their wheelhouse.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's where they're at their best.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if I could have that capability, plus the addition like your hybrid you had at the onboard power and all that,
[SPEAKER_01]: But you don't see it yet.
[SPEAKER_01]: I would start making orders today to replace trucks if I could get forward.
[SPEAKER_02]: Ford are you listening?
[SPEAKER_01]: Mr. Farley?
[SPEAKER_02]: If you're listening to us, we're looking directly into the camera.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're looking into your eyes.
[SPEAKER_02]: No, let's me expand really quickly on this.
[SPEAKER_02]: So I was really interested about hybrid technology too.
[SPEAKER_02]: So, and we test trucks for living here.
[SPEAKER_02]: So I ordered the F-50 hybrid as soon as it came out, right?
[SPEAKER_02]: So I wanted to be one of the first ones as we always are.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I don't know if I was the first one, but I got it fairly early.
[SPEAKER_02]: F-50 hybrid power boost they call it.
[SPEAKER_02]: I got the 7.2 kilowatt onboard power unit, which also has 240 volt outlet.
[SPEAKER_02]: my buddy Dave and I David, we welded off of that truck, right, which I'm imagining you may need to, you know, offer a recovery.
[SPEAKER_01]: So think about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: That off-road trucker mine, that big red 350.
[SPEAKER_01]: That was a hybrid capable truck that had the opportunities to have that on board.
[SPEAKER_01]: When they make off-road weld machine stuff, but if it had that hybrid technology built into that truck,
[SPEAKER_01]: then that simplifies things on repairs and capability to be able to go do things.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, your F350 offered recovery truck has a hydraulic crane on the end of it, and the hydraulic pump is using the PTO, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a clutch pump on the front of the engine.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, oh, we're kind of like an air conditioning compressor.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, really.
[SPEAKER_01]: You hit the switch.
[SPEAKER_01]: The toggle switches on the roof.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you hit that switch.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a like a compressor.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's that style.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: It has that kind of a close.
[SPEAKER_02]: So it's not taking power off the transmission.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's taking power off of the engine.
[SPEAKER_02]: That's in the front.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's great.
[SPEAKER_01]: Where is that six 50 that I have.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: That has a PT on the transmission.
[SPEAKER_02]: And that's how you run the hydraulics on flatbed or whatever you have you.
[SPEAKER_02]: But if you had 7.2 kilowatt, that's actually a lot of energy.
[SPEAKER_02]: That's a lot of energy.
[SPEAKER_02]: You could run, you know, many different things.
[SPEAKER_02]: Maybe you could even charge an electric car that's stuck on the side of the road.
[SPEAKER_02]: Absolutely.
[SPEAKER_02]: How about that?
[SPEAKER_02]: Absolutely.
[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely.
[SPEAKER_01]: So that happens obviously.
[SPEAKER_01]: It happens a lot.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that's very interesting.
[SPEAKER_02]: So, yeah, I was quite happy with the F-150 hybrid I owned.
[SPEAKER_02]: I didn't have any issues with it in about 22,000 miles as long as I kept it.
[SPEAKER_02]: And, yeah, I've been thinking about this a long time.
[SPEAKER_02]: Actually, I think I did a story on TFLTrug.com, thinking about hybrid heavy duty pickup trucks.
[SPEAKER_02]: Because it made a lot of sense to me, and I'm glad that you are agreeing with me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think it's a great idea.
[SPEAKER_01]: Even if you don't get the ability right away to use, you know, because the power, the onboard power would be great for a mechanic.
[SPEAKER_01]: or road service technician, or even if it's the plumber or the carpenter that might need that power in that heavier application, the hybrid part of it, the stopping go traffic for our industry would be fantastic.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just that one thing alone.
[SPEAKER_02]: Forget about the export power.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, forget about that part of it.
[SPEAKER_01]: If I could just have the hybrid capability and get because the hybrid has been around long enough now, the technology has come a long ways.
[SPEAKER_01]: Whereas full electric is still kind of limited in a lot of ways.
[SPEAKER_01]: But the hybrid stuff has gone really well.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the capabilities of it are great.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's what I take the truck on a long road trip.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, and never have a problem.
[SPEAKER_01]: You could have taken that EcoBoost of yours.
[SPEAKER_02]: Anywhere you want to go.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think it had the range of 700 miles.
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, I could go forever.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so that that is quite interesting.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, and I mean, electric truck can work for a plumber.
[SPEAKER_02]: Maybe they make short trips, right?
[SPEAKER_02]: Maybe they're not towing anything, right?
[SPEAKER_02]: It couldn't work for different minutes.
[SPEAKER_01]: They may care less about the hybrid.
[SPEAKER_01]: A few savings and more about the onboard power for certain applications.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: That might be just the biggest part of the benefit to them is the onboard power in that heavier application.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to call it heavy dudes, because that's the big trucks are heavy duty to us, but in the heavier application stuff, you know, the 550's and 650's stuff like that, that range of truck.
[SPEAKER_02]: Gotcha.
[SPEAKER_02]: All right, we're almost done on this episode, but I wanted to get maybe a couple of maybe three quick tips from you.
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, if somebody wants to recover, let's say your body is stuck, you're off-roading, quick tips, like you were saying, you know, using a winch safely.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, but can you kind of describe a couple of helper tips?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so you always, one of the biggest things that I try to make sure everybody learns is you always want to hook to something solid.
[SPEAKER_01]: Be careful with what you hook to.
[SPEAKER_01]: We've seen a thing here online recently when all over the internet went viral.
[SPEAKER_01]: Somebody lost their life because my opinion, it was a poor technique in the way a trucker was recovered.
[SPEAKER_01]: You never want to hook to receive your hitch.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, if you're pulling something across a parking lot, it's not buried than whatever, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: But if something is stuck in a hole where you're having to work on this, you're having to put some of that kinetic force together, don't ever, ever, ever hook to one of those drop hitches.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's on the back.
[SPEAKER_01]: These, they make hitches for the receiver, you know, what you call it, the shock holes or anything.
[SPEAKER_01]: Whether you put a soft shock on it or it has a screw pin shackle that's there.
[SPEAKER_01]: There are applications, there are things that are made to do that job.
[SPEAKER_01]: Get the right tools to do the job.
[SPEAKER_01]: Get the right tools to do the job safely.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because number one thing is to make sure everybody goes on.
[SPEAKER_02]: And like you said, I think maybe you didn't say it, but we talked about this.
[SPEAKER_02]: Don't hurry.
[SPEAKER_02]: The instinct, the instinct is the cement truck is in the river.
[SPEAKER_01]: I got a hurry, so what you see a lot of times and you'll see this in countless YouTube fail videos is that the adrenaline gets going and we're men, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: I got this.
[SPEAKER_01]: I can lift myself.
[SPEAKER_01]: I can do that by my, man, it doesn't always have to be that way.
[SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't, we have less to prove get it done right the first time and let's all go on.
[SPEAKER_02]: And also learn geometry, please.
[SPEAKER_01]: And math.
[SPEAKER_01]: Math makes a big difference.
[SPEAKER_01]: Learn.
[SPEAKER_01]: So here's the other thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: People think, okay, I have a 12,000 pound electric winch of my truck.
[SPEAKER_01]: I can pull 12,000 pounds.
[SPEAKER_01]: Wrong.
[SPEAKER_01]: What?
[SPEAKER_01]: Wrong.
[SPEAKER_01]: Can you play?
[SPEAKER_01]: That's just the strength of the winch.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: The limiting factor that winch is only as strong as the weakest point between the two vehicles or whatever it is you're pulling.
[SPEAKER_01]: So you have to look at what each piece is rated at.
[SPEAKER_01]: Find out what your winch line is rated at.
[SPEAKER_01]: Whether it's synthetic rope or water, find out what it's rated at.
[SPEAKER_01]: Find out what your attachments are rated at.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you have a strap, find out what it's rated at.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you use a soft shackle or a real shackle,
[SPEAKER_01]: don't buy the cheap junk that you find on the internet everywhere without calling out anybody particular.
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't buy the cheapest junk you can find because it's just that.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the cheapest, crappiest junk you can find and that's the stuff that fails first.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're going to go do this kind of job whether you're a volunteer and there's plenty of like Facebook page stuff that go and help people buy decent stuff and learn how to use it
[SPEAKER_02]: Exactly, that's really important, because the older I'm getting, you know, safety and kind of a measure of their approach becomes more and more important in learning.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're the same age.
[SPEAKER_01]: We talked about this yesterday.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't heal as fast as I used to.
[SPEAKER_01]: that's the honest goodness truth mean either so if i can try not to get hurt then i don't have to take what's the longest and that's important you can be more productive that might be more productive that way yeah because if i'm limping around for a reason i'm it at this point of life i'm limping around a little longer than i used to
[SPEAKER_02]: Exactly.
[SPEAKER_02]: All right, well on that thought we will close this podcast for this.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thanks for coming out Absolutely, I know it wasn't that easy for you to do.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean you went the long way you came up You didn't come down.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's right.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's right.
[SPEAKER_01]: It will make the trip back down home.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, it's all done here from here Really down here, maybe I'll get even better if you're a mother generally
[SPEAKER_02]: Exactly.
[SPEAKER_02]: Hey, maybe 12 maybe.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll let you know.
[SPEAKER_02]: Hey, there you go.
[SPEAKER_02]: So thanks and we have more videos coming out So we did enough for a video together.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, I'm here in Colorado.
[SPEAKER_02]: We did the drag race together once again So stitching for that because we had a lot of fun and it's all coming up very soon.
[SPEAKER_02]: Sounds great.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey wait for thanks