Dave Tomlinson walked out his front door and climbed in behind the wheel of his ’96

Chevy pickup, just as he does every morning. He clicked on his seat belt, put the key into the ignition, and turned it. The engine cranked, just as it always does, but this time it wouldn’t start.

He released the key a tried again… and again. No luck. He knew he was going to be late for work, so he called his office and let them know what was going on. Then he called his local repair shop.

The shop called their towing com-pany, who sent out a tow truck. Dave’s pickup was at the shop within the hour and they pushed it right into the bay. A few minutes later they had the answer: The ignition module was shot.

The shop had a new module in stock, so they replaced it right away. The engine started on the first crank. To be sure everything was okay, the techni-cian took the pickup for a road test.

That’s when he heard the noise: a clanging, whining noise that seemed to change when the transmission shifted from first to second. When it shifted into third, the noise went away entirely, but it came back in fourth gear. He came to a stop and tried again. Same results.

So he brought the car back into the shop and did a few more checks. The noise was coming from the back of the transmission, right near the output ring gear.

Next they called Dave. “No, it wasn’t making any noise before,” he told them. The shop manager and tech-nician exchanged glances: This wasn’t a noise the customer could have missed. They got Dave’s permission to pull the transmission and see what was wrong.

Once they got the transmission apart — a 4L60E with about 70,000 miles on it — the problem was obvious. The output shaft, bushing, thrust bear-ings and rear planet were all severely overheated. It looked as though they’d been starved for oil.

But how could all that damage have occurred without the owner hav-ing heard it? The pickup didn’t go any-where since the day before, when Dave drove it. If the problem wasn’t there yesterday, what caused it?

Towing DamageThis situation, while not particu-

larly common, is far from unique. It’s caused when the car is towed improper-ly, with the drive wheels on the ground and the driveshaft in place. The output shaft and drive train are forced to rotate without any lubrication.

It only takes a few miles before the bushings, bearings and the components they support are cooked. Bushings and thrust washers become pitted, bearings overheat, and hard parts turn blue and scored.

You might wonder why anyone would tow a car or truck with the drive wheels on the ground. Shouldn’t they know that would damage the transmis-sion?

The problem is, 20 years ago, tow-ing this way was a normal procedure. Back then transmissions were bigger, had more openings in the case, and held a lot more oil. When you put a car on the hook, the angle of the car would allow oil to run back and lubricate the output shaft and bushings, preventing any damage.

Of course, 20 years is a long time, but remember, those cars were our bread and butter just 8 or 10 years

ago. It hasn’t been that long since they stopped being a common sight in the repair shop. And some tow truck driv-ers aren’t aware of the damage they can cause by using those old towing procedures.

But so what? If you aren’t the one towing the car, it’s not your problem, is it? Maybe… maybe not. Remember, if you’re the one who called the towing company, you might be responsible for their work. It might be left to you to go after the towing company.

In the end, the customer isn’t going to care about who’s legally responsible: He just knows he called you, and now his car needs a transmission. In his mind, you’re to blame. And even if you don’t have to pay for the transmission, you can bet you’ll lose a customer over it… not to mention all the people he tells about it.

Know theProper Procedure

Obviously, one of the best ways to protect yourself and your custom-ers from having their cars damaged by improper towing is to use a reliable towing company. They should know the proper towing procedures, and have all the necessary towing equipment avail-able.

But even the most qualified tow truck operator can make a mistake… a mistake that can come back to bite you. That’s one reason you should be aware of the proper towing procedures, too. That way you can make sure the tow was performed properly, based on fac-tory recommendations.

AAA offers an up-to-date towing manual that provides all the towing and road service information you should need (figures 1 and 2). It’s just $30 — a pittance when you consider what the information it provides could be worth. AW Direct — a towing supply company — stocks the manual, and they shipvery quickly. Their part number isTM06; you can order it on line atwww.awdirect.com, or by calling them toll free, at 1-800-243-3149.

Why AAA? To begin with, because

Towing Damage Can"Hook" You for

and Lost CustomersBIG BUCKBIG BUCK$$

36 GEARS April 2007

by the ATRA Technical Department

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38 GEARS April 2007

they offer it. I haven’t found any other resource that provides towing informa-tion for virtually every car or truck you’re likely to work on.

But there’s another reason to use a AAA manual to verify towing proce-dures: No other automotive association maintains a stronger or more familiar presence than AAA. Whether you’re dealing with the customer, the Better Business Bureau, a consumer protec-tion organization, or even small claims court, their word packs a lot of punch. That may come in handy should the need arise.

Take a PictureA few years ago, we discussed the

benefits of keeping a digital camera at your shop. Since then the prices of digi-tal cameras have dropped dramatically, making them an even more reasonable resource for your shop. This is one of the times to take full advantage of that resource.

When a car comes in on the hook, take a picture. In fact, take three pic-tures:

• a side shot, showing how it’s hooked to the tow truck

• a wide side shot, showing the name on the side of the tow truck

• a shot from the back, showing the license plate

Those three shots should provide enough evidence of how the car came in to satisfy anyone. You can compare them to the recommendations in the towing manual, to make sure the car was towed in properly.

You should activate the date and time stamp feature on your camera. That provides evidence of when those pictures were taken, to further verify your claims. Just make sure you have the date and time set correctly in your camera; if the date and time don’t match your other records, it could make them worthless.

In some cases, you’ll have to verify other conditions that won’t be immedi-ately evident in a photo, such as wheth-er the driveshaft was removed or the transfer case put in neutral. In that case, make sure you verify the conditions and document them on the repair order.

Keep in mind, you don’t just want to take pictures or record documenta-tion if the car or truck was hooked up improperly; you can also use them to provide evidence the car was towed in correctly, proving that any damage to the transmission couldn’t have been caused by your towing company.

Download the pictures to your computer system, and save them with an easily identifiable file name; the repair order number is a good base for the file name that’ll make them easy to

find and retrieve if needed.In this case, the shop manager did

take a picture of the pickup being towed in. It showed that Dave’s pickup was towed from the front, with the drive wheels on the ground. While the manu-facturer allows up to 50 miles of towing that way, they restrict the towing speed to 35 MPH. And that 50 miles is cumu-lative; that is, 50 miles total, including every tow ever performed. After 10 years on the road, Dave’s pickup had probably been towed before, putting it over the limit and damaging the trans-mission.

The shop owner showed the trans-mission damage and towing photos to the owner of the towing company; he agreed that it was done improperly. He submitted the bill for damages — about $1200 — to his insurance company. They paid it, less the deductible, which the owner of the towing company paid.

The repair shop owner gave Dave a choice: He could just have the transmis-sion repaired, or pay an additional $500 and have it completely rebuilt. Dave knew a good deal when he heard it, and he opted to have his transmission rebuilt completely.

But too many tow mishaps don’t end on such friendly terms. Protect yourself by knowing the towing proce-dure, and documenting whether it was performed properly.

Figure 1: AAA offers a complete towing manual for just $30 that provides towing and road service information for just about every car or light truck built in the last 10 years or so.

Figure 2: The AAA towing manual pro-vides towing procedures, along with

the maximum mileage and top speed for towing from either direction. And it

includes some other valuable information about road service procedures; a worth-while addition to your technical library.

GEARS April 2007 38

Towing Damage Can "Hook" You for Big Buck$ and Lost Customers

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