Towing Issues: Towing Front and Rear drive vehicles, drive axles, lift tow

Question
Richard,

I got a female friend of mine a tow truck driving job and she gets confused about  towing a front wheel and a rear wheel drive, standard and automatic.She's very capable and intelligent,but the lack of experience has her confidence beat down.If you have a few basic words of wisdom or if you have a book you've published I'd appreciate any assistance.I'm a retired Telephone Tech and don't know jack about towing.Thanks in advance.R.E.Hoag

Answer
well  this is kind of easy and kind of hard to answer.

First off, AAA makes a wonderful book on towing specifications along with how do do jump starts and tire changes ..  Most all towing companies have copies of it.  If not I am sure she could get one from  WWW.AWDIRECT.COM

Lot of times its just best to look under the vehicle for the drive axles.  Thats what i do at times if I am not sure (sorry but I mainly tow semis but jump in small truck at times )

Basic rule is that the drive wheels come off the ground for towing..  Now is she using a regular wheel lift tow truck, that is when its real important to find that information out.  If she is running a rollback (car carrier ) then its kind of a mute point as all the wheels are off the ground..

There are some basic training programs out there,  and most are put on by the local state towing association.  There is also a few training programs which can help her learn the job.   North American towing academy comes to mind, along with WreckMaster.   

hope this helps, but the job is basicly alot of hands on training over time ..