Towing Issues: Damaged transmission company truck, wheels drive, drive wheels

Question
When pulling a large truck in for service we were told by the
repair shop the drive shaft should be dislodge/disconnected before pulling. The truck is Ford F550 2004 with automatic transmission. The motor was leaking water and overheating so the driver pulled over and called in and a wrecker was called.When the truck was repaired from that issue it was then discovered that the transmission was damaged. It was not so before it was hauled in and the shaft was not dislodged.Can you tell us your practice on this issue.
Thanks
Sandra Glenn
Office Mgr
Alabama Specialties, Inc.

Answer
Sandra, here is the response I said I would post after I talked to you on the phone about this on Friday afternoon.

********



This question has a lot of issues and while it may seem that it has a very cut and dry answer it does not...

First of all, "GENERAL PRACTICES" are to remove the drive line while towing a vehicle with the drive wheels on the ground.. In your case, if the vehicle was towed from the front  that means the rear wheels (drive wheels) would be on the ground and if the drive line was not removed the chances for damages would be very good if towed for any kind of a distance...  Now if it was towed lets say 2 blocks or so no that would not be a problem..

"MY PERSONAL PRACTICE is towing vehicles like this either rear up where the drive wheels are off the ground, or to remove the drive line. But then I also drive a heavy duty  tow truck and while your vehicle is smaller than what I normally tow, I do a bunch of Alabama Power trucks of that size backwards.

Now second issue here is that it is a 2004 Ford, with an automatic transmission...

That "ERA" of truck with the automatics (I own a 2005) does have issues with the transmissions and cooling of the fluids. They have had lots of problems with the transmission fluid overheating and causing transmission damage. Check out the link below for some "insite" into some of the issues here..

http://www.thedieselstop.com

(I solved mine before any issues happened when I bought it by adding an after market transmission pan with extra cooling fins and it also holds 3 additional quarts of fluid... Then I had a set of gauges installed which also measure transmission temps, along with axle temps.)

Now as to towing of the unit, there are several reference sources available to tow truck drivers for information about towing limits on the drive wheels, but they are also "GENERAL GUIDELINES" and the numbers they list are "manufacturers recommendations" for new units with ZERO MILES ON THEM... Plus these limits add up also, so if  you were towed 5 miles one time and 30 the next time, I think you can see what happens...

AAA puts out a towing manual for vehicle towing instructions and while they do not list the "F550" specifically they list all "F" series pickups.  That manual says that it can be towed 35mph for 50 miles...

Now Ford in the owners manual says nothing about limits but it says that if it was a 4x4 vehicle it should be on a flatbed tow truck.  

Now there is an online towing information place

www.towspec.com

which has towing instructions and it says that it can not be towed on the drive wheels with out the possibility of causing damage to the transmission.

Conflicting information here, and I bet the tow truck driver went with the one that required the least amount of work on his part...

This also highlights problems in the towing industry, where there is "NO REAL TRAINING PROGRAMS" for drivers (yes I know there are some, but there is nothing like a college course for towing) like there is in your business...


Now I am not going to try and blame on either the tow driver or your company, but as I mentioned on the phone, this era of truck does have problems (you told me about some of them on the phone) and I am thinking that the combination of it being towed with the drive shaft in, and it hauling around the sheet rock supplies and tools to job sites and being loaded heavy at times, might of all contributed to the problem.  But the towing seems to be a major issue here which caused the damage...

I know that trying to recover the money for the transmission and the rental truck will be a battle but like I said, documentation is the key here and proof is what the court will look at when and if you decide to go the small claims court route.

I hope this helps and you have my number in case your mechanic wants to contact me for more information... Good luck