The City of LA’s only 75-ton Rotator

The secret is out, Pepe’s has a new addition to its robust fleet, and it’s a monster: a 2019 Peterbilt 75-ton Rotator! This now puts us at 4 rotators, including two 60-ton rotators and one 40-ton rotator. As we expand more and more into the heavy lifting and recovery side of towing, acquiring a rotator of this size was the obvious next step.

Like most large companies, we started off small. In 1979, Jose and Delfina Acosta established Pepe’s Towing Service with one single tow truck. Nearly 40 years later, we are still family owned and operated with a fleet of more than 80 trucks, including our new 75-ton Rotator.

Bigger is Better

To date, we have handled some of the largest wrecks and recoveries Los Angeles has seen. With the addition of our new Rotator, we are excited to see how much more we can do when it comes to clearing the local highways and streets of Los Angeles from accidents and assisting customers with their heavy loads. We’ve been in business long enough to know that the most important component to the recovery process is the operator, not the equipment. You can have the world’s biggest tow truck, but without an operator that knows how to fully use it, it’s essentially useless.

There has yet to be a job that we have shown up on where we had to leave because we could not handle it. Some jobs have been so risky and dangerous that it took our entire team and many hours, but no matter what we get it done right. Our new truck will allow us to handle these complex jobs and situations with more ease and safety.

No Underlift? No Problem!

The first thing people will notice about our new truck (besides the size of this beast) is obviously the lack of an underlift. “But why would you get a tow truck if you can’t tow with it?” is a question we’ve already been asked countless times. In our Los Angeles Division alone, we have 5 heavy duty wreckers, 4 medium duty wreckers, 2 Landolls and 2 Rotators with underlifts.

We are fortunate, and blessed, enough to have this new Rotator be an exclusive recovery unit only. When we respond to a major roll-over or accident, we’ll have multiple trucks on scene. During these recoveries, our 75-ton rotator will assist in the upright of any overturned vehicles, and any of the other heavy duties on scene will complete the tow. Simply put, this is not a truck we would send out on a basic tow.

“But WHAT IF?” is the next question we get asked. In the absolute rare event that this truck will need to tow something, such as pulling a vehicle to the shoulder on the freeway, then it can handle it easily with the tow bar. So, while we don’t expect to tow with this unit, we do have the capability to do so in rare emergencies.

The Sky is the Limit

Having a larger truck with a higher lifting capacity allows us to handle more difficult calls outside the realm of basic towing and accidents. For example, a large part of our call volume comes from customers that need to load or unload heavy equipment. Situations like this aren’t always in ideal locations with lots of room. They are often in tight areas, with low clearance or limited space.

One customer might want to position a super heavy machine in a tight corner of their shop. Here is where a Rotator will shine, as it allows us to park the truck in any position to complete the job. With this 75-ton rotator, we can boom out fully to 42’ and lift 36,000lbs from this position. For reference, our 60-ton rotator booms out to 37’ and can lift 24,000lbs fully extended.

We worked very hard to get to this point and we are proud to join the small “75-tons of fun” club in Southern California, along with other large companies such as Statewide, Ten West Towing and Van Lingen. Connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and check out this beast in detail on our Youtube channel. And if you’re ever in need of a heavy-duty tow truck, we’ve got one of the best rotators for the job.