The Biggest and Best Recoveries This Year
Over the years, Pepe’s Towing Service has made a name for us as one of the most reliable and experienced heavy-duty towing companies in the Greater Los Angeles area. We get called to the scene of all kinds of crazy recoveries, accidents and roll-overs almost every day, and most of the time, our crew can record the process and share the videos with our loyal fans and other people in the towing industry. We were called to the scene of many epic recoveries throughout 2019, but we chose three of our biggest recoveries to highlight for you as we look back at the year.
The 3 Biggest Recoveries of 2019
One of our biggest recoveries of 2019 was one of the closest calls we’ve ever seen. A tractor trailer headed North on the 710-freeway jackknifed and almost fell off the bridge that transitions to the 60 freeways. The landing gear essentially kept the whole truck from falling onto traffic below.
Our team had to pull out all the stops for this one. Using our 75-ton rotator, Big Flipper, and our 50-ton wrecker were the first to respond followed by Hulk, our 50-ton rotator. We anchored the 50-ton wrecker to the rear of the trailer so that our team could work safely. We didn’t know if there was any 5th wheel damage so we secured the front of the trailer with a spreader bar attached to Hulks’ main winch line and then rigged the tractor.
Once rigged we lifted and swung both the tractor and trailer over the k-rail and back onto the freeway. From there, Big Flipper did the work and straightened out the tractor so we could tow the unit back to our base. With more than 461,000 views makes this our biggest recovery of the year.
We dispatched a 60-ton, 75-ton and 50-ton rotator to the scene of a loaded mixer that fell into a ditch due to improperly placed plates in Long Beach. The parking lot was small and there were a ton of cars in the way, so we had to get those out of the parking lot before we could work safely.
We turned the plates sideways to avoid the ground caving in and then backed up the 75-ton rotator to the rear of the mixer to use both main cables for the lift. We parked the 60-ton rotator parallel to the mixer to use as a catch and we positioned the 50-ton rotator offset to the front to bring over and catch the cab. With all three trucks rigged, the mixer came out quickly and was able to be driven out of the lot to be towed back to the customer’s yard. 87,000 plus hits on YouTube makes this one of our biggest recoveries of 2019.
We’ve seen all kinds of things as far as recoveries go. But that doesn’t mean we don’t get excited when we get called to the scene of an interesting recovery. Earlier this year in February, our partners at the CHP called us to help them with a recovery involving a crane arm that hit the Sunset overpass on the Southbound 101 Freeway and fell off its mechanism and into oncoming traffic.
In order to pull off this job, we had to block the right lane of traffic on the Southbound 101 and proceed to winch out the arm from under the bridge. From there, we secured the arm so that it wouldn’t open while we moved it or during transportation, lifted it in the air and then onto our landoll for transportation. At just under 75,000 YouTube views, this is one of our biggest recoveries of 2019.
Towing Services During the Holidays
At Pepe’s Towing Service, we understand that just because it’s the holidays, it doesn’t mean your business stops. That’s why we’re here for you 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. If you or your drivers run into any issues on the road requiring winch outs, undeckings, recoveries, transportation or any other towing service, we’re here to help. Our team is ready to assist you on the road this holiday, rain or shine, Christmas or New Year’s.