Keep your ears peeled as we dive into the world of light-duty towing with our guest Wes Wilburn. Wes, a seasoned pro from Paddock Tracker Service, will shed light on the challenges faced by tow operators. But that’s not all; we’re also prepping for the Midwest Regional Tow Show where we will host a riveting seminar on exit strategies. Come see us at our booth and maybe join our podcast interview!
We’ve got some exciting training sessions lined up for our tow operators. We’ll be in Michigan with the Towing Association, Lexington, Kansas, and North Carolina for a two-day firetower cross-training. Electric vehicle training is on the cards too, because the future is here! Plus, we’re proud to honour the contributions of John Hawkins Sr. who played a vital role in shaping Towing Associations in the U.S. Also, watch out for some special treats at the Michigan class, courtesy Lynch Truck Center and the Willards.
Thirdly, join us as we hear from Rob Miller, the General Manager of AllGrip/Bishop Listing Products. Rob takes us through his journey from a salesman to a top executive, and the changes he’s brought to the table. He will also shed light on the growing trend of synthetic products and why lightweight alloy blocks are becoming a hot favorite in the industry. Not to forget, he’s got some invaluable tips for maximizing value while buying products. Stay tuned, it’s going to be a fun and insightful ride.
Keep your ears peeled as we dive into the world of light-duty towing with our guest Wes Wilburn. Wes, a seasoned pro from Paddock Tracker Service, will shed light on the challenges faced by tow operators. But that’s not all; we’re also prepping for the Midwest Regional Tow Show where we will host a riveting seminar on exit strategies. Come see us at our booth and maybe join our podcast interview!
We’ve got some exciting training sessions lined up for our tow operators. We’ll be in Michigan with the Towing Association, Lexington, Kansas, and North Carolina for a two-day firetower cross-training. Electric vehicle training is on the cards too, because the future is here! Plus, we’re proud to honour the contributions of John Hawkins Sr. who played a vital role in shaping Towing Associations in the U.S. Also, watch out for some special treats at the Michigan class, courtesy Lynch Truck Center and the Willards.
Thirdly, join us as we hear from Rob Miller, the General Manager of AllGrip/Bishop Listing Products. Rob takes us through his journey from a salesman to a top executive, and the changes he’s brought to the table. He will also shed light on the growing trend of synthetic products and why lightweight alloy blocks are becoming a hot favorite in the industry. Not to forget, he’s got some invaluable tips for maximizing value while buying products. Stay tuned, it’s going to be a fun and insightful ride.
Welcome one and all to the American Tone and Recovery Institute podcast. Remember this is your podcast to promote safe education, positive public relations and networking within the professional and business minded tone and recovery industry. I'm your co-host co-doctor, dj Harrington, and I'm honored to have as the other co-host of today's episode of 40 year Towing Industry Veteran, the founder of American Tone and Recovery Institute and a guy who's done over 915 hands on classes nationwide A real gift to the industry, my dear friend Wes Wilburn. Wes, how are you today?
Speaker 2:I'm doing really good. Dj Just got back from a weekend class and I'm feeling good. I'm a little tired as we're in our busy season, but it's this way every year. We're super busy in the fall, so just getting ready for the big rush. Basically, dj Just got back from the Midwest at a private school for a company in Indianapolis Real good customer paddock tracker service Sincerely, I believe one of the most professional Towing companies in the country Been involved with me with training for over 30 years now and had me into do a private class for their light duty operators.
Speaker 2:It's a company that really cares about their employees and not only my training, but does all kinds of training to help their employees be ready for what's out there. So I'm feeling good today, dj, it really is.
Speaker 1:Yeah, paddock, they're well-known. Good reputation, great outfit, that's for sure.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:So we just got back from that.
Speaker 2:We had a great class there with them, worked with their light duty manager, ryan and Jake, and two great guys. They worked very hard on behalf of their company and their team members to put on a good training man. They had some great cars. I said we had a late model BMW convertible that we were rolling over and had down at the ditch. A lot of times these classes you're dealing with very old cars. An old car is okay, but it's not the same basic construction of a modern car. You're missing a little something there. This BMW was well. I had a few years on it.
Speaker 2:It had the modern suspension and whatnot. That made for really good hands-on. They had some other stuff for hands-on as well, but I'm telling you that BMW convertible that was as good a practice I've had as a long time for hands-on class and especially it was a small one where we got to do it several times. It was a lot of fun, a good long environment as well.
Speaker 1:Boy, oh boy. Three years ago I used to have one, Did you?
Speaker 2:Yes, I did, a BMW convertible, huh Both.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a stick.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, I think this was a stick too. Yeah, I've never had a convertible. I've never had a BMW either, so there's something that I'll maybe do, but no, it was a great car. Speaking of great cars, they often don't have any of the Tesla that we're going to be using in training back in North Carolina in November. We're actually let the firefighters cut on it a little bit, but I was at. Great people Can't thank Paddocks enough. They're just super supporters of what I do. It's one of those examples. That was a great company. They would have been great whether they had met me or not, but I think, to help from what they tell me, we've helped with a piece of their success and it's just something that's so humbling to be a part of the success of an outfit like that. But, like I say, these folks would have been successful whether they ever met me or not, but they utilize our training to help them down their path and can't thank enough they're good people, and there's a lot of people think the same way.
Speaker 1:Wes, you have to help them grow their business, so in turn, it's nice that they recognize you.
Speaker 2:Well, it is nice and very appreciative. I'll tell you, dj, it really is. We're getting ready for the Midwest Regional Toe Show here. We'll be just a couple of days in front of it. It's going to be a great show here. They're in a new venue. They've got a lot of great activities planned for the family to still be involved. It's always a great show. It strikes that right balance between a big enough show where you've got some stuff there to do, but small enough where it's not a mob scene. You're not waiting. Some of these shows they've gotten so big, which is God bless and that's good, but they've gotten so big that I think they forgot about the little end user walking around wanting to talk to someone at this booth about this or this booth about that. Some of these bigger shows they're so big You're waiting 20, 30 minutes to talk to somebody at a booth, which is challenging.
Speaker 2:They've found the right balance, if you ask me and that's one of the reasons we're super strong supporters we're going to be there. You and me are excited afternoon to do a business seminar about exit strategies. We have a friend, Fred from Henry's Record Service, going to attend by site. They'll zoom in on one of those deals. They'll actually be there answering questions. We've got a new look at our booth. We're not bringing a bunch of stuff to sell like we normally have. We're going to be talking about the future of what we're doing, which is basically the same thing. We're just going to be doing it a little differently. We hope anybody that's in attendance at the Midwest regional show comes by our booth. You guys will be there with the podcast right, exactly right.
Speaker 1:We got a lot of podcasts lined up and remind all our listeners to come on by and at least come on the air for a minute or two and tell us how much you enjoy the podcast. It would be great to have your voice on the podcast right there. Stay tuned.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and we're open to. If you've got something to talk about, we're open to doing a full podcast interview. If you just have a little something to talk about. We're open to, you know, a smaller interview that doesn't necessarily take up the whole podcast. So I've had a couple people saying to me they've got things they'd like to talk about but they don't think they could go for the whole. You know, 30 minutes is about what we average. I think, isn't it for a podcast?
Speaker 3:Is that about our?
Speaker 2:average length. Yes, so you know. If you have something you want to talk about but you don't think it'll take 30 minutes, we're very open to that as well. Please don't hesitate. We want to get people on here talking about what's going on in the industry. We pride ourselves on being kind of the industry news.
Speaker 2:So yeah, if you have anything you want to talk about, let us know. Or if there's any subject you want to talk you want us to look into that you don't necessarily want to be a part of the interview, tell us that too. We're open to whatever, aren't we? Dj?
Speaker 1:Sure are buddy.
Speaker 2:So we've had at least one more school pop up that I don't think it's been on the schedule so far for any podcast. So all these things are coming at me so quick it's kind of hard to keep up with it, to be honest with you. We're going to be in Rochester, Michigan, which?
Speaker 2:is just north of Detroit October 28th and 29th with our good friends in the Michigan Towing Association. The Michigan Towing Association is the oldest Towing Association in the country, started like the late 40s. Of a wrong mistake and I probably should have looked this up and I apologize I did, but I'm almost positive they started in the late 40s. So this year, dj, we've had the privilege of working with one Towing Association that we worked with many times. Before the Michigan Towing Association been around since the 1940s.
Speaker 2:Also, in the spring we had worked with the Massachusetts group, the State Y Towing Association up in Massachusetts. They're the second oldest and they were the only two that I'm aware of were the only two Towing Associations out there before the late 1970s when John Hawkins Sr not the gentleman that works at Century, his father that's now deceased John Hawkins Sr started organizing Towing Operators and started the professional record operators of Florida and then shoot about at least 20 other associations. He helped get started, helped the tellers get moving in the right direction and there's a whole group of Towing Associations that sprang up from that late 70s, early 80s scenario from John Hawkins Sr.
Speaker 2:So, anyway, we're real proud that we have worked with McMass earlier in the year. Now we're working with Michigan.
Speaker 1:It's a two day fight in medium courts.
Speaker 2:Bill Byers Byers Record Show Super Enthusiastic Gentlemen has always been a fan of training, always helped promote training, traveling to it, putting classes on, etc. I've been there before at his location for class and he does a good job putting it all together. I want to thank Lynch Truck Center for sponsoring lunch and refreshments of the class as well. Bill lined that up with them. So it's going to be a good class, light, medium duty just to get you ready for the winter. Just like everything else we're doing has a huge focus on electric vehicles. So we'll be there in October, that's 28, 29, and basically one week later.
Speaker 2:On Friday, we'll be in Lexington, kansas, which is a suburb of Kansas City. Jennifer Toe is our host great company, do a great job of hosting. On the 3rd November, the 3rd of Friday, we'll be there for a one day light duty. November 4th and 5th, two day heavy duty towing and recovery with rotators. On November 11th 12th, we'll be in Washington, north Carolina, for a two day firetower cross training with Ron Moore and myself instructing. We're already getting good sign up activities like we're going to have heavy trucks that we're going to allow to be cut up some.
Speaker 2:We have a Tesla that we're going to be allowed to be cut up a little bit. Anybody listening to this? If you end up with electric vehicles and you don't have an absolute direct place for it to go, or even if you do, could you reach out to us? We really need electric vehicles for training. As many people as podcast listeners have heard me talk before In the latter years of my training program because, let's face it, I'm 59 years old with Clarkinson, so I've only got so many years left of doing this.
Speaker 2:But these last few years I'm spending a lot of time focusing on firetower cross training. I'm hoping to develop relationships stronger, which has always been a strong relationship between professional towing companies and firefighters, because many, many professional towing companies are really the backbone of their local fire departments auto-execution training by providing them cars and whatnot over the years. We're trying to bring that relationship as strong as we can. As many people know being right about the NFPA standards National Fire Protection Association for firefighters and towing is working together developing this cross training over 20 years ago. That we've been doing. Of course, in the last few years there's been a huge emphasis on electric vehicles. We'll be there in Washington, north Carolina, november 11th and 12th at the Saturdays. Sunday it's going to be a great class. Like I said, we've got some great props the Willards they do a wonderful job of having a good place to do the class and the hands-on props and all the things you need. Then there's something to be said about Mike's wife, janidh, who is very much a partner in their business.
Speaker 2:very active in everything they do. They not only put on a great training class, they can make some of the world's best banana pudding that I've ever had. That's how they've been promised to be there as well. It's a great opportunity for some training, some cross training, as we come into the wintertime. We invite all our listeners to take a look at that. We are working on dates for next year already. We have Charlotte, north Carolina, on the books. We're going to be in March. We're going to be there with some heavy training. If you're interested in the class for next year, now is the time to reach out to me. I am going to be doing less classes next year, so there's only so many dates to fill. That's what's going on with this MDJ.
Speaker 2:We got a great interview today, rob Miller with Western Sling, slash Aldebryph. Rob and me have had a long-term relationship. They're a great supplier. He's got some great information about what's going on after, what they're doing and whatnot. We want our listeners to hang around until after the break. Let's take a listen. It's a great podcast. We're also going to have a special podcast dropping any day now with some very exciting news. We're just on the edge of being able to release it. It's going to be a game changer to help the telling industry and firefighters deal with some of the modern problems with automobile. So when I ask our listeners to hang around after the break, we'll be right back with a great interview. Thanks for listening.
Speaker 3:The folks at Purpose Record are record specialists. They don't get bogged down with other types of sales like cars, assorted equipment or snow plows. Purpose Record exclusively specializes in towing and hauling From parts in service to financing. They remain focused on providing the best service and customer care to the towing and hauling industry. Even in these trying times, purpose Record works hard to meet the needs of its customers. They are the preferred distributor in North America for purchasing towing and recovery equipment. For more information, visit them on the web at PurposeRecordcom, or speak to a specialist by calling 636-639-9700. That's 636-639-9700. Celebrating 40 years in the towing industry, that's PurposeRecordcom.
Speaker 1:You have been listening to the American Towing Recovery Institute podcast with Wes Wilburn, dj Harrington. Each and every week we do our best to give you new informative episodes. Make sure you download it, listen. We're available now on. Spotify, itunes, pandora, google Play, stitcher, iheart Media, Amazon or wherever you get your podcast. And before I turn it back over to Wes, I want to remind all of our listeners and I can't thank you enough. We have over 11,000 listeners on a regular basis and I can't thank you enough for sharing with your friends.
Speaker 1:But if you want to know all about the trend and you want to see where Ron Moore is going to be with Wes Wilburn, just go to amtowiorg and you get it all. And those of you who just want to call and see if there's some way you can get involved with the American Towing Recovery Institute, just call 910-747-9000. Wes. Before the break. You are all set to introduce our guest for today's episode, so I'll turn it over to you.
Speaker 2:Hi, thanks, DJ. It's been brought to my attention. I did miss that. We'll be in Kansas City that first weekend of November Heavy duty on the weekend, light duty on the Friday. I schedule on our website to see all the dates. So sorry about that, DJ, I missed one there. So today we're honored to have a friend of the podcast and a friend of the industry back again. I'm going to talk to us a little bit about what's going on with their organization and my business, with a few tips as well. Rob Miller with AllGrip. Rob, would you like to introduce yourself there listeners? I know you've been on before, but give us a brief introduction if you would please.
Speaker 4:Hi Wes, good afternoon, good morning, dj. Same to you. Great to be back on with you. Gentlemen, my name is Rob Miller. I work with AllGrip slash Bishop Listing Products we're known as AllGrip in the Towing industry. We're here in Sedalia, colorado, which is kind of in between Denver and Colorado Springs, just south of Denver, probably 40 minutes, and I've been the general manager here for about 18 months and prior to that I was in the sales department for our company, and so I've been with the company for a total of 12 years and, yeah, just been growing. Over the last few months learned a lot, trying to be better at what we do here, and what you learn is better quality, better value for you, the tours.
Speaker 2:What kind of stuff do you sell at AllGrip, Rob?
Speaker 4:Yeah, wes, we do all kind of different stuff, from light duty, you know, wheeler straps, ratchets, small snatch blocks, import snatch blocks, that kind of thing, tire skates, grade 70, jail chains, b chains, the straps, recovery, and then also the heavy duty stuff we do grade 100 chain as far as straps go, anything from little one inch left at tie downs all the way up to a 12 inch free ply. We can make in-house. And again, everything in between we carry grade 70. We do carry some grade 80. We also carry the high biz grade 100 from the Cleed, which has been a pretty good move before us.
Speaker 4:And then wire rope we do in-house. We do, you know, three-eighths all day long, all the way up to seven-eighths in-house and across our company. We have different branches all over the US. It does pretty much anything in the rigging world that you could imagine. So if we can't do it, we have a sister company who certainly can. We try to be a one-stop shop for our customers who's the dealer, distributors where they don't have to go making 10 phone calls for their 25-line item stock order.
Speaker 4:They can call us and preferably get I'm hoping 25, at least 23 to 24 of them, what we'll have ready to go at a competitive rate.
Speaker 2:Yeah well, you guys definitely make it easy to work with distributors, for the distributor to be competitive and get the equipment easily all together on one stock order and whatnot. You guys do a good job of getting the stock orders out quickly. There's no doubt about that.
Speaker 3:You work really hard to make that happen.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, and people don't realize that it's hard to do sometimes it could be challenging. Oh yeah, absolutely, we do it on a small scale. It's challenging. You do it on a much larger scale. I visited for the viewers information. I visited out there for the second time that I've been there. It's been a few years since I have been there, but boys, they've grown up. I've been there and the organization was impressive. Tell us about what you've done since you've taken over there, as general manager, of course, as the organization, as the product goes.
Speaker 4:Sure well, our business has changed immensely here at our facility over the last four to five years where we're telling you it was kind of our side niche, our side business for a long period of time. That's our bread and butter. Now that's probably 75% of our business that stays coming from the sewing industry. We'd like to thank everyone for that, for your support. We want to continue to just get better. Part of that process is what I'm learning support from where it's here west. I'm not a college educated kind of guy, but some of my corporate folks up the ladder from here teaching this film old sales guy. A few business tips, things like inventory, inventory control. Believe it or not, I know it's kind of hard for me to say this as a sales guy, but you can have too much of something, especially in these business conditions. I don't need a year's stock of a product anymore. There was a period of time two years ago, back during the dark ages of COVID, that might have been a different story. We would take whatever we could get at a certain product because we didn't know when we'd see it again. Things have gotten much, much better on our end over the last six to eight months in particular Things have gotten back to normal, if you will, where I can just keep 60 to 90 days worth of inventory, replenish that within a week or two. There's no unfoundly delays. That we saw a year or two ago.
Speaker 4:But internally here we went through what's called value stream mapping. What we did was basically go department by department. We started in the web shop, went to the wire rope shop and then went to the chain sling shop and just saw the movement of both people and product. Where is the product moving during this process from start to finish? Where are the people moving from start to finish? Again, it was just very eye opening for me to see how I'm going to say inefficient. At times we were Just with somebody with a fresh set of eyes to come into our building from our corporate office and just pick up some idea. If you ever thought about this, if you ever thought about that, it really led to a complete overhaul of our flow plan. It was a bit challenging. Over the last two to three months we went department by department. Really, I'd say each department may have been down a day or two throughout this entire process.
Speaker 1:I mean.
Speaker 4:Westview. You were just here last week. It's pretty impressive If you think about all that equipment being moved and rewired and we had holes getting filled with concrete A lot of moving pieces. I was proud of my team to assist me in getting that done. We're really set up now for the future. When I first got here 18 months ago, we were still set up the way we always have ran in the past. We're really here for the future and what we're trying to build here.
Speaker 2:That's good. That really shows a lot of thought process, the way you have things laid out for efficiency and whatnot. It made a lot of sense to me how you have things organized.
Speaker 4:I always tell people West we have people a lot smarter than me that help me out with this kind of stuff, and I'm very thankful for it.
Speaker 2:I hear you on that part.
Speaker 4:Great having you and John here. Great to meet you, john. I saw a Facebook post. It's Denver International. I shot him a text real quick. Hey man, I know I'm 45 minutes away, but if you've been an hour or two I'm up for you to swing down here and see the place. I'm really glad that you were able to come by.
Speaker 2:I'm glad I did as well. I don't yet see how organized you were, but I learned some different things. You guys are carrying some different things. You folks were stocking.
Speaker 2:To me it looks like there's a lot of focus on having stuff ready to go out the door. I noticed you had this is something that I've always struggled with and I know you heard me complain about it for years the big table assemblies for heavy duty records 250 by 340, 250 by 780,. People don't want to wait for that, so by you having them there ready to go, that means a lot. Tell us about that program, would you? Yeah?
Speaker 4:so again just one of them things in my opinion. I just brought some education to our team. Just explain to them guys, look, this is a 5, 6, 7, 8. I mean somebody's telling me the big boys are now over a million dollars. You got a million dollar truck out there and they've got a 3.25 by 250 lunch line down and we're going to tell them it's going to take two weeks to get it.
Speaker 4:Nobody's going to wait that long, nobody in the country, all 50 states, unless it's something that they're planning for next month or something. That's a different story, but we all know that's typically not the case. Truck down and they need a lunch line and if we can't provide it, there's a rigging shop everywhere, every town in America. That's going to charge a double than what West could sell it to you for, but you could have it today. When you've got that kind of truck expense. You don't want that thing sitting around for too long not being able to work. Just explain that to our guys and they completely understood it. I just call it enlightening that explaining to them the towing industry, because it's very different than any other business that we are involved in here at our branch the construction business, the wind energy business, the aerospace industry, all that stuff. It's totally different than telling it times up the essence for the tellers. They're 24-7, 365 days a year and they need the kind of support to be able to get back on the road.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and having that stuff on the stock on your shelf makes a big difference. After the break, I want to talk about how synthetics are replacing some of them, replacing or supporting some of the older products. We hang around for one more break and we'll be right back.
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Speaker 1:Thank you one and all for listening to the American Towing Recovery Institute podcast. Rob has done a great job. Wes is doing wonderful. I want to remind all our listeners please remember to like, review and share everywhere. Give us a good five-star rating. You're always welcome, and if you want to hear somebody like Rob Miller from AllGrip, all you have to do is call 706-409-5603, which is the hotline for the podcast center, and Wes and I will do our very best to get that individual on, like a Rob Miller, who's an industry expert, to kind of share with our listeners. So just before the break, wes, you were going to ask Rob a question, so I'm passing it over to you, my friend.
Speaker 2:Thanks, dj, and I do have a question for Rob, but we're going to hold on for half a second here. Remember I said I was looking for one more news story yes, found, and at least it was decent one instead, and that's why I want to make sure I found it. So, looking up on the break, I can't believe I couldn't this one exclaimed because it's such a great story. I think you said you read about this as well, dj. But the first of all, our heart says out to all the individuals and why the ice lives off. Lives change forever. It was heartwarming to see that there are some tellers out there telling organizations hauling water over. I think you said you saw this as well.
Speaker 1:DJ. Yes, I saw it on the morning news and it's just close your heart. Here's the flatbeds are bringing in water, diapers, they still need children's clothing and all, but as of today's podcast, 99 people have lost their lives.
Speaker 1:They're still going through debris, but Maui has really been down to right down to the ashes but they're coming from the other islands, all helping, bringing water and disposable products for children and so forth, but the need is tremendous. So the one to where they had. He said if you can contact the American Red Cross or a crisis center right there in Maui and you can give us a little $10. And if all of us on the podcast gave $10, just think about it 11,000 listeners and everybody gave $10,000.
Speaker 1:You know, just $10 to Maui would be a big help. But, wes, you're correct, our toers across the country are wonderful, caring people, not just out there, you know, working the white line, they're helping their community, so all out and the podcast if I had to do them.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. It's 12,000 listeners right deep here, or how I've been lying to people.
Speaker 1:No, you're right up here 12,000 right now.
Speaker 2:Okay, that's what I thought. I just want to make sure I get numbers confused. I get numbers confused a lot nowadays, but that is what it is. Alright, sorry about putting you on hold for a minute, robert. I want to get that last news story out there, especially since it was a positive one. And again, don't stop the listeners Now you got me nervous.
Speaker 2:Guys. I'm saying that way, but now we're blessed. We have over 12,000 subscribers, so we have more of us. There's more people listening to us subscribe. We're blessed with it all over the country and the UK, all over the world really, but the concentration, of course, is North America. We're blessed and thankful and we hope it's because we're doing a good job of getting information out there. So while we're on that subject, I noticed a lot more synthetic wind chimes and etc. Nowadays at your place, and your sewing department looks like it has grown as well. Talk about the synthetic wind chimes that you're all offering. Tell us a little bit about what you're doing to keep up with the demand for synthetic products.
Speaker 4:Yeah, you know, synthetic definitely seems to be a growing trend in multiple industries, but in particular our towing industry. And you know, just personally, as I've been around shows and talked to people, I've really kind of seen and this is not a rule but just generally speaking that it's a generational thing. In particular the younger folks are like I mentioned you. You're not seeing a 30 and under picking up a five-haze, 20-foot chain or a 10-foot chain anymore. Right, they're grabbing that rope sling or a round sling or something you know that's I call career longevity. It's going to make you your shoulders last year.
Speaker 4:I mean I've got some guys through the years that just bodies are and this is tough work operating this stuff and real heavy rigging. And, hey look, we still sell chain too. But the end of every year we're seeing more and more of the synthetics coming into the market and we've definitely increased our stock on that. We still sell far more wire rope lunch lines than we do synthetics. But again, like I mentioned, every year our synthetic business just grows and grows. So do I ever see a completely replacing chain or wire rope noddle? But certainly in some applications it's just very, very user friendly. The stuff is strong as all get out and it's extremely light and user friendly, easy to pick up, easy to use.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and you are correct. I see it as a generational thing also, for the most part Just a whole different mindset about using that stuff and it does need to be protected. There's some times I see folks in the industry that maybe a little half hazard with that. But shorter, that is a great choice for, like you said, longevity of the body, because if business is hard it can worry out easy 100% and maybe make it, you can still be in the truck at 60.
Speaker 4:I mean guys getting shoulder replacements and torn rotator cuffs and hips and then I tell my guys they could pick up one of them snacks boxes and you'll understand why, right, you got to have a back to man handle that thing and just years and years of doing that it definitely wears on you. I hope you've never done bad. How strong you are.
Speaker 2:That's right, absolutely correct. Better than membership at a gym until it isn't basically unfortunate.
Speaker 4:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:So, rob, I noticed a lot of the lightweight alloy blocks that you have stopped there. Are they gaining popularity as well, due to their lightweight?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think they definitely are. And again, like we mentioned, with the synthetic stuff it could be a five to six pound difference sometimes. And I remember one of my guys saying what's the difference between these two? And I said pick it up and you think, going from 45 to 51 pounds, you may not notice that much of a difference, but you do, and I know our tellers would certainly testify to that fact as well. You do that time and not only just pick it up, but pick it up over your head hook it up to your west line.
Speaker 4:And also, like I explained to our guys in Elements, right, I mean we have a nice cloud lot here in the wintertime. Well, when the doors get a call on the side of a road, typically that vehicle might be in a pile of snow, that they're trying to recover or get uprided. But they need to be able to move quickly and these lightweight blocks just definitely help save you some weight. So obviously you can only make them so light, but yeah, we definitely want the heavier stuff, so far more of the alloy blocks than the standard duty. You simply pour that because of the weight.
Speaker 2:Yeah, people may not think that six pounds is much, like you say, until you lift it over your head and it makes all the difference in the world.
Speaker 4:And in the rain and in the ice and snow, you know, do that, exercise a few times and trust me that five or six pounds, you're going to feel it.
Speaker 2:That's right. So, Rob, tell us about the test bed you have with the facility out there.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we have a 75 ton test bed in-house here. I know you and I spoke about doing some testing in there. I've got a little camera that I'm able to come and mount in there, which, again, I haven't even tried that just yet. But I've come up with some videos where we can take our testing and just mesh. You know, we can send it out on a YouTube channel or something like that where people could actually see how we do this and what things actually did break out.
Speaker 2:That'd be awesome and I'm going to take you up on your offer to do some testing the show series that I did years ago. You're familiar with some of them that I want to retest and I want to change a few things up to match exactly what we're doing in the field nowadays.
Speaker 2:I really look forward to that opportunity I look forward to next time. On the Denver Visit News, I'm glad you did Facebook stalk me and get me some comments and send me a text to get me some information. I'm kidding about the Facebook stalking program, but I'm glad you didn't see that and react to it, because that was a good trip. So, I want to thank you for being a guest. I have some folks to hold you. I guess they can reach out to us right? Yeah, that's that question, yeah, so contact us at the Institute, same old website.
Speaker 2:Phone number, of course, is 910-747-9000. Thank you for taking time out of your busy day and sharing some information with us. Is there any tip for, too, you can think of to leave a listeners' worth, about reading and getting more value out of it, or value in buying it, or anything? All those lines.
Speaker 4:Absolutely. This may actually come out of the American Tome and Recovery Institute light duty textbook here, but if I could leave one tip on the light duty aspect using your lunch line.
Speaker 4:It is not used as a vehicle tie down. Okay, how many times do you go down the road and you see a vehicle loaded onto a rollback and the rear of the vehicle is usually tied down with chains or straps, but how often do you see the front is secured only with the wire rope lunch line? It's just one of my things, because we see these things. Pictures get sent to us and typically it's because of that friction rubbing up against the bumper or two to I say, 10 to 12 inches from the press. If we get that vehicle loaded up there and then tie it down at four points they're usually the straps and then obviously unload the vehicle using the lunch line. As far as removal from service on lunch lines, things that we look for and I recommend doing this every day Look for kinks. This is what we're removing from service Kinks, burr, caging, popcorn in the working section of the wire rope, discoloration due to excessive heat, corrosion with hitting of the wires, and then if you see some broken wires typically if you see 11 broken wires and six diameters of length then that's typically time to go.
Speaker 4:When in doubt, throw that. When in doubt, replace that thing. Speaking of replacement, it's my last tip. You have to plan ahead. We got winter coming up very soon. Plan ahead for your supplies. I can't tell you how many times you've called me. I need a 50 foot cable overnight to a guy.
Speaker 2:No, we're trying to talk them out of it. It's the same deal.
Speaker 4:They need it and I get that. This is the public service announcement right now. Why don't you go ahead and get that extra 50 foot cable 75 foot cable In fact. Why don't you get two of them? Have some extra there, get some extra straps, extra ratchets. For two to $300 you can have all of your necessities, a complete backup, ready to go. In case it's Friday or Saturday morning at 2 am and you got your cable break and you're trying to scramble to get back on the road and you got blizzard conditions in your area. Now's the time to start taking ahead for the winter. You can get some start packs if your area uses tire chains, that kind of thing. The one time that you need it you'll look back and think. I'm sure I'm glad I listened to this American Total Recovery Podcast because it'll be well worth being prepared Right.
Speaker 2:For a couple hundred bucks. You can save yourself a lot and set it overnight and we'll get one thing it's crazy how much that costs now.
Speaker 4:It is.
Speaker 2:So, rob, thank you for being here. We appreciate it. Keep up the good work and we'll definitely want your back in a little while to tell us what's going on out there. Be safe, dj. I want to thank you, I want to thank Chuck Kors. The whole APR team Appreciate everybody's efforts and we're really excited that we have over 12,000 listeners. I want to thank each and every one of the listeners for listening, and you know what to do Subscribe, like, share all that stuff. So in peace, my friends.