Wrecking beds for tow trucks come in various designs, including swivel-type twin wreckers for heavy-duty towing. Modern cranes use a wheel lift to tow vehicles, while hydraulic arms and electric winch motors control steel cables for recovering wrecked vehicles. Retractable units are also available in different sizes.
There are various types of wrecking beds used in the manufacture of tow trucks, or wreckers, from the simple single arm to the pull-back design. In heavy-duty towing applications, swivel-type twin wreckers are commonly used due to the ability of this type of wrecker to simultaneously pull in two different directions or at different angles. The most familiar image that most people hold in their memory of tow trucks or wreckers is that of a vehicle being lifted off its bumper by a hook coming out of the wrecker’s arm. In reality, the modern design of the crane does not lift at all with the jib; instead, the crane lifts and tows a vehicle using an apparatus known as a wheel lift, which extends from the rear of modern wrecking beds.
Although not typically used for basic vehicle towing, most wrecker beds have an arm located in the center of the bed. Early versions of the demolition boom consisted of a solidly mounted steel boom incorporating a swivel sheave mounted at the end of the boom. A large drum containing heavy steel cable was driven from a power take-off (PTO), driven by the engine, through the truck’s transmission. The cable ran through the arm and through the pulley, where it was attached to a steel hook. The hook was attached to the vehicle being towed and the cable was placed on the drum, lifting the vehicle’s wheels off the road and allowing it to be towed away.
Modern wrecking beds contain one or more hydraulic arms that can be raised, lowered, and turned left and right by hydraulic cylinders powered by a hydraulic pump on the truck’s engine. The feathers have a steel cable that runs up and out of an end-mounted pulley, similar to earlier versions. However, this cable is commonly controlled by an electric winch motor. Booms are most often used for recovering a wrecked vehicle and hauling a vehicle off an embankment or similar obstacle. The actual lifting of the vehicle is accomplished through the use of a wheel lift, a hydraulically operated apparatus mounted at the rear of the crane.
Other versions of wrecking beds are retractable units. These wrecker beds are a hydraulically operated flat platform that tilts up to allow a vehicle to hitch onto the bed. Once in place, the vehicle and bed are lowered back to a level position and removed. There are wrecking beds in many sizes, from those mounted on your average pickup truck to large units mounted on a semi truck chassis.
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