Got More Than One Truck That Needs Repairs? How Piggyback Towing Works
Posted on: 14 September 2016
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When you have several heavy-duty trucks that all need repairs, you may be dreading the heavy-duty towing fees that will come with getting your trucks into the repair shop. However, you may not have to pay all of those separate fees if you request "piggyback" towing. Here is what this unique towing method is, and how it works.
Piggyback Towing
What happens here is that you have one truck lifted and set on the back of another truck. It works best with semi tractors, since they already have a flattened area behind their cabs. Each is secured to the truck in front of it, and then the towing truck picks up the first truck from under the front fender. It takes a lot of power to pull two, three, or four trucks along the road this way, but most heavy-duty tow trucks do a pretty good job at towing several trucks all at once. The process may vary slightly with box trucks or "cab-over" trucks because of their fixed cargo holds, but they can still be "piggybacked" if your heavy-duty tower knows how.
How It Works
With each truck secured to the one in front of it, these trucks essentially tow the ones behind the first truck. It is the tow truck that gets the string of trucks moving, and it is the momentum of the piggybacking trucks that keeps everything rolling so that there is not a lot of strain on the engine of the towing truck. Because the towing truck is also a heavy-duty towing truck, it has the necessary pull to get the trucks moving and keep them moving.
As the tow truck rounds a corner and completes a turn, the piggybacking tow trucks follow suit, curving around the corner in much the same way as a semi trailer, only with more swerve and more wheels. The tow truck may need to make wider turns to get all of these trucks around the corner, but they usually follow and stay attached with little difficulty. Once the tow truck driver arrives at the repair shop, he or she lets down the first truck and each piggybacking truck is carefully removed and set on the ground. Usually, the maximum number of trucks allowed to use this piggyback towing method is three or four semi-tractors and two to four "cab-over" or box trucks, but it also depends on the area in which you work and reside.