Atlanta Wrecker Sales // Hampshire Towing // Super Load // 16 Ton Integrated PolyBody ®

An Oshkosh Corporation Company

FOR HARDWORKING TOWING PROFESSIONALS

FOR HARDWORKING TOWING PROFESSIONALS

Lighting The Way

To Increased Visibility

FOR HARDWORKING TOWING PROFESSIONALS

Inside Fall 2012 PG. 3 Web & Social Media Events Calendar

FOR HARDWORKING TOWING PROFESSIONALS

PG. 4 Meet the Youser: Hampshire Towing

PG. 5 Ohio Super Load

PG. 6 Lighting the Way to Increased Visibility

the tiedown

Joel Amsley is Senior Vice President of Jerr-Dan Corporation I’ve noticed a unique trait that is shared by the majority of towing professionals: they’re people who give 100 percent of their energy to whatever they’re doing. At work, at home and at play. And while towers know there may be an inherent risk in giving their all, they wouldn’t live life any other way. We understand that at Jerr-Dan. So, we are constantly looking for ways to make your job easier, decrease your time on a call, increase your profitability, or just make your life a little brighter while on the job. Our new deck illumination system, called Rear Awareness Indicator Lights™ (RAIL), literally makes your work life brighter through the use of bright amber LED strobe technology that flashes in random patterns. Read all about the benefits of Jerr-Dan’s newest product starting on page 6 in Lighting the Way. Scan the QR code on page 8 with your smart phone and watch how RAIL works in action. You can also watch the video from your computer by visiting our website at www.jerrdan.com/equipment/ newinnovative-products/r-a-i-l. As always, thank you for all you do. At the risk of sounding corny, know that our loyal customers light up our lives, too! Joel

© 2012 Jerr-Dan Corporation, An Oshkosh Corporation Company. All rights reserved. Run Hard is a publication of Jerr-Dan Corporation. 2 // RUNHARD // FALL 2012

PG. 8 Meet the Distributor: Atlanta Wrecker Sales, Inc.

PG. 9 Who Says You Can’t Get No Satisfaction?

Run Hard magazine is your source for new products, trends, and technical information pertaining to Jerr-Dan towing and recovery equipment. Run Hard is published quarterly for all employees, distributors and customers of Jerr-Dan. The magazine is distributed nationally, featured in American Towman magazine and on the Jerr-Dan website, www.jerrdan.com. LTD Creative, Design and Production Kate McDermott, Editor and Correspondent JERR-DAN STAFF Joel Amsley, Senior Vice President Dave Chickowski, Vice President Operations Weldon Wright, Director of Sales Tracy O’Dowd, Marketing Manager Jeff Soldner, Product Development Brandon Tucker, Director of Engineering Mike VanAken, Customer Support Manger Richard Puglia, International Sales Manager Erick Montero, Director of Sales, Latin America Phil Hammond, Motor Club Manager Shane Coleman, Heavy Duty Sales & Market Development Manager Gene McKinney, Regional Sales Manager Rocky Certaro, Regional Sales Manager Joe Osterman, Regional Sales Manager Dan DeAces, Regional Sales Manager Mike Cherry, Retail Sales Specialist 13224 Fountain Head Plaza Hagerstown, MD 21742-2678 Corporate Office: 800.926.9666 Fax: 301.745.5375 www.jerrdan.com www.facebook.com/jerrdancorp

PLUGGED IN EVENT SCHEDULE

October 4 – 6

The California Tow Truck Association Show San Diego, CA

12– 13 Charlotte Race Weekend Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, NC

November 2– 4

Texas Race Weekend Texas Motor Speedway, Ft. Worth, TX

16  – 18 Have you checked out the newly redesigned www.jerrdan.com? The site has many exciting new features, including:

American Towman Exposition Baltimore, MD

• Improved News and Announcements feed on the Home page • Updated truck information • A New/Innovative Products section • New and updated truck photography in the Photo Gallery • Updated contact information for Jerr-Dan staff • An online Jerr-Dan store where you can purchase Jerr-Dan branded clothing, hats, gifts, tools and accessories

Jerr-Dan Channel

Take a look and let us know what you think!

Jerr-Dan now has its own channel on YouTube!

Find us on Facebook!

Go to www.youtube.com/jerrdancorp to see Jerr-Dan products in action, testimonials, and great footage. Do you have a video you’d like to share with us? Contact us at [email protected].

Would you like to receive Jerr-Dan news and updates by email? Drop us a line at [email protected] and tell us to add you to our e-news list! Also be sure to add us to your safe senders list!

www.jerrdan.com // RUNHARD // 3

Meet the YOUSER

W

hen you operate a towing and recovery business in a state that during the last year alone has ridden out a devastating tornado, a hurricane, an earthquake and blizzards, you better have equipment you can count on regardless of the elements. That’s why Hampshire Towing of South Hadley, Massachusetts, relies heavily on Jerr-Dan trucks. In fact, more than 90 percent of the company’s light duty fleet are Jerr-Dans, and since 1994, every piece of new equipment the business has purchased has the Jerr-Dan name on it. “Jerr-Dan is a great product,” says company president Bill Johnson. “That’s why we continue to come back for more.” Johnson says Jerr-Dan vehicles take on everything Mother Nature throws at them, from blizzards to Nor’easters. “I think the galvanized beds are the right way to go for our climate,” he says. And when it comes to needing service or parts, Johnson says Jerr-Dan stands behind its products all the way. “We have found that Jerr-Dan has been exceptional and has gone above and beyond our expectations to take care of us.” Pooling Their Resources With 39 full- and part-time employees, Hampshire Towing and its body shop are headquartered in western Massachusetts in the town of South Hadley, but the business also has impound lots in nearby Holyoke and Belchertown. Its nationally-certified drivers provide local and long-distance 24-hour towing and road service for commercial, residential and specialty vehicles, including motorcycles and construction equipment. The company has contracts with six neighboring municipalities as well as two state police barracks. 4 // RUNHARD // FALL 2012

Hampshire Towing South Hadley, Mass.

Sometimes the toughest jobs aren’t the biggest Johnson remembers a particularly difficult recovery operation more than a decade ago during which he used two Jerr-Dan vehicles to do a clothesline recovery of a pickup truck that somehow ended up in a swimming pool. Using a Ford 450 equipped with a Jerr-Dan HPL35 and an International 4700 with a Jerr-Dan HPL60, they were able to pull a water-logged truck from the pool. “There wasn’t room to get anything else in there. We couldn’t get a rotator in there if we wanted to,” Bill recalls. But given the weight of the water in the truck, they also knew they needed the strongest equipment they could get their hands on. “We really worked those Jerr-Dans,” he says. They Just Keep On Truckin’ And Jerr-Dans keep working for Hampshire Towing. “Our 1998 Jerr-Dan HPL60 has been great. It’s one of the best trucks we have in the fleet,” says Bill’s son, Robert. “I think Jerr-Dans are the work horses of the industry. They are reliable and you know what you are going to get. We don’t get rid of them because they keep doing the job.” As John Borowski, the company’s Holyoke facilities manager says, “You have a good feeling in your gut when you make the investment in a Jerr-Dan because you have confidence in the product.”

HOOK UP WITH US Hampshire Towing Address: 650 New Ludlow Road, S. Hadley, Mass. 01075 Phone: 877-88-we-tow Web: www.hampshiretowing.com

When Others Can’t… Jerr-Dan Can

Jerr-Dan 50 Ton Rotator Moves Ohio Super Load

You’ve heard the expression “Never send a boy to do a man’s job.” Well, that was certainly the case back in June when the Ohio State Patrol called Bill’s Towing of St. Clairesville, Ohio to help tow a broken down truck that was carrying a massive storage tank. Bill’s Towing owners, Bill and Chad Coulson, responded immediately in their Jerr-Dan 50 ton rotator. Because the truck carrying the tank couldn’t move and its weight and that of its 169-footlong load, the Coulsons frame-forked the truck just like any other tow but also

ran two ½-inch chains over the frame of the truck and around their rotator cross bar with a chain binder to lessen the stress on the broken truck’s front axle and to keep the truck from coming unhooked. The operation impressed everyone who witnessed it, especially the folks from the trucking company who were faced with the dilemma of what to do with their disabled truck and its load. “The State Patrol called me and when I showed up, the guys from the trucking company said to me, ‘What do you

expect to do here?’ and I told them, ‘I’m going to move the truck.’” And indeed he did. In less than two hours, the truck and its super-load were towed four miles to the industrial park in Cadiz, Ohio, where the tank was going. Although this was the first super-load Coulson has handled since taking delivery of his rotator in January, he doesn’t expect it will be the last. “They just started doing a lot of gas and oil drilling around here so I’m sure there will be a lot more of these to come,” he says. www.jerrdan.com // RUNHARD // 5

Lighting the Way Jerr-Dan Does Its Part to Enhance Operator Visibility

A

ccording to the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration, there are an estimated three injury crashes every minute in our country. This means nearly 1,620 responders are working in or near moving traffic

every hour, based on a typical response that might include two law enforcement, four fire department and two EMS responders, as well as one tow truck operator. And for those first responders, the danger may be real and imminent. In an effort to further assist towing and recovery operators, Jerr-Dan has designed the new Rear Awareness Indicator Lights (RAIL) system which offers enhanced visibility and greater attention to the incident scene.



continued on next page

www.jerrdan.com // RUNHARD // 7

RAIL uses bright amber LED strobe technology that is side-mounted to the carrier bed, helping eliminate any obstructions from the carrier or disabled vehicle, and designed to project horizontally for enhanced rear visibility when the carrier bed is tilted for loading or unloading. This can be especially important when working in dark, foggy, rainy or high-traffic conditions. “Our goal was to look at ways to enhance the recovery vehicle’s visibility while maintaining or even enhancing the operation of the carrier and the job of the towing professional,” says Sanjeev Kuriakose, Senior Project Engineer for JerrDan. That meant Jerr-Dan engineers had to find ways to position the lights so they could angle up when the recovery vehicle’s bed 8 // RUNHARD // FALL 2012

is in the loading position. The result is an innovative 15-degree upward angular placement that optimizes horizontal visibility for oncoming traffic while the deck is tilted. The amber lights flash in random patterns for increased attention and are also positioned behind where the operator stands, so that they can focus on the recovery job, while the RAIL lights help keep the oncoming traffic aware of the carrier’s location. The RAIL system housings are constructed of strong, corrosion-resistant steel mounting brackets that offer remarkable durability. They are applied with a high-grade automotive adhesive that bonds right to the carrier surface, making the system capable of after-market installation. This innovative lighting

system made its debut at the Florida Tow Show and Kuriakose says the system received positive reviews. “We got a lot of good feedback from everyone who saw it,” he says. Until American motorists slow down and start to respect and value the dangerous conditions towing and recovery operators work in, Jerr-Dan will continue to try to find ways to enhance operator safety. The D.O.T. statistics are indeed troubling, but as Kuriakose says, “It doesn’t have to be the way it has always been in the past. We are constantly looking to improve towing technology for our customers.”

Learn more about the RAIL system at www. jerrdan.com or scan the QR code to see a video that demonstrates the lights in action.

Meet the Distributor From left: The Chesnee, S.C. staff: Lee Giles, Matt Giles, Martin Giles, Tony Powell, Jeff Davis

From left: The Lawrenceville, Ga. staff: Terry Crane, Heath Fassnacht, Dail Skelton

Atlanta Wrecker Sales, Inc.

F

or eight years running, Atlanta Wrecker Sales has been JerrDan’s number one distributor of wreckers and tow trucks. But don’t expect Lee Giles, the company’s owner and president, to brag about it. Giles, along with his partners Dail Skelton, Heath Fassnacht and Terry Crane, is quick to direct the praise to the people he believes really deserve the credit. “Listen,” he says, “this is not about us. This is about our customers. These guys work hard for their money. They are out there in dangerous conditions, in all kinds of weather, 24/7. They miss weddings, funerals, birthdays. We are nothing without our customers.” Service and Value With offices in suburban Atlanta and Chesnee, South Carolina, Atlanta Wrecker serves a large portion of the southeast, including all of South Carolina, Georgia and portions of North Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama. The company sells and leases both new and used equipment at both locations, where they also offer installations, financing, parts and repair services for all brands of towing equipment. Atlanta Wrecker employees can also customize trucks for their customers in a relatively short period of time.

For Giles, offering Jerr-Dan products is a no-brainer. “Jerr-Dan has great name recognition and a loyal following,” he says. “It’s not hard to sell Jerr-Dan because people trust the name.” That has become especially valuable given the tough economic climate of the last few years. Giles says his business has seen an increase in the number of customers looking for used equipment and he’s always comfortable recommending a Jerr-Dan vehicle. “We want to help our customers get the most for their money when they go to spend it,” he says. “The customer is his No. 1 priority,” says Gene McKinney, Jerr-Dan’s Southern Regional Sales Manager. “At Jerr Dan, we say, ‘Whatever it takes,’ and that is literally what Lee lives by.”

get the job done, including chains and winch cables, light bars, lock-out and jump start kits, toolboxes and straps. For Giles and his partners, it all comes back to helping their customers and their businesses succeed. “Lee does not like to draw attention to himself,” McKinney says. “But he is 150 percent dedicated to his customers. It is his life.” Having invested his time, experience and resources into the business, Giles is committed to its success today – and into the future. His sons, Matt and Martin (as well as his cousin, Tony Powell and long-term friend Jeff Davis), work with the company. Together, this family-oriented team will continue to sell Jerr-Dans and continue to stay focused on the people Giles says are most responsible for Atlanta Wrecker’s success: the customers.

Partnering for Success Giles and his team believe that every time Atlanta Wrecker sells or leases a vehicle, they gain another business partner. They want to make sure they treat their new associates with the respect and attention they deserve. They strive to help operators hit the road quickly by offering a “turn-key” operation that in addition to offering a full line of carriers and wreckers, also offers many parts and accessories that help

HOOK UP WITH US Atlanta Wrecker Sales, Inc. 340-A Maltbie St. Lawrenceville, GA 30046 Phone: 770-432-0097 Parts Hotline: 800-689-8090 120 North Texas Avenue Chesnee, SC 29323 Phone: 864-688-0170 Web: www.atlantawrecker.com www.jerrdan.com // RUNHARD // 9

Who Says You Can’t Get No Satisfaction?

M

ark Sexton isn’t an engineer. He’s not a designer. He’s not a salesman, either. If you ask him, he’s nothing more than a “good ol’ country boy” who happens to have built a very successful towing and recovery business in Frederick, Maryland. But in fact, Sexton in many ways helped design, engineer and sell JerrDan’s new 16 ton PolyBody® integrated wrecker. As the owner of Mark’s Equipment Service, Inc. for the last 20 10 // RUNHARD // FALL 2012

Jerr-Dan Fulfills Customer’s Wish List years, this former volunteer fire fighter and fire chief knows what he wants in his towing and recovery vehicles. And lucky for him, Jerr-Dan listened to what he had to say. “From my years in the fire service, I was aware of the UPF (United Plastic Fabricating) PolyTank® line,” Sexton says. In fact, he encouraged his fire company to invest in a truck with a UPF tank. Shortly after getting the vehicle, however, it was in an accident and rolled twice. The chassis was totaled, but the

UPF tank barely had a dent. “This stuff is so strong,” says Sexton. “But it’s also lightweight, corrosionresistant and has a longer warranty.” Yet Sexton couldn’t find it on a vehicle in the towing and recovery industry. That’s when he decided to give Weldon Wright, Jerr-Dan’s Director of Sales, a piece of his mind, so to speak. “I think the world of Weldon,” Sexton says. “When other companies gave me that ‘He ain’t nobody’ feeling, Weldon would take the time to talk to me and listen.”

Wishes Do Come True So Sexton told Wright what he’d really like in his next truck: he’d like fireservice style roll-up doors for maximum storage and accessibility; he’d like pull-out tool boards and underbody compartments; he’d also like his lighting switch panel to be in the center of his cab and not awkwardly placed at the side of the driver’s seat; and while he was at it, since he wasn’t blessed with LeBron James-type height, he’d like adjustable height shelving and for his control panel to be inside the side body compartment so he could see and easily reach the handles. The result, he says, was an “educational journey,” one that was in his words, at times “50 percent fun and 50 percent frustration.” As Sexton and Wright worked with Jerr-Dan’s engineers, it became clear that some of the items on the wish list would be easier to achieve than others. “Mark wanted cross-over tunnels so one of the biggest challenges we had was working around the existing mechanisms so that the tunnels wouldn’t interfere with the boom when it was raised,” says Brad Kresge, Senior Principle Engineer for Jerr-Dan. “But we also needed to make sure we could support the body the way Mark was going to load it up and meet the durability requirement.” In the end, though, Sexton says he got nearly everything he wanted on his 16 ton integrated wrecker. The exterior lighting offers improved nighttime visibility

and the compartments can be easily cleaned. And since taking delivery last December, he has even customized the final product a bit more to meet his needs, adding PVC pipes to the main body so he can store drive shafts and axles, because he says, “I buy tow trucks but I don’t buy transmissions.” From Prototype to Standard Equipment The process also benefitted Jerr-Dan, who took another 16 ton PolyBody® to the Florida Tow Show, where Marshall Adkison of Adkison Towing of Jacksonville, Florida, saw it and was so impressed, he took it home to add to his fleet. The PolyBody® is now an upgrade option on Jerr-Dan’s 16 ton integrated medium duty wrecker. For Kresge and the Jerr-Dan engineers, there is real satisfaction in knowing they were able to develop a product that so closely meets what their customer wanted and needed. “Working with Mark was great,” Kresge says. “He had a clear idea of what he wanted. Although it was sometimes a challenge to take his ideas and develop the design, we were able to compromise here and there and I think he is really happy with what he got.” In fact, that might be a bit of an understatement. As if speaking as a de facto salesman for the product, Sexton says “We’ve been running the hell out of this thing since we got it. It has already outlived my expectations. Jerr-Dan never let me down.”

UPF Poly-Body® Provides Strength and Lifetime Savings When Bill Bruns and the engineers at United Plastic Fabricating in North Andover, Mass., were asked to partner with Jerr-Dan on developing a PolyBody® application for the towing and recovery industry, it was a welcome request. “We work with fire service clients on their fire apparatus,” says Bruns, who is UPF’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “So we are used to a customer base that wants trucks their own way. No two fire trucks are the same.” Working closely on the CAD drawings, engineers from both companies had to be sure that customer Mark Sexton’s wishes were feasible, especially when it came to “how things would be located and supported within the body,” says Brad Kresge, Senior Principle Engineer for Jerr-Dan. “We really relied on their (UPF) experience.” It was an easy transition for the UPF teams, and in reality, not too much of a stretch for Jerr-Dan personnel either. JerrDan’s sister company, Pierce Manufacturing, is the leading North American manufacturer of custom fire apparatus. Bruns actually spoke to Wilson Jones, President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Oshkosh Corporation, Jerr-Dan’s parent company, about the possibilities of using PolyBody® in other equipment applications before Sexton raised the idea. “We spoke at a trade show some years back about maybe doing something with a truck body,” Bruns recalls. But it was Sexton’s desire to use the material he had seen during this firefighter days that finally brought the idea from discussion to design. Its implications for the towing and recovery business are significant, since the PolyBody® material is 15 percent lighter than fiberglass and half the weight of a steel body. “The material is a high-impact, co-polymer polypropylene that is maintenance-free, non-corrosive and lightweight,” Bruns says. “It’s more expensive than other materials at the outset, but it will never rust or corrode.” Manufactured from a special blended resin, PolyBody® is so flexible that even in high-impact situations, materials just bounce off of it. “The material has a lot of flex to it” says Mike Ashley, UPF’s VP of Engineering. Yet it offers an automotive painted finish that Bruns says is so well done “if you look at the cab and the body, you can’t tell the difference.” To find out more about Jerr-Dan’s 16 ton integrated wrecker with the PolyBody®, please contact Shane Coleman at 248-227-4465 or [email protected]. You can also visit our website at www.jerrdan.com. www.jerrdan.com // RUNHARD // 11