One of the most difficult recoveries that we had to do were half-shaft breakages. It was bad enough that these usually occurred on steep gradients, but unless the driver realised and stopped immediately, any attempt to restart or back down frequently mushroomed the broken ends of the shaft, making removal difficult or just impossible. Subsequent analysis of the failure to determine cause was difficult when you had only splinters, and the entire rear-axle had to be stripped to remove the debris. A clean break could be dealt with on-site by fitting a new half-shaft (we had a special probe for pushing the broken stub out - provided the differential spider had clearance for this).
Doing a suspended (rear) tow - specially if the vehicle had a tandem bogie (not to mention that it probably had a laden trailer) taxed the ingenuity of the recovery crew.
Anybody been part of a breakdown crew?
There is a story (which I cannot recall the precise sequence) where a laden drawbar trailer dragged the recovery vehicle backwards down the hill (at gathering speed). It was quite a ride, apparently.
The trailer had been chocked and the original tractor vehicle towed off satisfactorily, but there was a mismatch of brake air connections and the recovery crew decided to dump the trailer air and try a 'dead' recovery tow but had insufficient traction, so they decided to reverse down the slope . . .
Chocks away!
