Stuck in the Bush Down Under

Here are a few more pics from Eagle Towing and Salvage in Ringwood, Victoria, Australia, who were featured earlier this year on TIW. Eagle services the whole of the Melbourne area, as well as traveling Australia-wide to service their customer base.John Sampson has been at the helm of Eagle Towing for 40 years specializing in heavy towing and recovery and his knowledge and expertise cannot be underestimated when a major recovery/salvage operation is required.Eagle has a fleet of 10 trucks, including this Kenworth tri-axle, a Model T608 equipped with a Century 1130 rotator. It has a two-stage recovery boom rated at 60,000-lbs. retracted and 25,000-lbs. extended, dual 35,000-lbs. two-speed planetary main winches and a 50,000-lbs. drag winch. This rig features proportional remote controls, two-stage front H-beams and rear three-stage H-beam outriggers. The LDU underlift on the 1130 has a lift rating of 15,000-lbs. extended.The unit was installed and painted by Miller Industries’ Australian distributor, Truckworks. In addition to the screaming eagle graphics, it has imposing kangaroo/bull bars over the grille. These are common on trucks of all kinds Down Under.Eagle tow operator Kevin has done some recent recoveries using this tri-axle, and shared the pics with TIW.One semi was found sideways far off in the brush. “One of the expensive things we recently found lying around in the bush. Couldn't just leave it there so we took it home,” Kevin said. “The driver was fit and well, thank God. He is a real nice guy, just unlucky enough to have found a soft edge in the road.”The recovery of the loaded log truck wound up in the ditch on a narrow two-lane roadway. “This poor bugger got pushed off the road by oncoming traffic,” Kevin said.