Abstract: Apparatus for wheel lift towing vehicles for supporting the tires of a vehicle to be lifted and towed. The apparatus includes a pair of tire support cradles having front and rear members for respectively engaging the front and rear surfaces of a tire of the vehicle to be towed. The rear member has a bar which mounts a moveable support member in the form of a foldable plate. The plate may be raised above the bar to provide a retaining surface for engaging and supporting the rear surface portion of the tire, and may be lowered to provide clearance for entry beneath the vehicle and behind the tire. The plate in its lowered position is also adapted to be positioned on the ground so as to provide a ramp over which the tire may be drawn into the cradle when, for example, the tire is flat.

Abstract: Apparatus for wheel lift towing vehicles for supporting the tires of a vehicle lifted and towed thereby includes a tire support cradle having front and rear members for respectively engaging the front and rear surface portions of a tire of a vehicle. The rear support member includes an elongated arm and a wheel support member. The arm is adjustably positioned in a receptacle carried by a support beam which also carries the front member of the cradle, and is secured in the receptacle by a locking bracket which is pivotably mounted on the top of the receptacle and adapted to pivot between an unlocked position to a locking position. In the unlocked position the bracket does not interfere with movement of the arm. The bracket includes a leg which carries a locking pin. In the locking position lateral movement of the arm is precluded and the pin is inserted into a bore in the arm to lock the arm against longitudinal and lateral movement.

Abstract: Wheel lift towing apparatus has tire support cradles including front and rear support members for respectively engaging the front and rear surface portions of the vehicle tire. The front support member includes a fixed ramp for engaging a lower front surface portion of the tire and a moveable ramp in the form of a pivotable plate disposed above the fixed ramp to provide an extension thereof for engaging an additional front surface portion of the tire above the surface engaged by the fixed ramp. The pivotable plate may be rotated downwardly to a stow or inoperative position, and in such position permits the cradle to enter beneath the front of a low ground clearance vehicle to be towed. Once under the front of the vehicle and adjacent the front tire it may be rotated to the operative position and a support member pivotably journalled to the opposite surface of the plate may be positioned against stop members to hold the plate at an upstanding inclination in the operative position.

Abstract: A flat bed vehicle such as a tilt bed car carrier vehicle has side rails which may be positionable either in a raised position disposed above the bed platform and a lowered stowed position wherein the tops of the rails are disposed coextensive with the platform. The caps or tops of the rails are supported on posts and the ends of posts remote from the caps have cam followers which are positioned within respective cam tracks extending transversely beneath the bed floor. The cam tracks are configured so that the followers may be moved between first and second ends of the cam tracks selectively. At one end of each track the follower is located such that the respective post may be either in the upstanding operative position at the side of the bed, and at the other end of the track the follower is located such that the post is in the stowed position extending transversely beneath the floor of the bed with the cap of the rail positioned on a shelf of a longitudinally extending bracket at the edge of the side.

Abstract: A truck axle grasping attachment for use with towing vehicles for lifting a truck by its front axle. The attachment is in the form of a cradle having a pair of spaced apart upstanding tangs, one of the tangs, that being the front tang, being fixed, and the other of the tangs, that being the rear tang, being mounted for movement so that the attachment may be slidably positioned for receipt of the truck axle within the cradle without interference of the axle by the rear tang. In one embodiment the rear tang is pivotably mounted on the base of the cradle and has an integral arm adapted to be contacted by the axle as the attachment moves into axle capturing relationship, and when so doing moves the rear tang into operative position. In other embodiments the rear tang is removably carried by the base of the cradle.

Abstract: A carrier vehicle for transporting disabled cars has a support platform including a support deck between a pair of side boards, the deck being formed from a number of extruded aluminum panels and the side boards each being an aluminum extrusion. The panels are interconnected together by integral locking connectors at corresponding ends and have feet at the end of downwardly depending legs which are supported at the lateral sides by lips on the side boards which together with an upper lip forms a recess for receiving the sides of the deck panels. The construction interconnects the panels together and with the side boards to limit or preclude relative vertical movement thereby providing a strong load bearing structure and minimizing the number of welds required.

Abstract: A carrier vehicle for carrying at least one car or the like on a platform slidable and tiltable relative to a fixed bed includes hold-down devices for locking the platform against tilting when the platform is in a rest position in the forward end of the bed. Hydraulic cylinders selectively slide the platform and tilt the platform by separate control rods which are manually actuated. The vehicle includes a safety device for preventing tilting of the platform when the platform is locked by the hold-down devices so as not to break the hold-down devices and for preventing the platform from tilting downwardly onto the hold-down devices when the platform has been slid forwardly but not tilted completely for locking by the hold-down devices. The safety device includes a cam plate fixed to the control rod which effects tilting and a stop plate fastened to a rail forming a portion of the platform.