HOW AIR CUSHION RECOVERY WORKS
Think of Air Cushions like a giant glove, supporting the weight of the entire load, rather than putting all the pressure on a few straps only a few inches wide. Trailer walls are not meant to hold weight, Air Cushions support the entire wall-more importantly the product behind the wall-until they lift the trailer high enough for the weight to transfer back to the floor of the trailer.
Call to Request a Service now
Your Trusted AIR CUShion recovery experts
Most tow companies are “set in their ways” and believe that air cushions take too much time or are too difficult to set up. While decades ago, that may have been true, our state-of-the-art system is designed to increase speed and efficiency, taking only minutes to fully inflate. Many companies will resort to off loading the product, which means increased labor cost, disposal cost, and most importantly a HUGE amount of additional risk roadside to safety issues.
THE difference between modern and old air cushions
Old air cushions were round, relatively short, and with no arch built into them. Their compressors only put out around 50-60 CFM or Cubic Feet per Minute of air. The most modern sets like we have, are very tall fully inflated, have a built in arch to help “push” the casualty back onto it’s wheels, and the compressor pumps nearly 500 CFM.
Are air cushions safe?
Absolutely! In fact they operate at such a low pressure you can safely place your hand or arm in between the casualty and whatever your lifting-you won’t be able to move but it will not hurt you! That is how low of a pressure is applied to your equipment when this technology is applied correctly.
With Modern Equipment like Rotators-why would Air Cushions be needed?
Great question! Not every job is an Air Cushion Recovery, we have Rotators, and multiple HD Wreckers as well and quite a few are successfully recovered without Air Cushions. The difference comes with loaded trailers. Imagine a gallon of milk-if you hold that gallon up with just one finger eventually either the milk jug “dents” from the strain, or your finger starts to hurt. That is due to the increased pressure. Now take your entire hand and place it on the bottom of the Milk Jug-supporting the same weight over a large area. Not only does the jug support the weight like this, it also won’t fatigue your hand. Same concept with Air Cushions, spreading the weight across a large area prevents further damage to the trailer or truck. Additionally instead of trying to make sure multiple winches on multiple trucks are operated at about the same speed-Air Cushions are operated by one operator at a valve bank that can see the entire side of the casualty.
Landing Control Cushions
In addition to our lift cushions, we have 3 “Control Bags” that we place under the casualty when it is nearly upright. Instead of the casualty slamming to the ground, our landing cushions control the descent of the vehicle slowly to the ground, further reducing any additional damage that may occur from a “shock load” of the wheels slamming to the ground.
