Medium-Duty Map

Towing Flexibility

Towing, for many businesses, is the highest daily generator of revenue for the company. The flexibility of having a medium-duty truck in your fleet provides additional recovery capability, while also providing a versatile range for towing.

The Medium-Duty units from Miller Industries, like the Century® 3212 16-Ton integrated wrecker, come standard with an underlift that is to scale with the larger heavy-duty wreckers. This versatile underlift is capable of towing passenger cars and road tractors alike. Having the flexibility to use the same heavy-duty-rated forks for towing fixed-frame inner-city trucks and then be able to tow passenger cars with the included wheel-grids, is what truly sets the Miller Industries’ medium-duty underlift apart from others in its class. The Miller Industries medium-duty underlift also boasts the lowest profile crossbar in the towing industry.

Our standard 12,000 lb.-rated medium-duty pivoting crossbar has about the same clearance as to that of Miller Industries’ autoloaders. The flexibility the medium-duty underlift provides allows you to accomplish a wide range of towing from small passenger vehicles to towing school buses, box trucks, smaller RVs, and even road tractors from the rear.

Not only did we engineer superior clearance, but we also designed the largest bearing surface of any other medium-duty crossbar. The large bearing surface translates to increased durability over the life of the wrecker because the forces from the load are dispersed over a larger area. This reduces both the friction and wear on the bearing to help keep you towing year after year. Rest assured, with this underlift, you can get the job done.

Combine all of this with the removable wheel-grid extensions for the crossbar, add a redesigned fork holder with a wide range of adjustments, and you have a perfect mix for all your towing needs.

Wheel lifts have rapidly become a necessity for efficient everyday towing. We, at Miller Industries, understand this, and that is why we deliver two types of L-Arms or scoops standard on each medium-duty wrecker we sell. The lighter weight aluminum alloy L-Arms provide up to 4,000 pounds of towing capacity when placed in the wheel grids. This is ideal for towing passenger cars and light-duty trucks and vans. Using these same standard light-weight 4,000 lb.-rated aluminum L-Arms combined with a set of dollies and you have a great solution to tow most anything- even up to a stretch limousine.

The Century® 3212, Vulcan® V-30, and the Chevron™ 1016 16-Ton integrated wreckers from Miller Industries, when paired with the standard 6,000 lb.-rated steel L-Arms, can tow parcel delivery or box trucks with an ideal turning radius for inner-city environments.

Recovery Versatility

One aspect of versatility found in the Miller Industries line of medium-duty integrated wreckers is a superior amount of usable hook height on the recovery boom.

When the recovery boom is fully elevated and extended, the boom end extends well past the tailboard of the truck. This translates to effective recovery ability when dealing with a situation where your wrecker boom needs to reach out over a guard rail on the side of the highway. In a pick/pull scenario, where one recovery line goes out to the casualty and back to the boom end with the other line going down to the tailboard and then out to the casualty, the usable hook height provides more leveraging in the working area. This usable hook height also translates to an increased working area between the wrecker and the casualty giving the operator more versatility when positioning to the casualty for the recovery.

Whether your obstacle is a road-side guard rail or upward elevation on an embankment, the additional usable hook height provides more versatility to get the job done. Another great standard feature on our medium-duty wreckers is the hydraulic rear stiff-leg style jacklegs. These jack legs help to keep the wrecker stable during lifting recoveries.

An option to add the extendable outrigger arms to your rear jack legs provides even more stability for lifting and side-pull recoveries. Adding the optional rear spades to your jacks gives you an edge when conducting heavy-winching from the rear. With the extendable legs retracted, these spades offer additional anchor ability by digging into the ground surface, thus helping to keep the wrecker planted while winching in a heavy load from the rear.

One huge factor to always consider is the servicing of your equipment in the field. Miller Industries has the largest distributor network in the industry servicing over 57 countries worldwide including all 50 states in the United States. That translates to having more distributors and service locations. Additionally, we strive to provide all of our customers with world-class customer service.

When deciding the right choice for your business, whether new or used, our knowledgable distributors can help you select the right Century, Vulcan, Chevron, or Holmes unit for your needs.

Winching Power

Winching power during a tough recovery makes all the difference. Whether looking at the Century® 3212, Vulcan® V-30, or Chevron™ 1016 medium-duty integrated wreckers, one performance factor that makes them all stand out is their superior winching ability. Each unit comes equipped from the factory with dual 15,000 lb.-rated planetary-gear recovery winches.

These twin recovery winches are custom DP brand winches that are specially designed for Miller Industries by the Tulsa Winch Group and are only available through Miller Industries distributors. These exclusive DP winches are mounted at the base of the recovery boom adding more weight forward on the unit and thus helping with front axle weight during towing. During recoveries, the low position of the winches helps to maintain a low center of gravity on the truck during hard winching situations. The position of the winches relative to the entire wrecker puts them toward the center of the unit. The center position of the winches also maximizes the stability of the unit during tough recoveries.

As mentioned above, having plenty of low-mounted anchor points on the wrecker provides even more performance by adding the opportunity for lower and more stable pulls during hard winching or pick/pull scenarios.

Balancing is Crucial

Forward-weight design in wreckers is not a new concept, but it is one that really matters in a wrecker, especially when towing. In order to maximize a wrecker’s towing ability, the wrecker must maintain as much front axle weight as possible to counter the added weight of the casualty on the underlift at the rear. Therefore, it is critical that the wrecker’s design provides for as much front axle weight as possible. This is where the design of our medium-duty wreckers comes into play. Some wrecker manufacturers use counter-weights in the front of the wrecker body to create balance and add towing capacity. The downside to using counterweights is that it increases the overall weight of the unit, negatively impacts fuel consumption, tire wear, and in some cases reduces the amount of storage capacity for the wrecker due to GVWR restrictions of the truck chassis. At Miller Industries we utilize a superior design to achieve unmatched benefits in towing ability.

By engineering the wrecker bodies and establishing chassis requirements that position the majority of the completed unit’s weight toward the front axles, we have effectively maximized the towing ability of the truck, and in many cases, without the need for counter-weights. What’s more, we also decrease the overhang in the rear of the wrecker which allows for better front axle weight when towing.

It takes skilled engineering to make all this happen, but Miller Industries’ engineers are among the best in their field. The weight-forward design even extends to the toolboxes found on all of the Miller Industries line of medium-duty wreckers. The engineers have created toolbox designs that place much of the weight from heavier items toward the front of the wrecker storage compartments. This creates extra storage capacity for tools, chains/straps, and rigging hardware.

Of course, you don’t have to take our word for it. Just ask many of the satisfied operators of our equipment or read the reviews at the bottom of this page. If you still have questions or would like someone to contact you, simply fill out the form at the bottom of this page, or reach out to your local distributor. We are here to help.