Need a food truck moved in Philadelphia? Philadelphia Towing dispatches around the clock across Philadelphia, PA. Towing a food truck is not the same job as towing a sedan — it comes down to weight rating, deck length, and how the vehicle is secured — so we confirm what you are driving before a truck rolls, and quote the price before the hook goes on.
The right equipment for a food truck
Sending an under-rated truck is how a tow turns into damage. Our dispatcher matches the load to the equipment — deck, wheel-lift, or heavy wrecker — and the operator secures it to the manufacturer’s tie-down points rather than whatever is reachable.
A food truck stuck mid-shift needs a flatbed, not a wheel-lift — the deck has to be wide enough for a step-van body and the straps have to reach the frame rails, not the box. Philadelphia Towing runs 24-hour dispatch out of its Old York Road yard; call (445) 275-3339 and give the chassis type before the truck rolls.
The lunch rush is twenty minutes out and the step van won't turn over, or it dies at a light with the griddle still hot and the propane still hooked up. That's a different call than a stalled sedan — the truck is heavier, it's built on a cutaway commercial chassis, and whatever's cooking or refrigerated inside doesn't get a break while it waits for a hook.
Philadelphia Towing sends a flatbed for these, not a wheel-lift. A wheel-lift grabs two wheels and drags the rest, which is fine for a car and rough on a box body full of equipment that can slide and dent the interior walls on the way. Dispatch runs 24 hours, every day of the week, out of the yard at 6062 Old York Rd — call time depends on where the truck died and what else is already out on the road.
What truck actually shows up for a step van?
Most step vans and cutaway-chassis food trucks sit higher and wider than a passenger car, and the departure angle at the back is short — drag one up a wheel-lift ramp and the rear bumper or the propane cage can catch on the way. A flatbed with a full-width steel deck and a low approach angle loads it level instead, without dragging the undercarriage over the ramp lip.
Where do the straps go on a food truck?
Chain-and-strap work goes to the frame rails, not the box. Pulling from the box — the part with the fryer, the sinks, the serving window — flexes the sheet metal and can crack seams around equipment mounts that were never built to carry the vehicle's own weight. On a step van the frame runs the length of the chassis under the box, so the tie-down points sit forward of the rear axle and behind the front one, the same as on any commercial cutaway.
Loose equipment inside is the other risk, and it's not a towing problem so much as a loading-day one: pans, propane tanks, and anything on a shelf should be secured or pulled before the truck goes on the flatbed, since a level deck still crosses normal street bumps to get there.
Will towing damage the equipment inside?
The bigger risk isn't the tow itself, it's anything loose inside shifting on the way — pans, tanks, coolers. Securing or removing loose equipment before the truck loads is worth the two minutes it takes.
Can you get a food truck off the street at 2 a.m. before a morning market?
Yes. Dispatch runs 24 hours every day of the week, so an overnight breakdown before an early market or catering call doesn't have to wait for business hours.
Do you take a food truck that's not running anymore?
Yes — non-running step vans and box trucks get picked up as junk removal, winched onto the flatbed without needing to start or steer. This site actually shows up for 'junk removal vehicle' searches, and most of the time it's a truck like this rather than a car.