Recoveries- successes and failures- post'em up (1 Viewer)

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I thought it might be interesting to start a journal or catalog of sorts of people's recovery experiences to help us all create and compare guidelines in terms of our tools and techniques. I think the important thing is to list here are:

1. Exactly what the stuck entailed. In that case I think things like Billavista recovery bible maybe a good guideline for just how stuck your truck was. Basically anyone reading this post should probably read that whole page anyway:

Pirate4x4.Com - Extreme Four Wheel Drive

2. What equipment you used, what it's is rated for and exactly how you laid it out. If the safety factor is listed that should also be stated. Personally I'm just going to estimate the breaking strength tonnage.

3. What went well with the recovery and what you think it be improved. What would you do differently next time?
 
So I put my recovery equipment to a good test today. I carry a 50 foot rope, a 100 foot rope, 125 feet of rope on the winch, a pulley, two straps and three soft shackles. Based on my experience today I'd say my kits complete enough for my needs. I really didn't think I was going to get out of this without shearing the pin (I also carry spare in addition to a hammer and punch )on the winch but somehow I managed.

After a day of getting stuck in half melted mountain snow - like 10 feet in and the trucks on its belly- all four tires are spinning free.

Bottle jack and tree branches under the rear tires and I just backed right out.
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I decided to take a quick trip down to the river on the way home. Well it turned out not to be so quick as is often the case I suppose. After finding a way around obstacles that were supposed to keep me from getting down to the river and doing a good run around on all the river rocks I decided to cross over this innocuous pile of sand.

Well I crossed over on the sand and started to sink in immediately stopped. Just the vibration from my little mighty 3b liquefied the sand underneath the truck just like when you vibrate concrete. The truck just sank down so I immediately killed the engine but I was already down below the axles. The right side was down even further to the rocker. I stepped out of the truck and my boot just sank. But after a minute the sand re-solidified and you could easily walk on it. Just look at the the front shackles and you can tell what I'm involved in.

I've been stuck down to the floor in mud. But I don't think I've ever been quite this stuck. It doesn't look so bad but that quicksand is heavy stuff.

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Anyway I used a

100' 3/8" rope 10ton
50 foot 5/16" rope 6 ton,
100' 3/8" rope on the winch 10 ton
3 soft shackles 15 ton
1 pulley 22 tons.
Oem Pto winch with 70 series winch 5mm shear pin.

Staun tire deflator and a compressor.

First thing I did after getting the tires forward a bit was drop the air pressure to 5-8psi. I have a compressor with me that day so once I got back to firmer ground I can pump it up to safer pressures. I also dropped tire pressures earlier in the day to get through some snow and it works very very well. So as per the original post based on my recent experience I highly recommend a compressor for a solo truck without a winch. In fact it might be my top recommendation after a shovel.


I wrapped the hundred foot rope around the base of the train bridge, attached that to the 50 foot rope which was attached to the pulley and a double line back to the truck. After pulling myself for about 20 feet I need to take the 50 foot rope and double it to shorten the extension to 25 feet.

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After getting to more solid ground I re-rigged to another pillar and pulled through another very soft section and then up a dry loose sand bank about 4 feet in height. From there with the low pressure tires I could drive to an area covered with river rocks.

The 50' rope is 5/16 with a breaking strength rating of about 6 tons that was my week link. Vehicle basically on his belly I'd estimate the pull to be close to that so that rope was my main concern. If I had know how easy it is to carry and use synthetic rope I would bought 3/8" line.

I was also concerned that even with the double line the shear pin would go- but that was not the case.

Another concern was that I had forgotten to put my three-quarter inch shackle in my bag. The pulley has sharp edges and I was concerned that it might cut the soft shackle.
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I put the thickest part of the shackle against the sharp edges of the pulley. This saw the full weight I'd the pull and actually faired well
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The lower shackle aldo saw the full load while the upper saw half as it was on one end of the double line. I'm not sure how much the strength has been affected but you can see that it has frayed visibly from the stress and it's stiffer than the other shackle as well. Both the green and the second gray saw the same load and the construction of the green shackle is easier to lock than the grey one after stress. The green shackle also has less fraying however it shows color loss in some of the stressed areas.
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One thing that worked well was having no thimbles on one of the ropes. The second pillar was in the river- and its damn cold. I was able to toss out one end of the 100' extension then throw another rope over it as it floated by and pull it in to shore.

The line on the winch is sheathed or overbraided to help prevent abrasion and wear. I think this is a good investment after pulling it through a load of sand and the pulley.
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I want to add a donut thimble to my kit for when doubling a rope around another rope to shorten it.

Pete

 
This was a mud hole that my FJ40 had no business going into, but I have no one to blame but myself. This spot was dug-out by rigs on 38 - 40 inch tires, while my 40 is only running 33 inch Super Swampers.

The failure of the 9,000 lb. Superwinch X9 to extract the vehicle I put down to operator error as well. I realized after the fact that the person that hooked up the winch line to the anchor point (aka tree) chose one much too close to the truck. I should have pulled out LOTS more cable from the drum, and used a snatch block as well. It goes to show that during a vehicle recovery one should stop and analyze the situation instead of just "diving in."

Regards,

Alan

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As they say cruiser heads hate mud ... I'm no exception ... once had a mud fest

Many years ago we were wheeling through upper northern Vermont ... poking around the woods ... decided we should be moseying on home

To the left of us was a clearing ... old farm land, my buddy ... his future wife ... and my truck

All got stuck in the old farm field

My friends future wife managed to get out with her mini 82' ... took awhile got my buddy truck out

Mine was over axle in muck... wife's truck came around with buddy driving ... pulled and tugged and was sinking further... the minis rear frame section broke ... barely got it back out

Friends 40 came over used straps and tugged and begged the white elephant beast to move ... just wasn't happening ... it was like hearing the slaughter of a pack of wolves ... his cruiser lost the front axle and he was out of the tugging frenzy

Went back to my cruiser ... I believe it was the old farmer that had now come over to observe the idiots in his decrepit farm field that suggested 'get above the mud' to jack it up

We jacked to way up ... board under the high lift the suction sound was so distinct when the wheels came out from the back... once it was almost to the top we pushed it over getting the rear on top of the muck... went to the front and did it to the front

Now the cruiser is sitting on top ... had that feeling of crap what if I get stuck again ... but... we went for it .... pounced on the gas ... foot mashed the peddle as far as it would go and let the truck scream ... a scream of joy of being free ... it was loud ... it was floating valves ... it was never reved that high and never again that high since ... but... it was free

Went to my friends 40 all set to finally go home ... whiped ... tired... drained

My buddy couldn't find his keys ... they were in the mud ... someplace forever lost in oblivion

My buddy Dan was wondering what to do now when my juvenile delinquent Long Island NY instincts kicked in and hot wired his dash ignition switch ... vrummm started right up

We went home ... it was a LONG day

Btw ... pre digital days ... no pictures :)
 
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I'll play.

Linked video is of us pulling my rolled 80 back onto the wheels.



It was perched on a boulder smashed into the passenger side cowl, with real risk of rolling further down. The guy in the Jeep had a lot of recovery experience but his rig was too light to do the work. The guy in the 100 had the weight and a 12k winch (I think) but not much experience. Jeep driver decided on a double line pull. We parked the 100 up against a rock where it could pull perpendicular to my 80. The jeep didn't have an anchor so he positioned it in a way to drag the front tires across the road. Its primary purpose was to keep the 80 from rotating and rolling down the hill.

An important part of this setup was a good chain. I didn't have sliders at the time and the only way to get ahold of the rig in a meaningful way without potentially severing a winch rope was to wrap chain around the frame. This got the load rope across the transmission crossmember without damage as well.

I lost the front left tire bead while rolling.. so that was changed with a spare. Pretty easy with all four wheels in the air. If it were on the downhill side it'd be more risky.

So the setup.. no snatch blocks, wire rope, chain to protect the pulling rope, and careful placement and selection of angles to avoid other issues. A slider on the passenger side would have been a better spot to pull from.. it being higher off the ground would give the main pulling rope more leverage.

One other detail.. the truck was in park but with both diffs open once it got onto the tires on one side it could roll downhill. Technically the parking brake should prevent this but I've never trusted it that much. I dealt with this by getting into the rig and locking the diffs. This combined with being in Park would prevent it rolling anywhere on two tires.

Once we got it on the wheels we used another rig to pull it backward with a tow strap. There we used a hi-lift off the seats to jack up the windshield frame, pulled the spark plugs to shoot the oil out of the cylinders, bolted everything back together, and started it up. Giant clouds of smoke but it drove off the mountain under its own power. And straight too. didn't even impact the alignment.

Now I have a winch, I carry 3 shackles, a 6-foot red lifting sling (effectively a lightweight chain), two snatch blocks, and plans to get a 50' synthetic rope whenever I upgrade my winch line.
 
Tried the Bubba Rope first a couple of times with no luck. No water was coming in until the first "shock wave" hit the vehicle. Ended up doing a traditional winch pull from the rear. A buddy stripped to his undies to walk out and hook me up. :censor:

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Plenty of recovery stories, but I think this is my favorite :)

This guy rolled his PWC 2 miles out and it wouldn't restart.

He called the Coast Guard and they dragged him back to shore, but left him 5 miles away from the boat ramp where he parked his Expedition :doh:

After walking the distance, he made it back with his trailer near closing time for the beach.

With his entire family inside, he got stuck trying to load it up :bang:

I just sat by and laughed my ass off for a while, then waited for him to come begging for help ;)

Winched him out, but he got stuck right after.

Winched him out again and you guessed it, stuck again.

With high tide coming in, I didn't want to chance both of us getting washed, so I just hooked up a tow strap and dragged him 2 miles back to the exit.

The best part was his mother in law :rolleyes:

Drunk off her ass, she threw a major tantrum and started cussing in Spanish lol:rofl:

My rear and side cameras caught the fun, but I had to add subtitles (no audio)

fwd to 6:20 mark

 
I have quite a few stories as well but this is one of the few pictures I've managed to take during the recovery process. It definitely wasn't one of the most interesting ones but still funny nonetheless. He had just gotten off work and was in a full suit including crocodile-skin loafers. This guy was trying to make a u-turn in wet grass...needless to say he wasn't the sharpest knife in the chopping block

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Had a small misadventure this afternoon after giving it a bit too much gas coming around a corner. Of course I forgot my boots and shovel...Luckily the winch still works and the cable was just long enough to reach the closet large tree. Pics don't really show how deep it was (she couldn't exit the ps door), but these were the best my daughter took.
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So I was out at Demo earlier today (local beach) when I spotted a Tahoe and a Chevy pickup buried in the sand being winched out by a Toyota pickup.

The Toyota seemed to have everything under control, but when I returned to the same spot about ~25 minutes later, everyone was gone except for the Tahoe, which was still semi buried, but didn't really appear to be stuck (he should been able to get out easily)

The driver said everyone tried to pull him out, but he kept getting stuck.

So I winched him out and that's when I realized he didn't have FWD, only RWD (perhaps a busted T-case?) and was digging himself in with every stab of the gas.

I asked if he had aired down and he said yes, which turned out to be BS, but whatever.

I decided to just break out my tow strap (his apparently snapped) and just drag him all the way back to the entrance.

As I pulled past the air stations to air up, he just drove past me and I could clearly see he didn't air down at all.

Had he aired down properly, he probably would've made it back on his own with RWD alone.

I soon found out that no good deed goes unpunished cause as I was airing up, it started raining and all my gear got wet and cruddy.

Anyhoo, I didn't really plan on making this video cause the mechanical failure could've happened to anyone, but the fact that he didn't air down at all really irked me, so onto YouTube he goes.

 


I guess this is a success not a fail.Well i should say the recovery was a success. Me getting stuck right on the side of the road was a FAIL!!!Nothing at all special, just a straight pull. Only trick parts was almost running out of line. First anchor was close but too much of an angle, up a hill and hard tot he right. i think it would have tipped the truck. The final anchor point needed tree saver and snatch straps used as extension and was down to the last wrap on the drum. I will be investing in some type of extension in the near future.
 
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I guess this is a success not a fail.Well i should say the recovery was a success. Me getting stuck right on the side of the road was a FAIL!!!Nothing at all special, just a straight pull. Only trick parts was almost running out of line. First anchor was close but too much of an angle, up a hill and hard tot he right. i think it would have tipped the truck. The final anchor point needed tree saver and snatch straps used as extension and was down to the last wrap on the drum. I will be investing in some type of extension in the near future.

That's weird, it looks like there is a perfectly good road behind you ! Were you avoiding something ?
 
That's weird, it looks like there is a perfectly good road behind you ! Were you avoiding something ?

Yes, I was avoiding the road! I pulled over to text someone. then saw "a little mud puddle" in front of me. I thought it would be fun to drive through it. It was not fun.
 

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