A warning to anchor your vehicle before winching!

[Mark W]

Well, I left it there for a few days...

We camped beside the rig that night and in the morning loaded selected gear into the '83 mini truck that was with me and made the 45 mile run to the road system... then the 100 miles back to town.

A couple of days later we went back out with several rigs (everyone wants to get into the act when you call it a "recovery run").

Once we got back to my rig, we extracted it in about 5 minutes.... well, after we extracted the other '40 that dashed right into the quicksand without listening to my warnings.

It took us 7 hours to get that rig out though.

It was dark, raining (and snowing)... we had as many as six guys trying to shovel as the slop flowed in faster than they could move it and two 8000 pound winches puling at one point.

We were bending the rear springs as the rear tires jammed up against a clay damn under the soft stuff.

Eventually we managed to dig out enough for one of the guys to slide into the muck and get a chain around the rear axle to hook the winch cable to. Then we stood an 8 foot 4x4 up a short distance behind the mired rig and ran the cable over the top of it.
We used a couple of straps so that 4 guys could keep it straight up on top of a square of 1/2 inch plywood on the ground. The resulted in an steep upward pull on the rear axle and lifted the rig as it pulled it backwards.

When all was said and done this second rig was plowed backwards about 50 feet through the super saturated soil that it had crossed before breaking through. But we eventually got it back on top and back on solid ground.

Not the most enjoyable outing that the Alaska Cruiser Crew has had... but we got the job done.


Mark...

 

[crushers]

i have had vehicles where no matter what tugging, winching you tried to do it would free the vehicle.
a high lift jack lifts the vehicle, breaks the suction and a gentle tug back the vehicle is free.
i have also learned that winching at a 45 or even more degrees of angle between the wincher and the winchee will break the stuck vehicle free.

sometimes just taking a walk around the stuck vehicle from a distance will reveal the best approach to retrieval.

i remember one paticular outing a buddy got mired in the skag, diffs hung up, nasty piece of work. i was on the other side of the skag. the young lad had his new girl friend with him and before he headed into the skag i radio'd him and asked if he had scouted the trail before. "yep", and he 'high diddle diddle, straight down the middle' and ended up in this mess.
i was a bit miffed since he was a quick learner but i guess his small head took over. i radioed back, "you got yourself in, get yourself out."
it was worse than i originally thought as the trucks on the other end tried to tug (snapped 2 of those POS flat straps), their 8274 wouldn't even budge him. finally he comes on the radio and asks me what he can do. "think it through" was my answer, "get out of your vehicle, do a walk around and let me know what you think"
so he did, he jumped out into chest deep mud,water,grass, logs,etc. after a few minutes he said "i have no idea"
well, i did. i drove back through the skag to about a 45* angle to his truck rear hitch. i radioed the other blokes to get WAY back and to have the girlfriend to accompany the others. once everyone was back i radioed the kid to come and get the 100 ft'r 2" stretch'm rope and to walk it back to his truck and attach it to the pinto on the rear, as he walked away he said "just for the record, i think this is a dumb idea". Yea of little faith. i would hope that 30 years of Rockies experience would be good for something.

once attached he radioed he was in the truck and the engine was running and he is ready.

i took up the slack slowly, once at the end of the rope i backed up about 3 truck lengths and told he to be ready. first gear and a nice steady pull. in the rear view mirror i could see the rope tighten, his other side of the truck came up breaking the suction and the back end popped out of the rut and easy as pie he was out. no nasty tugs, no winching just a walk around and a gentle tug.

once out he jumped out of his truck and ran over all excited and he said "that was amazing".

the stories us old guys could tell.

to be serious, a winch can maim
but
it is also the one piece of equipment that can save your (or someone else's) life. to me it is madatory over lifts, tires, turbos or any other piece of accessories to be added to my trucks.

i remember when we had ... ... ...

 

[Dave 2000]

When winching ANYTHING I am in the vehicle foot on brake and the bonnet (hood) is up!

regards

Dave