Use PROPER recovery points

[entropy]

Oh man. Scary. I've used my winch a few times to get myself unstuck in dirt/rocks situations. I use two winch dampeners, synthetic rope, synthetic shackle and always assume the line is gonna fail. It is still scary AF using the right equipment. Another fear I usually have is something failing catastrophically on a difficult steep obstacle. Off-roading is dangerous, and mistakes could cost you your life or others.

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[jaymz]

Torque = force x distance. Pulling on that drop hitch significantly multiplied the torque being so far off the attachment point. I have used an kinetic rope with the eye secured with the hitch pin to give someone a light tug on the beach before. But frame buried and full size truck in mud I would not use anything other than rated recovery points. I liked the app in the article.



Do you have any of your research you could share? Does anyone know of a good recovery handbook or something we could have the mods post a sticky off on the forum here? This forum is a great wealth of information and this would be a good way to pass along not just the story but also some real world advice to honor this man and make sure something like this is avoided in the future.

The article mentions the use of the Safe-Xtract app for calculating recovery. I had not heard of it until then, so I don't know anything about it, but it could be $10 well spent.

 

[Mocopo]

I also disagree with their assessment that hitches and tow balls are static load rated. A load on a trailer is as dynamic as they come. If you've ever towed anything heavy, you can feel the shock loading of the hitch ball. If it's rated to tow 18klbs, it better have a shear strength of at least twice that. The lever arm, shock loading of a tow strap, and a light duty drop hitch were the issue. On many vehicles, including our JLU, I'd trust the receiver hitch over the factory hook any day.

I almost said this about a dozen times. Run the rope THROUGH the receiver to hook on. It's going to be rated just like you mentioned, and you know it's either bolted or welded straight to the frame. And you know it's probably a class III receiver on a truck like that.

 

[Cuyose]

If you had the equipment, wouldn't you want to try and relieve the "stuck" force first? Like somehow rig a block and tackle if the terrain allows to lift a side of the vehicle to alleviate the suction of the mud, then the tow vehicle wont have to overcome that initial force

 

[GtX]

Sad outcome of an all to common chain of event.

I always try to consider all the ways something could go wrong before moving forward. Mitigate what you can. Prepare for what you can't. Hope luck favors you.

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