BackCountry4Runner

So, I've been thinking about recovery options and the like, and have come up with an idea I'd like to run out.

Insteadof a winch * (or incase of winch failure) , or come along, or equiv. How about X amount of wire rope (or synthetic), shackles (2 or 3), a snatch block, and 1 or 2 non-stuck vehicles.

Idea being to effect a recovery much like pulling a mountaineer out of a glacial crevase.

1. Attach rope/cable to non-stuck vehicle (if you have 2 non stuck vehicles), or other suitable anchor (boulder/tree/whatever).
2. Run cable/rope to stuck vehicle, pass through snatch block and back out to pulling vehicle.
3. Attach to recovery point and gently pull cable/rope tight (and hopefully stuck vehicle out).

Obviously this is situation/location dependant, as there are times/places that the rigging just wont work. Also, if you had enough shackles & cable/rope you could bump this up to a full "Z drag" system.

Any thoughts?

86tuning

Easier to buy a smittybilt winch for $300 and just go slow...

BackCountry4Runner

Even cheaper to go with the wire pull. Just throwing it out there as an option in case of winch not working (btw: I have a winch).

firemaniac

With enough reduction to overcome friction (including in the pulling system) a few people could pull a rig out by hand. But I wouldn't want to spend the time finding that much hardware, and the cost of all of it might as well have bought a winch and been done with it. But it is an interesting idea none the less

stagger_lee

^^^I don think he meant pulling out by hand. lol!^^

He is talking about using the unstuck rig to pull out stuck rig. Works great. Everybody should carry a tow strap, and that should be good enough. Snatch block and anchor is a bit over kill. I have 60k pound 4" strap, and I think you would be hard pressed to break that. Most important is that all rigs you are wheeling with have solid front and rear tow points and you'll be fine.

Let me add you should always wheel with at least 1 other rig.

firemaniac

Sorry I didn't mean to say pulling by hand was the point, but that the idea was valid given the time and hardware it is possible and if on that day a winch was not an option (not available, winch failure [damn that Murphy's law]), setting up a Z drag using the truck as the pulling power will work.

Think of it as another tool for the brainbox, may never get used but a tool available as an option.

Prepare for the worst hope for the best

stagger_lee

Gotcha, not sure what that meant. I agree wholly. Straps always wored for us. Only the one rich kid has a winch and she usuaslly stays home. haha I mean, uh...he. No half the fun for us is tugging each other in and out through the trail and desert.

A z drag is nice though for those tight spots when a straight reverse tug isn't quite possible.

firemaniac

That could easily happen on a tight wooded loose rain slick trail, but on that trail there are several good anchor points to choose from.

tc

So much easier to just hook up a strap and pull straight. You might have to pull back off the obstacle instead of through it, but that's OK

You're generating A LOT of force here - the less stuff to break, the better!

apalmer1

if you think your cable can handle it and you actually have the space to do that kind of thing i think it would be a good way to get somebody unstuck if you don't have a winch on any of the vehicles. its always good to have resourceful thinking like that IMHO because most of the stuff he lists is something you would own if you had a winch, so if you were in an instance where the winch were to break you would be able to use this method.

for example when my truck was stuck on a rock cliff we blew up the planetary housing and clutch lever on harry's XD9000i which then lead to my friend having to get a running start with his XJ over and over again to bump me off the rock, which eventually lead to tearing his hitch out of the unibody and destroying his liftgate.

either way i think its a good idea, just make sure you use cable dampeners and stand way back because with that reduction thats a lot of torque being applied to that line...

firemaniac

Using the Z drag you can control the force in a tricky situation, while a strap is very useful, the tow vehicle must have enough room for a run-up and should the stuck rig suddenly become free or the strap fail and break the tow rig will need enough room to stop, which is not always possible (trees, rocks, cliff's) when the situation allows,which is usually, I do use a strap

scottapher

I noticed you said to use "x amount of WIRE rope"......hopefully you ARENT using a tow-strap made out of wire cable! When most vehicles are assisting in getting the stuck vehicle UN-stuck they arent as gentile as a winch is that is using the same amount type and amount of wire rope. Plus unless you have wire rope that is braided into eye's on each end, your using cable locks, which will eventually fail or cut the wire rope, and then you'll be eating through a straw for the rest of your life when the tensioned end of the wire rope comes through your windshield and pops you in the face.

BackCountry4Runner

[QUOTE=scottapher;51008185]I noticed you said to use "x amount of WIRE rope"......hopefully you ARENT using a tow-strap made out of wire cable! When most vehicles are assisting in getting the stuck vehicle UN-stuck they arent as gentile as a winch is that is using the same amount type and amount of wire rope.QUOTE]

Hey, no, I do have a tug strap, but wire rope(cable) from a defunct winch can be used, and in the 2:1 or 3:1 pulls I wouldn't think that anyone would put it into 4Hi and gun it. More of an easy 4Lo kind of application. Also, whenever pulling, winching, or whatevering, saftey measures such as dampeners on the lines and a clear work area should be used.
It sucks having a stuck rig.
It sucks even more having a stuck rig & injured people.

TrikeKid

You must have a better place than I do for buying snatch blocks. My 8274 was $300 used (had to take the 150lbs of bumper it came with too). The cheapest Warn block is ~50 bucks, you'd need to or 3 for your cable system. That's half way to a winch, add in cable, the amount of work and time it takes to rig this setup, plus hauling all this crap around with you, and the possibility of not being able to even use it, and a winch is a better way to go IMO.
Also with a winch, you can recover yourself.

sa51

i've seen this in action on dirty jobs, army edition. they pulled out a stuck humvee by using a bunch of snatch blocks and 6 guys