So my wife an I decided to dip into some mud literally. A few months back I found me a new 4runner project and gave her my old one and every since she has been dying to go wheeling. So we spent Valentines day in the mud!!!
What a great day, She said it was the best valentine day ever.....
Check it out...









Always make sure you have windshield washer fluid!!!!





We need to upgrade our recovery equipment bad!!!!




Here is the truck that pulled us out. He did not know about Yotatech and will soon be our newest member. Say hello when you see this Mitch...
He to is a yota finatic.

We would have more pics but the battery died. We will have more soon.

 

very nice. good way to spend valentines day

 

Confucious say: the couple that wheels together, gets dirty together.

And yes, you do need to upgrade. Chain? Get rid of it.

 

the wife is definitely a keeper...

Looks like a good time!

 

she's a keeper

 

congrats on having a keeper wife. My wife and I went caming with another cpl for V-day. Couldn't ask for anything better. Also, where are you at in AL.

 

We live in Ashville, just north of Springville

 

Please tell me that your wife is not watching the recovery gear from that close while the recovery is going on... It looks like there's enough tension on the gear at that point that she should be standing well away from where she is.

Also, not to pick on you, but it's another safety thing... The way the shackle is positioned during your pull is not correct. You can see that the shackle is side loaded in that picture (meaning that the tension is trying to "open" the shackle, so that the only thing holding it from "opening" is the strength of the threads on the pin... if you can imagine by looking at the picture, if you overload it, it will strip the threads on the pin, right?)

The correct way to load a shackle is one strap (or hook) directly on the pin, and the other directly in the bottom of the "u-shape" of the shackle. The forces then get distributed evenly, and the forces on the pin are to shear the pin... as opposed to trying to strip the threads.

That being said... looks like you guys had a good time.

 

Yea man we are newbs and we learned a lot from that trip as well, I apreciate you pointing that out. After seeing what could happen we called for help and will definately be getting some recovery equipment!!!!!

Looking back that is kinda scarry... But i believe we were letting the slack out as we were waiting for some help.

 

Very nice catch! Great advice. Should help out the newbies

 

dang i used to live there back in the day till like 2002ish 2003ish

 

diddnt you say you got a new 4runner? didnt take 2 trucks out??

 

Hence the word "project"

 

nice work man atleast she got a relible truck with the 22re!!!!

ahaha sorry.. but its true we all start somewhere and you cant get everything you need for the hobbie at once as we all arnt super rich..

but now you can see how a winch would be a great upgrade!!! and a proper snatch strap!!! and if you love your girl dont let her stand anywhere near the strap when yanking!! and use a blanket or oldjacket if your using a chain!!

keep on muddin!@

 

"The correct way to load a shackle is one strap (or hook) directly on the pin, and the other directly in the bottom of the "u-shape" of the shackle. The forces then get distributed evenly, and the forces on the pin are to shear the pin... as opposed to trying to strip the threads."

Good catch and great advice!!! Thanks


For the record there was no yanking going on, we were strapped to a tree. But yes we realized that there was to much tension on the chain and she was simply letting the slack out. She now realizes how going with out a partner or at least some real recovery gear can be. As we saw the chain was way to scarry, we called some one to pull us out and continued to enjoy the day, as did the friend that pulled us out. I think she is hooked on wheeling, we just have to make sure its safe.

I didn't think about a blanket though, great idea. But we are scrapping the idea of using a chain, its just what I had handy at the time.

Winch coming soon!!!!

Thanks for all your advice though

 

x2 on what the other guys have said about the proper way to load a shackle. Keep that in mind next time cause even if you have a winch you will still use the shackles from time to time.

Also, the best yanking strap I have ever seen is a 2.5" or so diameter rope off a tug boat. I got an old k5 blazer stuck (headlight deep) and had another 1/2 ton truck pull me out with it. He was kinda crazy and was getting some really long running starts to tug me out, to this day that is the hardest I have ever seen someone pull on a rope or a chain, but it never broke or frayed. The best part is if you can find a local flee market or swap shop you can pick these up cheap. (here we have something called trade days once a month or so and they have all kinds of odd and end "junk" like that on sale cheap)

 

Yea we are headed to the flea market soon, lots of interesting things there cheap!!!