Well my buddy who has a 95 4x4 4Runner was out goofing off with some friends today while i was at work and got MAJOR stuck. He was down in a swampy area and it just rained yesterday so it was nasty. The first ten feet of woods is hard ground then all of a sudden it is a sink hole. His front left tire was burried under 3 feet of nasty, mucky, GA red clay and his right rear was in the air. Very off camber. I dont get off work until 5 and he calls me at 4 telling me he was pretty badly stuck. So 5 rolls around and I go back there to check it out. The people he was with were a 92 Jeep with 33s and an 04 ranger with 35s (2wd). The guy with the jeep has a body lift and whenever he puts it in 4wd the lever comes off the transfer case and "im the only that can fix it" supposedly even tho i have showed him what to do numerous times. So neither of them could get him unstuck. I come down there and have to yank him out pretty hard. It takes about 6-7 good hard jerks to get it all the way out. When i get out of the runner to check everything out, this is what i see (pics were taken at my house afterward);





I forgot to bring the camera out to the trail to take pics. We had a huge chain wrapped around it.

 

damn! thats nuts

 

i pull my friends out all the time with my hitch and have never had that happen i even pulled out my fiances sisters bronco and with my hitch

 

wow...thats crazy!

 

holy crap.....how hard were you pulling?

 

had it in 4Lo and first L on the shifter. prolly MAX at 5mph, i only had about 10ft of slack.

 

wow! ive never seen that, how old was that hitch and what was it rated for?

 

i imagine it was the stock hitch, but im not sure b/c all the toyotas i see have a name brand hitch (im having a huge brainfart right now and cant think of the name) and it could be a cheepo. It is still pretty heavy so idk. Im not sure as to how much it was rated for.

 

Dang Brandon you did a job on that hitch.

 

Hitches are made to tow...not yank.

Probably older than Methusala and look how it tweaked the frame. That hitch wasn't made to tow much more than a utility trailer anyway...considering the towing capacity of a 2nd gen 4Runner.

I'd reinforce the frame if you put one back on.

 

It didnt tweak the frame, those are the brackets for the hitch. the frame appears to still be straight. Im going to have a rear bumper built that will be really strong and reinforced.

 

I dunno...you'd better make sure on that one..."appearing" and reality are not always the same.

Good luck.

 

You used a chain! It has no give!!!! Tow straps!!

 

well the only strap i have is a crappy one from advance with a 6000lb. cap. Trust me, a new ProComp 3"x30' strap is in the near future for me.

 

the chain is prolly why it broke...i used to use chains but they are too jerky for me so i switched to 2" braided nylon marine rope. It gives quite a bit so when you pull it stretches and then pulls on the stuck truck like a bungee cord.

 

Just saying thats why that happened.. was he trying to reverse it while oyu were pulling?

 

o ya, TFJ-4Runner may have a pic of how stuck he was. If not lets just say the whole frontleft area was in a suction cup of red clay.

 

wet red clay is always fun huh? if its not like driving on ice, its sucking you in with no possible way to get traction

 

Heres the picture, where were they at Brandon?

 

See theres your problem!