Vehicle recovery gear and tips

[Jmzvet]

Asking for a friend since I only do “Soft Roading”
I do carpool 4 teenagers to Middle School 4x a week which is just as treacherous

 

[vezePilot]

"HDMI tips"
Ha, ha ... took me a minute ...

 

[vezePilot]

Below 25 the sidewalls bulge and you loose clearance and the tires are too spongy for the weak sidewalls. The Duracraps can not handle the weight of a TB, period. I know guys that air down Nittos and other tires to 10 psi on Jeeps without beadlocks and have no problem. I learned I will never go below 25 ever with the Duracraps.

I've aired down to 22 PSI when I practiced using the Rhino Deflators kit. This is with the Wrangler Territory tires, not Duratracs. At 22 PSI the tires deformed about as much as one would expect. Really not that much. The hype at Goodyear is that these are a stronger construction ...

I'm just gonna have to go out and discover what these tires are like at 15 PSI.

 

[Gangly]

The duratracs can handle 10-12 PSI in sand very easily. If you are in a bind and need to go in a straight line to get out, you can drop them to 8-10 lbs. However, it is highly recommended to NOT go below 15 if you are doing any turning or quick maneuvers in the sand. On rock like the sandstone/redstone in Moab, I wouldn't take them below 20 psi. Moab is like sand paper, TONS of grip, and you are only lowering down for comfort.

 

[vezePilot]

Further recent practice in Offroad Vehicle Recovery has me updating my Gear. Also, it seems that most images I have posted were of a bunch of gear not very well organized or neatly stored.

But I'm getting that down to a standard way of loading. When we get a call for a Recovery Request, nearly everything is already in the truck. Leaving to Engage in the recovery can be accomplished quickly.

Tubs are working well to hold most gear.

The recent Recovery above Georgetown, CO was definitely a Seminar. It was a great example of a rather Difficult, but also very common type of recovery. A vehicle caught a Soft Spot on a rough, snow-covered trail, and slid off to the side. But the road is narrow, so it's difficult to get recovery vehicles into position. Also, and importantly, pulling the vehicle in the direction it was pointed caused it to move downhill ... Not Good.

At the time, we could not figure out how to rig a Double Line pull, in order to double the pulling force of my winch. Now I have it figured out, and I can see what gear is required. I did have all of the items needed, and we could have done it. There were serious issues with our not being able to rig this, but thankfully no one was injured.

The Safe-Xtract app includes lots of helpful Diagrams on Recovery Rigging. However ... I have some minor complaints about their Style and Focus in their diagrams. So I decided to work up my own format. Most rigging is easy. Some is not so easy, and this is an example.

This was the recovery, posted earlier:

Colorado Trail Boss Owners!

The thing with this Volunteer Offroad Recovery Portal is that recoveries are not easy to plan around. So we got a call today ... folks slid off the road in snow on a mountain road near Georgetown, CO. About an hour away. What was I planning to do today ... ? Do we get a recovery report?

www.trailboss.org

 

[PHXPHOTOG]

Further recent practice in Offroad Vehicle Recovery has me updating my Gear. Also, it seems that most images I have posted were of a bunch of gear not very well organized or neatly stored.

View attachment 5743
But I'm getting that down to a standard way of loading. When we get a call for a Recovery Request, nearly everything is already in the truck. Leaving to Engage in the recovery can be accomplished quickly.

Tubs are working well to hold most gear.

View attachment 5744

The recent Recovery above Georgetown, CO was definitely a Seminar. It was a great example of a rather Difficult, but also very common type of recovery. A vehicle caught a Soft Spot on a rough, snow-covered trail, and slid off to the side. But the road is narrow, so it's difficult to get recovery vehicles into position. Also, and importantly, pulling the vehicle in the direction it was pointed caused it to move downhill ... Not Good.

View attachment 5745

At the time, we could not figure out how to rig a Double Line pull, in order to double the pulling force of my winch. Now I have it figured out, and I can see what gear is required. I did have all of the items needed, and we could have done it. There were serious issues with our not being able to rig this, but thankfully no one was injured.

The Safe-Xtract app includes lots of helpful Diagrams on Recovery Rigging. However ... I have some minor complaints about their Style and Focus in their diagrams. So I decided to work up my own format. Most rigging is easy. Some is not so easy, and this is an example.

This was the recovery, posted earlier:

Colorado Trail Boss Owners!

The thing with this Volunteer Offroad Recovery Portal is that recoveries are not easy to plan around. So we got a call today ... folks slid off the road in snow on a mountain road near Georgetown, CO. About an hour away. What was I planning to do today ... ? Do we get a recovery report?

www.trailboss.org

I love what you have built and are using it for! So awesome. I have a lot of the same gear but not the critical piece yet, the winch.
I used to rig a lot of mechanical advantage rope systems when I ran a high angle rescue team. But we were raising and lowering people not vehicles.
You might like this video. This guy puts winching with mech advantage systems into a no nonsense simple explanation of how they work.

Steve

 

[PHXPHOTOG]

vezepilot, are those genuine Maxtrax boards? Can you or anyone tell me if they hold up to real use. I started with a 150 dollar set of Xbull boards based on a YouTube comparison video. They shredded to pieces on the first use and could have ruined tires. Now I run a 60 dollar cheap set and so far they are better than the x-bull. I'm trying to find out for real if Maxtrax hold up under use? I can buy six disposables for the price of Maxtrax.

Steve

 

[vezePilot]

Those orange ones I have are definitely not genuine Maxtrax boards. They are the very cheapest available, made in China. However ... we used them to get a delivery van out of being stuck in the snow a coupla months back. They kept shooting out from under, got banged up a little, but got him out. We wanted to get him out quick because he was blocking traffic, and throwing boards down is pretty quick.

I have an aversion to paying for name-brand stuff. We all know the value of quality ... but I have to feed a Corvette, two airplanes, my Trail Boss and a Cello.

 

[PHXPHOTOG]

Those orange ones I have are definitely not genuine Maxtrax boards. They are the very cheapest available, made in China. However ... we used them to get a delivery van out of being stuck in the snow a coupla months back. They kept shooting out from under, got banged up a little, but got him out. We wanted to get him out quick because he was blocking traffic, and throwing boards down is pretty quick.

I have an aversion to paying for name-brand stuff. We all know the value of quality ... but I have to feed a Corvette, two airplanes, my Trail Boss and a Cello.

Traction boards and dynamic ropes are two things that are new game changers in recovery. I have them both. For 50 bucks a set I can consider boards almost one use only because when you need them they are priceless. But 300+ a set is too much.

If I get around to adding a winch I would like to volunteer with off road recovery portal too. I have been checking out their website ever since you told me about them. I didn't even know they existed until then.

Steve

 

[PHXPHOTOG]

I will be interested to see how the grappling anchor turns out. Much of my off road time is spent in the desert with no trees.

 

[vezePilot]

The welding Practice project (lawn leveling rake) is completed. Can't wait to get started on the Grappling Anchor. Several new ideas, and a more complete drawing:

The Red pins are Curt Mfg. 21507 (IIRC) high-strength Hitch Pins, rated at 21,000 lbs. The gray shovel-looking things are tempered steel ... shovels, from Harbor Freight very likely. The Orange parts will be very heavily loaded, and I have a plan for a rather complex arrangement of welded steel members. The holes through members where the red pins go will be reinforced with 7/8" dia Nuts welded in and threads bored out.

The Pin on the Left can be re-positioned along the Hi-Lift bar (lots of holes) in order to change the geometry for different situations, different size boulders, etc. ... although this will require boring out the holes in the bar slightly (from 9/16 to 5/8"), so not much. The goal would be to test this thing to about 9,000 or 10,000 lbs pull strength.

I found a 10,000 lb capacity crane scale on ebay for $100.

The long Bar component is a replacement Hi-Lift Jack Main Bar ... $22. The white cross member should normally not have high loads, and there will be two of these: a Long one and a Short one. The short one will be used to draw the two legs together more like a conventional Sand Anchor.
Gnarly.

 

[Gangly]

Further recent practice in Offroad Vehicle Recovery has me updating my Gear. Also, it seems that most images I have posted were of a bunch of gear not very well organized or neatly stored.

View attachment 5743
But I'm getting that down to a standard way of loading. When we get a call for a Recovery Request, nearly everything is already in the truck. Leaving to Engage in the recovery can be accomplished quickly.

Tubs are working well to hold most gear.

View attachment 5744

The recent Recovery above Georgetown, CO was definitely a Seminar. It was a great example of a rather Difficult, but also very common type of recovery. A vehicle caught a Soft Spot on a rough, snow-covered trail, and slid off to the side. But the road is narrow, so it's difficult to get recovery vehicles into position. Also, and importantly, pulling the vehicle in the direction it was pointed caused it to move downhill ... Not Good.

View attachment 5745

At the time, we could not figure out how to rig a Double Line pull, in order to double the pulling force of my winch. Now I have it figured out, and I can see what gear is required. I did have all of the items needed, and we could have done it. There were serious issues with our not being able to rig this, but thankfully no one was injured.

The Safe-Xtract app includes lots of helpful Diagrams on Recovery Rigging. However ... I have some minor complaints about their Style and Focus in their diagrams. So I decided to work up my own format. Most rigging is easy. Some is not so easy, and this is an example.

This was the recovery, posted earlier:

Colorado Trail Boss Owners!

The thing with this Volunteer Offroad Recovery Portal is that recoveries are not easy to plan around. So we got a call today ... folks slid off the road in snow on a mountain road near Georgetown, CO. About an hour away. What was I planning to do today ... ? Do we get a recovery report?

www.trailboss.org

Great diagram and writeup.

 

[Gangly]

vezepilot, are those genuine Maxtrax boards? Can you or anyone tell me if they hold up to real use. I started with a 150 dollar set of Xbull boards based on a YouTube comparison video. They shredded to pieces on the first use and could have ruined tires. Now I run a 60 dollar cheap set and so far they are better than the x-bull. I'm trying to find out for real if Maxtrax hold up under use? I can buy six disposables for the price of Maxtrax.

Steve

I have 2 sets of the Amazon X-Bull boards and have had quite a few successful recoveries with them. My first pair got tore up pretty good by a guy who didn't know better and burned them down spinning his tires like crazy. They still work, but I purchased a second set to compliment them and I have no issues with them. I cant justify $300 for Maxtrax when I could buy multiple sets of these for the same price and the first two sets have lasted me 3 years and counting. Had they been used properly, I would still be on my first set, and I have abused them pretty bad.

A buddy of mine uses Maxtrax. I don't believe he has had to replace any, but then again I am not sure if he has ever taken them off his 4Runner's roof mounting brackets.

 

[vezePilot]

So the folks with a lot more experience than me have been using two products for many years that seem to work well.

The Pull Pal sand/earth anchor works very well in sand and other surfaces. The Deadman earth anchor is particularly good for large boulders, and also for sand.

DeadmanV2 - Deadman Off-Road

The Deadman V2 $279.99 Create a safe winch anchor point in the ground, or around rocks and trees. MADE IN THE USA The Deadman™ Earth Anchor™ (patent pending) is the world’s most versatile off-road recovery anchor, capable of anchoring to just about anything Mother Earth throws your way...

deadmanoffroad.com

Pull Pal | Off Road Anchoring | Specs

Pull Pal gets your rig out...fast. Simply insert the plow point into the soil, mud, sand or snow.

www.pullpal.com

It's just that there are some circumstances where neither would be ideal.
How would either one be able to use this as an anchor?

Or this?

I have discovered that my Grappling Anchor needs to be larger/longer in order to be effective using mostly-buried boulders as anchors. The current major component lengths are 36", 21" and 18" and this is not enough. The images do not show how small it is.

How Big a boulder do we need to be a safe Recovery Anchor? The answer is about Four feet across. A typical rock this size (dolomite, granite, etc) will weigh about 5,500 lbs, and pulling it out from being half-buried will require nearly 15,000 lbs pull force.

This is how my current design looks in fitting around a 4-ft DIA rock. Not Good. Would not work. Someone would die.

The major component lengths need to be like 42", 31" and 24" and I can get affordable steel at several places. The shortest Hi-Lift replacement Main Bar is 42 inches long. I am now free from using just the scrap that I have.

more later ...

 

[vezePilot]

Here is the design with major dimensions of 42", 36" and 24" and the cross member needs to be at the rear, as shown.
This is the same 4 ft DIA rock. Material is mostly the 1/2" x 1-1/2" Steel Channel from Home Depot and reinforced with extra channel welded along the inside, end to end. And again, wherever the Pins go through the channel, it will reinforced with 7/8" Hex Nuts also welded in.

It's so handy to be able to weld.
And ... a price comparison: Both Pull-Pal and Deadman together cost about $700. My cost is currently calculated as about $100, but that is not including whatever I might charge for welding and other fabricobbling. The Weight looks like it will be about 30 lbs total.