Cool 4runner recovery, Jeep pulling out a Toyota
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Neat vid, thanks for sharing! I see the guy who was stuck had both max trax and a winch but wasn't able to recover. Looks like they had sliders as well, but no hi-lift? That probably would have gotten them out without needing to call a tow truck in this case.
Edit: I was surprised to see these guys using a chain as well as pulling off the hitch ball, I thought both of those were no-nos
Edit: I was surprised to see these guys using a chain as well as pulling off the hitch ball, I thought both of those were no-nos
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To be fair the driver had one arm in a sling.
Sure but he had a helper with him! :jump:
kenwilliams0803
New member
They are.
Chris In Milwaukee
New member
He’s a thoughtful guy with great skills. Nicely done! I’m hesitant to go out on singular journeys for that very reason. Nice to know there are folks like that around when needed.
Mutant138
Banned
I missed the one arm part. He should have brought a spare. That was dumb. Bring two arms... it's like adulting 101.
sn_85
Senior Member
Agreed with the other comments. If he had two functional arms he could have easily stacked rocks and in combination with maxtraxx he would have got out. He also took the harder line over that tree stump instead of going around the obstacle like he did after the recovery. I guess the lesson here is that if you are solo, if you only have one arm, don't take the hard line.
Jetboy
New member
He does some pretty dangerous stuff - like putting a tow strap around a hitch ball. It's amateur hour for sure. But it's kinda entertaining. The most surprising part is that his "recovery" vehicle is less equipped than most rental jeeps you can get for a day in Moab. You'd think a pro would at a very minimum have a winch, and I'd think any professional off road recovery setup would have a minimum of 2 winches. One on each end. The recoveries would be much easier and safer that way. They wouldn't be as entertaining, but that's kinda what distinguishes a professional recovery from a guy with a tow strap and a Cherokee.
Also it's kinda the caricature of new 4Runner owners. All the bolt on shit. No experience. Relatively easy obstacle and he has a fawking winch, and still can't get past it? Never used a winch before is my guess. Also didn't ever learn how to repair a synthetic rope it appears. Something easy that everyone with synthetic rope should know how to do. If you don't - spend literally 5 minutes on you tube and learn. It's just everything wrong with buying a 4Runner, bolting on a ton of useless crap, and then not knowing how to use any of it all summed up in a single incident.
Also it's kinda the caricature of new 4Runner owners. All the bolt on shit. No experience. Relatively easy obstacle and he has a fawking winch, and still can't get past it? Never used a winch before is my guess. Also didn't ever learn how to repair a synthetic rope it appears. Something easy that everyone with synthetic rope should know how to do. If you don't - spend literally 5 minutes on you tube and learn. It's just everything wrong with buying a 4Runner, bolting on a ton of useless crap, and then not knowing how to use any of it all summed up in a single incident.
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that's the typical californian solution
Jetboy
New member
Everyone uses the same rope. There's only a few places it comes from. It comes in different colors, but SK75 is SK75. Not knowing how to repair it in the field - that's kinda inexcusable. For anyone who doesn't know - it's this easy. And you can do it with a pen, a sharpie, or even a whittled stick. I cut my winch rope by pinching cutting it between the hawse and a big rock in Moab in May. Fixing it took about 20 minutes. Everyone that has synthetic rope should know how to do this.
<iframe width="961" height="721" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QZM-0HVic0w" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The same goes for steel cable. Everyone should have the right parts in their little winch bag to repair a broken steel cable if you run steel. If you have a winch and haven't broken the rope/cable yet, it's just a matter of time before it happens (assuming you use it). Be prepared to repair it. The cost to be prepared for synthetic is literally zero except some knowledge and I guess maybe a roll of electrical tape. For steel cable - three clamps and a thimble costs less than $15.
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Chris In Milwaukee
New member
We all have to start somewhere. Let's use this as a learning experience.
Jetboy
New member
Fair enough. Instead of criticism maybe some pointers would help.
The cost of one rotopax would have paid for a high lift jack. He could have used the jack to lift up the slider on either side and put some rocks under the tires. He also could have used a high lift on the rear hitch and lifted up the rear to put some rocks under the rear tires.
Traction pads are mostly worthless in my experience, but they could have possibly been used here to make a nice jack base. The spare tire is also often a useful base to jack from in soft sand. And in a pinch it works to dig a hole, bury the spare tire, and then winch from the buried spare tire. This is very common in deep snow off roading. Usually you would use the handle from your high lift jack behind the spare to attach your winch cable to through the center hole.
Like this:
The same could have been done with the bottle jack he has in the back. He's got one arm in a sling, but the bottle jack doesn't take much skill to use and should be operable one armed. Lift up the tires. Put something firm under them.
His first choice though should have been the winch. So it would be useful to learn how to use a winch and how to put a new brummel eye in it. I posted a video above. Doing this one handed would be kinda challenging. He should have had his kid help.
Also he should have had a tow strap. I'd bet that the winch rope was looped back onto its self and the rope broke because of that, or he wrapped the winch rope around a rock and it cut it on a sharp corner. He should have used either a tow strap or a tree strap to wrap around the rock and then hooked the winch rope to that. You don't need an expensive recovery strap. A typical $30 strap will work just fine.
Or in the alternative if you didn't have any thicker strap like that, the next best thing to do would be to use either a thick coat (carhart style) or the floor mats to protect the winch rope on the back side of the rock so that it doesn't get cut by the rock sharp edges. Putting synthetic plastic rope on sharp edges and pulling is a recipe for cutting the rope.
Between the winch and jack, this should be a non-issue to get free from.
Finally - get rid of that hitch rack. Even if he did manage to get over that log - he would have come down in the rear on the hitch rack and probably either bent the rear frame cross member or collapsed the hitch rack. Put that shit on top or in the back or leave it behind. Hitch racks like that are a major liability off road.
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Chris In Milwaukee
New member
Grug556
New member
Cordless chainsaw..cut the obstacle out of the way. Easy to remove from the side. Deadwood probably only a few hundred pounds..
Put that kid to work..the one arm guy? He can drag wood with one good arm right? :whoo:
Jetboy I hear you on the highlift. Ive got one along with an offroad base pad. I dunno...the ****er makes me nervous.. so its nicely mounted on the wall, in my garage!!
Put that kid to work..the one arm guy? He can drag wood with one good arm right? :whoo:
Jetboy I hear you on the highlift. Ive got one along with an offroad base pad. I dunno...the ****er makes me nervous.. so its nicely mounted on the wall, in my garage!!
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