My first tow!

[n8buddy]

I towed my first car out of a ditch yesterday! I was just driving around on the dirt roads near my house when i noticed a car stuck in the mud just off side the road. I dont know what the heck they where doing trying to take a Pontiac Sunfire off road, but i thought i would stop by and see if they needed a hand, and how perfect was it that i had a tow strap in the trunk! The car was about 3/4 of the wheel wells in mud, nose first. They strapped one end to there car (somewhere behind the grill), and i threw the good ol' 4Runner in 4low and eased it out. I heard the sound of crunching plastic on their car, and couldnt help but chuckle. Anyway its not like i was pulling a 50 ton dump truck (like that other video), but it sure was nice to finially put my truck to the test.

 

[sharp4runr]

You've done your Good Samaritan deed for the week then! Was the driver a hot chick? :

 

[Atomic 4Runner]

Extracting Stuck Vehicles

What's the best way to pull out a stuck vehicle? Should we use forward or reverse? Any advantage for one direction over the other.

 

[n8buddy]

You've done your Good Samaritan deed for the week then! Was the driver a hot chick? :

haha i wish. no it was just a couple of local hicks (or rednecks if you prefere)

It is probably easier to tow in the forward direction, but it depends on what you are pulling. In my case, it would have been easier to pull the car backward back onto the main road, but we could not find a decent tow hook on the back of the car, so i had to drive around and pull it forward.

 

[Expat]

Re: Extracting Stuck Vehicles

What's the best way to pull out a stuck vehicle? Should we use forward or reverse? Any advantage for one direction over the other.

Do you mean the pulling vehicle? If so I believe by pulling in forward gears. I think that the reverse gears are not as strong. Maybe check on this but I'm pretty sure.

 

[Atomic 4Runner]

Extracting Stuck Vehicles

Since my truck hasn't arrived, I'm not even sure where are the best places to attach a tow hook or strap? If we have tow hooks or good places on the front and back, then which gear is the best? Forward or Reverse.

The only tow hooks I've seen in the past were under the front bumper, making reverse the gear to use. But since we aren't going to go fast or go far when pulling someone out of ditch, forward sure seems logical.

 

[ironadrenaline]

Re: Extracting Stuck Vehicles

Since my truck hasn't arrived, I'm not even sure where are the best places to attach a tow hook or strap? If we have tow hooks or good places on the front and back, then which gear is the best? Forward or Reverse.

The only tow hooks I've seen in the past were under the front bumper, making reverse the gear to use. But since we aren't going to go fast or go far when pulling someone out of ditch, forward sure seems logical.

for the front you should be fine with the standard tow loops you have on the frame, but for the rear you would want to get a WARN Hitch reciever Shackle because the stock loops are not very strong and are dangerous to use

 

[Atomic 4Runner]

Re: Re: Extracting Stuck Vehicles

for the front you should be fine with the standard tow loops you have on the frame, but for the rear you would want to get a WARN Hitch reciever Shackle because the stock loops are not very strong and are dangerous to use

Can you tell me what those cost? I assume you just slide it into the receiver when needed? Thanks for the info.

 

[ironadrenaline]

theyre usually 39.99 online. just do a search in froogle.com and you should be able to find a good or at least a decent price. then you slide it in and lock it with the stock pin that comes with the runner or get a locking on for another 12 bucks i believe