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Hemmings likes them, Bitchin Ford Body Parts Bitchin's Chevy Body Parts
 
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Recovery Equipment We all get stuck at one time or another. Snow and rain can make driving hazardous and sooner or later you will get stuck. We then hope that some one will come along and pull us out. If you do much Off-Roading you will need help to get over or out of some obstacles. That is why we sell Recovery Equipment, the tools you need when the only way out is a winch or some one with a tow strap.
The best tow straps are the ones with loops on the ends (as pictured above). Not the ones with hooks. They are much safer because they are much less prone to coming loose. There is a lot of pressure and tension in a strap while you are pulling. A tow strap has a lot of tension on it while you are pulling. If it comes loose or breaks, that energy has to go some where and it normally ends up acting like a rubber band with each end flying back at the vehicle it is attached to. With no hooks, that energy is spent up very quickly allowing the tow strap to drop harmlessly to the ground. With a hook, it will transfer that energy to the hook which will then travel a lot farther than the tow strap alone would and with much more destructive power. The correct way to use them is with clevises like the ones shown in the picture above. They are easy to use and are very secure. They can be attached to tow hooks and loops. Some people will use a loop ended tow strap by putting it around the frame or axle and just slide the other end of the tow strap through the loop. That works but can be hard to get undone. If you pull the other end through a clevis you accomplish the same thing and it is much easier to undo when you are done. A recovery bag of some kind is a very good way of keeping all the things you need in one place and keeps it from getting scattered all over the place. You should also always wear gloves and safety glasses when doing this kind of work.
Chains are good because they dissipate any unwanted energy very quickly. The bad part about them is that they are heavy, noisy when stored, and the hooks can come loose. I some times will use chains to hold a vehicle to my car trailer with a chain tightener to make it good and tight. To keep the hooks in place I use heavy cable zip ties. They are very easy to use, I just run the cable tie around the hook and the tie down look on the trailer so that it holds the loop against the tie down loop. I do that on the chain hooks the the hooks on the chain tightener.
Some times you need to get the wheels jacked up so you can put something under them to give you better traction. Your vehicles standard jack might work for this. If you have an off-road vehicle with larger tires the standard jack will probably no longer get high enough to do this. You need a taller jack like the HighLift models above. HightLift jacks are very stable and will lift your vehicle to new heights. HighLift jacks have many accessories to help you attach them to different vehicles at different points and in different ways that may be need by the vehicle and the way it is setting. A must have for big off-road tires!
If you must use a hook, the 2 above are the best there are. The one on the left has a good safety latch and comes with good swivel clevis. When using this type of hook you need to make sure that the safety latch if full closed and the you are not pulling against it. The one on the right is the best kind of hook out there. It is a true safety hook. The safety latch is an integral part of the hooks eye and is very strong. Pulling on the eye closes the hook. It will not come open while you are pulling unless it breaks. If you must use a hook, and there are times when it is the only to get "hooked up" to the other vehicle, then the right one is the one to use.
So you are out off-roading by yourself in the sand duns and you get stuck. You have a winch, so pulling yourself out is not a problem, but there is nothing but sand to pull against. In this and many similar cases, all you need to do is dig an obstacle out of the way. That is where a good recovery kit like the one to the left would help a great deal. It is a single took with multiple interchangeable heads that will help you dig you way out. And it come with a bag to carry it all in. If digging wont get you out and the winch would if you had something to anchor to, then the anchor at the right is just what you need. Just throw it out, jump on it a few times to set it, hook up the winch and pull away. It also folds up to save on storage room. What do you do it the only thing to hook to is a near by tree? The First and foremost thing we should keep in mind about off-road fun is to do it without destroying nature and other peoples fun. It is OK to use a tree if you are sure it is big enough to hold without breaking and you use a strap around the tree to pull against. That will keep the bark from being torn up by the rope. It also will spread the force out over a larger area of the tree making it more likely that you will not damage the tree. If we all do things like this to keep nature natural then the nature people that do not want us out there will have that much ammunition against us. There is no reason why we as 4x4 and off-road enthusiasts can not also be nature lovers. You do not have to tear things up to have fun! Please respect nature, strap that tree before you pull.
Some times you will just need to get something under the wheels so that you can make traction. This happens a lot in sand. Pictured above are sand ladders. Jack up the wheels with your HighLift jack and throw the sand ladders under the wheels for instant traction.
Now you have done it! You are so stuck it is going to take a Mac truck wrecker to get you out. Or, that is one big truck that is stuck there. Or, that is one steep hill you need to go up because going back down is just not an option. :) Then you need a snatch block. Snatch Blocks are used to increase the your pulling power by adding a pulley to the system. The snatch block goes on the point you are pulling from (anchor, vehicle you are pulling out) opposite your winch. The winch cable is then ran through the snatch block and back the you vehicle. Snatch blocks are a must have in every recovery kit!
The winch! If you are any kind of serious about your 4x4 it must have a winch! It is the handiest tool you can add to your 4x4. They come in many sizes with a price to fit almost any budget. The best thing you can do it to figure out how you are going to use your 4x4 and get the winch and accessories that will fit those needs. That will probably put you into the higher cost winches. Save you money and get the right on the first time. You will be glad you did when you get stuck on the incline and your winch has enough pulling power to get you safely over it. Winches can be very dangerous if underpowered, not equipped correctly, or not used correctly. Most winches come with steel rope cable like pictured to the right above. It is strong and does not break very often. It is small, light, and strong, but has a big fault. When under pulling pressure it will retain the energy built up in the system and if something breaks or come free, that great amount of energy has to go somewhere. It normally shows up with the cable acting like a whip and attacking anyone and anything near it. I have seen a winch hook come free and the hook go through the windshield and tailgate window of a Scout! It can kill you! When using steel cable always carry a heavy blanket or coat to throw over the center of the cable while you are pulling. Then if it come free the blanket will dampen the energy and cause the rope to drop instead of act like a whip. Update!! New Winch Saver Much better and safer than a blanket! If you are still using steel line you need one of these!
The best way to not have that problem is to use Amsteel Blue winch rope (right above). It is a very light, very strong rope. It has the same, or in most cases better strength and pulling weight than the same size steel rope.
It is very tough and abrasion proof. It will not break strands that will reach out and grab you like the steel rope will. Amsteel Blue winch rope will never rust. It does not stretch and will not hold that energy that makes the steel rope so dangerous. If it come loose it just drops safely to the ground. In most cases you can use a smaller sized rope for the same pulling power than you did with steel rope allowing you to put more rope on the winch spool. That will also give you a bit more pulling power. Still not long enough, then get the Amsteel Blue winch rope extension shown on the left above. Notice that the ends have loops not hooks!
There are an assortment of ways to hook the blue rope up as shown above. Again the big red hook (Above right) that we talked about before is a great choice here.
If you go the the blue rope you should look at replacing your fairlead on your winch. The ones that normally come with winches are made for steel rope and can cause problems with the blue ropes use. Above is the blue rope fairlead. It comes in standard and heavy duty models, the heavy duty being thicker. We can even get your club or companies name engraved on the top! Discounts are available for orders of 25 or more.
So you can now get yourself out of about anything, except a flat. Been rock crawling with way low air pressure in those monster tires. Now it is time to go home and you can't drive on normal roads and highways with that low a pressure? Got a flat and have it patched? What you need now is On board air like the one above. These come in portable units or ones installed under the hood. You can even get reservoir tanks for the times when you need extra amounts of air. The tanks are also good for those air lockers you may have in your axles. Nothing worse than half way up a steep incline with both axles locked and run out of air. The axles may unlock and down you go. A reservoir tank makes sure you have spare air all the time. As the tank gets used the under hood system can be setup to automatically refill it, even while you are moving.
The winch, stereo, air pump, and may other goodies you have added to your off-road vehicle require the same thing, go juice. The winch will slurp it up in big drinks. A normal car battery just isn't going to cut the heavy use. You have everything you need to get you there and out of any obstacle you can find and no electricity. Everything stops until you can get more. The battery you use with any 4x4 is important, but it is very important when you add a winch. The Optima Battery is one of if not the best out there. One not enough, get 2. Have you spent a lot of money for a lot of chrome under the hood to make it all look good. Don't want your battery making that view look all ordinary, then get a Bitchin Products Battery Box to put it in and further dress things up under the hood. Now you are ready to go have some fun and if you (or a friend) gets stuck, you will have the recovery gear you will need to safely fix the problem. Got and good recovery pictures? Send them to rob@willysoffroadsupply.com and we will post them here. |
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