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Scenario...winching/recovery techniques and safety

76zimmer

76zimmer

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I think we all know the possibility of danger while winching or trying to recover a flopped, stuck, or rollover vehicle.
First I can think of is the possibility of a cable/rope/recovery strap breaking and where is that energy going to go? Do not put yourself in that path of energy! There was a local guy winching another truck out of mud when the cable broke, came back and killed the guy.
There are a few energy absorbing devices that you can put on the cable. Ive seen people throw a jacket over it, but have my doubts that would absorb that much energy.
Proper winching techniques depend on the circumstances of the situation, are you winching over/up/around an obstacle, or recovering an incapacitated vehicle? Also are your attachment points solid on the vehicle frame? Don't use suspension or axles for recovery. Attachment points should be mounted securely and ultimately pull on the reinforced frame. Also take into consideration the angle of pull and how that will affect the vehicles frame, and path of the vehicle being recovered.
Take an extra couple minutes and question what if....
Post up your thoughts, techniques and experiences so we can all learn a thing or two!
 
Before we get deep into technical stuff, I want to mention about inspection

if you have recovery equipment, please make sure it is in correct working order

Also with tow points, I was with @mrk5 and @Justin V one day when a bumper came off an early Cherokee with 2 cables on it. Bumper launched a solid 75 feet before finding landa firma
Use Bolts. Big grade 8 ones.
 
Also,never use a trailer ball as a convenient spot to attach a tow strap or chain....I know of a guy who did that and had the ball snap off ,and it made a bull's eye to his forehead..his funeral was a closed casket..:sick:
 
A blanket will absorb a bunch of energy. 1 time using 1/2"Samson braided winch line pulling junipers hedges out, the line broke. We had an old queen size blanket in the middle.
The rope stopped before it got to the truck, and stayed close to the ground.
 
diesel4me said:
Also,never use a trailer ball as a convenient spot to attach a tow strap or chain....I know of a guy who did that and had the ball snap off ,and it made a bull's eye to his forehead..his funeral was a closed casket..:sick:
Click to expand...

Sorry about the guy. :eek:

I’ve been digging through (paper) pics all night, I’ve got a pic of a trailer ball, in the air, about a foot away from a trucks windshield. :yikes: The ball looks like a blurry silver comet. Luckily, it hit right in the lower drivers corner and glanced off, it could have been so bad.

This ^^ happened to Spicer’s old Sub back in the late 80’s. (he’s not on the site anymore)
 
Moody Bricker said:
Force = weight X. speed. 10k truck x 10. Mph =force of 100,000 lbs
Click to expand...
Those units don't line up at all. I think you're just trying to say that heavy things are dangerous even though they are moving slowly?
 
A heavy jacket is fine. We had a strap break once during elk season. Was winching a buddy's Jeep up a icy trail when the strap broke from the tree to winch line. (I was skeptical about that strap- but that's a different story)
Luckily I had tossed a Carhartt on the winch line. Dropped like a rock.
It's using gravity to redirect Force to the ground- it's not really absorbing anyting itself.
 
The recurring problem I've had winching is the line stacking up on one end of the drum and busting out the tie rods. I think it's a side product of remote winch controllers. The operator is not near the winch and no one else is watching the line spool onto the drum.
 
Two things we like to see besides properly attached winches and retrieval point?

closed loops on winch gear. This keeps the cable and hooks inplace. Also applies to using a clevis

1F4310A8-1227-4B0B-A67F-A4DFB752E337.jpeg

C3325FBD-B5A6-4412-A56E-4DAEFF386452.jpeg
 
mrk5 said:
The recurring problem I've had winching is the line stacking up on one end of the drum and busting out the tie rods. I think it's a side product of remote winch controllers. The operator is not near the winch and no one else is watching the line spool onto the drum.
Click to expand...
Or the opposite
I’ve not seen anyone do this yet, but watch your hand at the fairlead. If you are guiding the cable in, you better have leather gloves and you need to have your hand 5 feet away from the fairlead

That line moves fast and a glove snagged by a spur for the cable can go right in the spool
 
After 36years in a rigging shop I'll seen some bad things,if you have a lot of broken wires in wire rope then it needs to be replaced ,if you run the hook into the fairlead it will break real fast.some of the new wenches have a weight on them like the warn wench.
 
I dug through my history and finally found this video. I think the rigging straps on the recovery pieces is a pretty neat idea for safety. I haven't seen it anywhere else.
Start at 9:30 if the link breaks.
 
I'll reinforce the make sure your frames and tow points are solid point. I was pulling out a buddy's K5 and literally ripped his tow hook out of his frame and had it skip across the roof of my truck and land in the bed.
 
Ive seen poorly welded points on a bumper face do the same thing...I think its a must to have the tow point pulling directly on the frame in multiple attachment points. Triangulation between the framerails is a must if pulling to the side as well.
 
I was in a CJ5 Jeep a friend owned years ago,we went trail riding on some power lines in a rural town--he tried pulling out another guy's Ford F-150 out of a swampy bog we came across, that had ice over it,the truck's tires broke thru the ice, and it couldn't pull itself free..

The owner of the Ford didn't want to lay under the truck in the mucky ice to hook up the chain they used to pull the truck out--instead he looped it around the rear bumper a few times and hooked it to the Jeep's front tow hooks..

My friend protested saying "That ain't gonna hold good enough"--the Ford owner said "Oh it'll be OK,I'll just spin the wheels in reverse ,it wont take much of a pull to get it freed up"...

Against his better judgement my friend put the Jeep in reverse and back up while the guy spun his wheels--the truck started coming up and climbed up on the ice,but the ice gave way again and it sank back in deeper than before..
The Jeep made several more strong pulls and we almost had the truck free again,when the rear bumper pulled right over the heads of most of the carriage head bolts,the rest were sheared off,and it flew about 25 feet behind us,barely high enough not to have come thru the windshield and killed us both!..thing flew by us so fast it was like a missile...luckily no one was behind us or standing nearby watching..:yikes:..

Of course the Ford owner was livid and started screaming "you wrecked my truck man"..:surepal:...we ended up letting someone else help get his truck unstuck that had a big winch and a much heavier truck..

NEVER trust a bumper to pull on,even if it appears to be solid as a rock ,step & tow,etc..it is no stronger than the bolts holding it on,and many are just grade 2 or stainless capped cheap ones...
Those many looking grille guards or brush bars aren't always as strong as they look either..
 
The welded tie-down rings should not be used as a tow point,I know some do,I would not use as tie down point for truck or a car.,nice video. So points they did not cover
 
Yeah, I don't think it's enough to just weld an eye to the face of the bumper, even when you can go 360 degrees around. That extraction point should pass through the face of the bumper and get welded to the frame mounting brackets. Welding in multiple planes is a must, so some will be in tension, some compression, some shear, all at the same time.
 
76zimmer said:
Also are your attachment points solid on the vehicle frame? Don't use suspension or axles for recovery.
Click to expand...

I need to think this one through. Plenty of suspensions will do a crummy job of transferring force to the frame. But aside from that, what is the downside of using a suspension mount? If your wheels are buried, and you can get a strap securely on the affected axle, it will give a more direct connection between the stuck wheels and the winch. Pulling on the frame would require the suspension to transfer that force to the wheels, and that springiness may not always be desirable. :dunno:

:thinking:
 
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