Trail Recovery 101- A Scary Off-Road Experience!

Roughstock11

Yeah, an aftermarket bumper it seems. I was wondering if it was weaker than the OEM. I just ordered that book from Amazon for 6 bucks. I won't cancel the order. Good to have in the truck. I like the 8-12 mph. That makes a lot of sense to me. I have always finessed when I have pulled people out. Especially with the old strap I used to have.

Another guy said that you should "roll into the throttle", not stomp on it. That made a lot of sense to me. I don't think that the aftermarket bumper was a problem since the tug pulled the grade 8 bolts right out of the frame horn right AFTER bending it! I can't imagine the stress that required! one thing I got out of this too was that maybe it's a good idea to use a bridle so that you distribute the load across two points. So I ordered one to add to my recovery kit. 😎

Before winch cable dampers became a thing we always threw a jacket or towel or something like that to slow down a cable if it broke. Wonder if that might work in this situation as well? Just thinking out loud.......

JoergH

Another guy said that you should "roll into the throttle", not stomp on it. That made a lot of sense to me. I don't think that the aftermarket bumper was a problem since the tug pulled the grade 8 bolts right out of the frame horn right AFTER bending it! I can't imagine the stress that required! one thing I got out of this too was that maybe it's a good idea to use a bridle so that you distribute the load across two points. So I ordered one to add to my recovery kit. 😎

Did you order a bridle or are you using a tree saver as bridle?

Sven

Before winch cable dampers became a thing we always threw a jacket or towel or something like that to slow down a cable if it broke. Wonder if that might work in this situation as well? Just thinking out loud.......

Yeah, I've been wondering as well. They don't seem to make specific winch blankets for kinetic ropes. You would think it would help.

Do they line those blankets with anything to weigh them down? Do they have Kevlar in them? I heard him mention blankets in the video but I don’t think any were used when this happened. Someone may have mentioned them after the fact.

Sven

Before winch cable dampers became a thing we always threw a jacket or towel or something like that to slow down a cable if it broke. Wonder if that might work in this situation as well? Just thinking out loud.......

He addresses that in the video, and I tend to agree that a jacket or something would get thrown off when the KRR goes taught. You’d need something that wrapped around the rope. Maybe tie the arms of the jacket?

Roughstock11

Did you order a bridle or are you using a tree saver as bridle?

Ordered a bridle from Yankum Ropes.

JoergH

He addresses that in the video, and I tend to agree that a jacket or something would get thrown off when the KRR goes taught. You’d need something that wrapped around the rope. Maybe tie the arms of the jacket?

We zipped them up,,,,commercial bags use Velcro over the line.

BuckYeah

Do they line those blankets with anything to weigh them down? Do they have Kevlar in them? I heard him mention blankets in the video but I don’t think any were used when this happened. Someone may have mentioned them after the fact.

Looking through the book you posted @JoergH they have good info about using dampers on kinetic ropes. @Sven got it right. I am probably ordering three ARB recovery dampers and a couple of bridles.

In the video he mentioned perhaps he should have used dampers but he wasn't sure. I just watched it so it is fresh in my mind.

It seems they are the way to go even with Kinetic ropes. Boy it never stops. Ropes, shackles, bridles, dampers...haha crazy stuff. Best to be safe.

Sven

Before winch cable dampers became a thing we always threw a jacket or towel or something like that to slow down a cable if it broke. Wonder if that might work in this situation as well? Just thinking out loud.......

Yeah, something to drop that kinetic rope would have helped A LOT!! The injured fellow mentioned he talked to a recovery rope expert, his suggestion was a 7/8" kinetic rope was the proper spec for Bronco, not the 1" rope used.

The blanket, jacket or winch line dampeners are effective on winch or light tow lines, but these kinetic ropes are MUCH heavier and store tremendous energy when under load. Those 2lb winch line dampeners would have no effect.

I'd use a cheap'o tow strap to rig up a safety leash instead. Give the leash plenty of slack to allow for the kinetic rope's stretch. Then if there is an attachment point or shakle failure, even an old yellow tow strap should control the whiplash.

Cheers

Kenneth

Yeah, something to drop that kinetic rope would have helped A LOT!! The injured fellow mentioned he talked to a recovery rope expert, his suggestion was a 7/8" kinetic rope was the proper spec for Bronco, not the 1" rope used.

The blanket, jacket or winch line dampeners are effective on winch or light tow lines, but these kinetic ropes are MUCH heavier and store tremendous energy when under load. Those 2lb winch line dampeners would have no effect.

I'd use a cheap'o tow strap to rig up a safety leash instead. Give the leash plenty of slack to allow for the kinetic rope's stretch. Then if there is an attachment point or shakle failure, even an old yellow tow strap should control the whiplash.

Cheers

According to Factor 55 dampers do work on Kinetic ropes.

Roughstock11

Did you order a bridle or are you using a tree saver as bridle?

I carry both, Bubba's 10ft 7/8" rope can be used as an extension or bridle, and ARB's tree strap. If only one end needs a bridle, I'll use Bubba's, and if both ends need bridles, the tree strap gets rigged too. It's handy to have both and 'One is none, and two is one'

Cheers

Roughstock11

According to Factor 55 dampers do work on Kinetic ropes.

Yeah, saw that on page 13. They’re probably right, sure make good stuff. We have their tow hitch link and it’s very solid.

Cheers

Kenneth

I carry both, Bubba's 10ft 7/8" rope can be used as an extension or bridle, and ARB's tree strap. If only one end needs a bridle, I'll use Bubba's, and if both ends need bridles, the tree strap gets rigged too. It's handy to have both and 'One is none, and two is one'

Cheers

That sounds like a good idea.

LOL - Think we've all come a very LONG way since the days of simply dropping a strap loop 'round our tow ball. Heck, I grew in N Carolina's NASCAR country running dirt track oval on weekends. We'd top-off the oil pan with a warm beer, and tow our wreck with old pair of jeans..

Cheers

Kenneth

LOL - Think we've all come a very LONG way since the days of simply dropping a strap loop 'round our tow ball. Heck, I grew in N Carolina's NASCAR country running dirt track oval on weekends. We'd top-off the oil pan with a warm beer, and tow our wreck with old pair of jeans..

Cheers

Yeah, real off roading in a Bronco is relatively new to me. I've off roaded my whole life, dirt bikes, enduros, ATV's, side by sides. (my back is still sore from my bike off roading from last week). My current tow strap is OK with a couple of Chinese D rings. I have been thinking about better gear and I thought hell I've pulled out people with real bad gear and never a problem. Nice to get into the real world with better recovery gear. I've always carried straps in my pick up trucks. I've pulled a few out with a really cheap straps in the past. I've been pulled out with chains a few times. Once was just a few years ago with our F250 and a tailer. A long way for sure. We used to jump six kids on a CR250. The ramp was skids with a piece of wood.

I finally had the time to watch this video. And first off, thanks for sharing here. We should all be grateful the guy took take the time and review the accident.

In our monthly staff meeting we have a topic called, "rewind the clock". It is where a driver openly talks about an accident, that maybe they got lucky or maybe they or the equipment got hurt. Then they follow up with, what I could have done to avoid it. And the rewind is less than one minute before the wrong decision or action.

Taking short cuts because of being in a hurry and not stopping to asses the situation and the risk are the top two.

I recently started to carry soft shackles and a kinetic rope. I probably need to stick to what I am used to. Snatch strap, tree saver and D rings.

And for this Arizona desert rat, for me to get stuck in snow, I would have to go to the snow. I had to have my eyes checked, because I don't see me doing that.

So glade he recovered and shared this.

Lots O Fords

I finally had the time to watch this video. And first off, thanks for sharing here. We should all be grateful the guy took take the time and review the accident.

In our monthly staff meeting we have a topic called, "rewind the clock". It is where a driver openly talks about an accident, that maybe they got lucky or maybe they or the equipment got hurt. Then they follow up with, what I could have done to avoid it. And the rewind is less than one minute before the wrong decision or action.

Taking short cuts because of being in a hurry and not stopping to asses the situation and the risk are the top two.

I recently started to carry soft shackles and a kinetic rope. I probably need to stick to what I am used to. Snatch strap, tree saver and D rings.

And for this Arizona desert rat, for me to get stuck in snow, I would have to go to the snow. I had to have my eyes checked, because I don't see me doing that.

So glade he recovered and shared this.

This isn't just a snow issue, in your case, it could have been sand he was stuck in as well. Keep in mind that any recovery gear, when misused or poor quality, can fail. In this example, if they had been using a strap and D-rings and the Jeep sent it the same way you would likely have had metal bits flying around which could have been even worse.

I think that the key learnings for me here are:

1. Buy quality recovery gear. Yes it's more expensive, but what's your life worth?
2. Take your time before EACH pull to take a look at the current situation. In general SLOW DOWN and don't rush through a recovery.
3. Make sure you're using the right kind of recovery for the situation. In this case, a KRR might not have been the best solution. Again, it was picked because it was the quickest to rig.
4. Rigging things "correctly" is important. Again, in this case a bridle on the front of the Bronco would have spread the load and might have avoided the damage to the frame horn.
5. Make sure that the person is doing things in a way that you feel comfortable with. Caleb knew in his gut that the Jeep was being more aggressive than he felt comfortable with. Recommendations are you should use no more than 8-12 MPH with a KRR, and roll into the gas, not just floor it. But he didn't say anything. Which leads me to...
6. Communication is critical. Again, in the rush to get caught up with the rest of his party, communications with the Jeep were limited.
7. Emergency communications. This one, I have to say, I take a little different viewpoint on. I use a ZOLEO satellite communicator for emergency communications. There are others, like InReach, etc. that do similar things. I can't recommend them enough since, in my opinion, they are uucker, and more reliable in terms of getting help. Why if that HAM in the Jeep hadn't come along? They would have had to load him into another vehicle and drive him down the mountain. You can find ZOLEO at http://zoleo.com
8. The reasons I use satellite communications for true emergencies instead of HAM or GMRS radios are:
   1. It will work anywhere you can see the sky, even HAM has its limitations when you get way out in the boonies.
   2. It has this SOS button that will send your GPS coordinates to their emergency center and they will then forward them to the appropriate emergency services agencies. So, it's a LOT less steps than using a radio. You just push a button, and if that's all your capable off, help will be on it's way.
   3. You also set up emergency contacts in ZOLEO. The emergency center will then contact that person to give them updates, etc. and they will get your the name right. :-)

So, overall, really informative posting/video, so glad it turned out OK for him!

JoergH

This isn't just a snow issue, in your case, it could have been sand he was stuck in as well. Keep in mind that any recovery gear, when misused or poor quality, can fail. In this example, if they had been using a strap and D-rings and the Jeep sent it the same way you would likely have had metal bits flying around which could have been even worse.

I think that the key learnings for me here are:

1. Buy quality recovery gear. Yes it's more expensive, but what's your life worth?
2. Take your time before EACH pull to take a look at the current situation. In general SLOW DOWN and don't rush through a recovery.
3. Make sure you're using the right kind of recovery for the situation. In this case, a KRR might not have been the best solution. Again, it was picked because it was the quickest to rig.
4. Rigging things "correctly" is important. Again, in this case a bridle on the front of the Bronco would have spread the load and might have avoided the damage to the frame horn.
5. Make sure that the person is doing things in a way that you feel comfortable with. Caleb knew in his gut that the Jeep was being more aggressive than he felt comfortable with. Recommendations are you should use no more than 8-12 MPH with a KRR, and roll into the gas, not just floor it. But he didn't say anything. Which leads me to...
6. Communication is critical. Again, in the rush to get caught up with the rest of his party, communications with the Jeep were limited.
7. Emergency communications. This one, I have to say, I take a little different viewpoint on. I use a ZOLEO satellite communicator for emergency communications. There are others, like InReach, etc. that do similar things. I can't recommend them enough since, in my opinion, they are uucker, and more reliable in terms of getting help. Why if that HAM in the Jeep hadn't come along? They would have had to load him into another vehicle and drive him down the mountain. You can find ZOLEO at http://zoleo.com
8. The reasons I use satellite communications for true emergencies instead of HAM or GMRS radios are:
   1. It will work anywhere you can see the sky, even HAM has its limitations when you get way out in the boonies.
   2. It has this SOS button that will send your GPS coordinates to their emergency center and they will then forward them to the appropriate emergency services agencies. So, it's a LOT less steps than using a radio. You just push a button, and if that's all your capable off, help will be on it's way.
   3. You also set up emergency contacts in ZOLEO. The emergency center will then contact that person to give them updates, etc. and they will get your the name right. :)

So, overall, really informative posting/video, so glad it turned out OK for him!

Yes you are spot on with the take aways. I was only joking about the snow. The hardest pull/stuck and accident I saw was a river crossing that went bad. Sand, flowing water etc. The stuck vehicle was a WWII ambulance converted to be a overlanding vehicle. and the guy trying to pull it out had a 3/4 ton pickup, chain and decided to have a bunch of people pile in the bed to help with traction. And he yanked like the guy in the video.
When he hit the end of the chain and the driveshaft broke and came up thru the bed of the truck, his helpers piled out rather quickly. Oh, and the Power wagon never moved.

Lots O Fords

Yes you are spot on with the take aways. I was only joking about the snow. The hardest pull/stuck and accident I saw was a river crossing that went bad. Sand, flowing water etc. The stuck vehicle was a WWII ambulance converted to be a overlanding vehicle. and the guy trying to pull it out had a 3/4 ton pickup, chain and decided to have a bunch of people pile in the bed to help with traction. And he yanked like the guy in the video.
When he hit the end of the chain and the driveshaft broke and came up thru the bed of the truck, his helpers piled out rather quickly. Oh, and the Power wagon never moved.

Yikes! Using a chain is REALLY old school. I've seen a number of broken winch cables back in the day and things can definitely get exciting there as well. I saw one case where it pulled the recovery point off the Jeep, and that recovery point flew clean through the Jeep that was doing the winching and nearly hit someone who was standing behind the Jeep thinking that was a safe place! It then hit a tree back there, and took a good sized chunk out of that tree! The triangle of death is a real thing! We used to also put up our hood to block the broken cable as well, but that can have a negative effect on visibility. BTW, we also always pulled everyone out of the the vehicle before winching. I think Caleb was lucky that it wasn't his passenger that was hit by the KRR.