Off road Vehicle recovery
- Thread starter hogey
- Start date
Chris J
Well-Known Member
I've yet to find one. Those I have dealt with are very wriggly even when the vehicle has been recovered to tarmac. The wording I think was breakdown ...as a result of..... I had a starter motor catch fire whilst having a picnic in the car park at an off road event. They made the driver do an inspection of the vehicle to see if it had been off road. (Shhhh, it HAD) but he concluded that the fire was due to an internal fault and they recovered me. I have seen the AA recover vehicles clearly used off road but they HAD to be on a surfaced road before they'd recover them.
Has anyone used a hand winch (and rope round nearest tree) to move a car? I've been looking at one online that is rated for 3 tonnes which should be enough. I've got stuck twice recently, last time with a trailer load of logs which I had to unload again which was a pain in the neck.
When I was big into offroad racing and green laning many years ago, we used the RAC and the AA a few times. Just make sure you get it back on the tarmac !! As a farmer / tractor driver what I will say, is always carry a £20 note and a tow rope it's the best way back to tarmac !!
Chris J
Well-Known Member
A great deal of the time, it's about technique and application that wins. You can have a hand winch and just watch it buckle as you try to pull the vehicle out. There'll be someone along any second saying that they've spun rope from spider's web and used a pair of harnessed unicorns to pull a stuck vehicle out, but honestly having done a lot of this sort of thing and having been stuck in some incredibly remote places, the sort of stuff that i think you're talking about is just pants. Tirfors are very good but laboriously slow and very heavy to carry about all the time. You can get some quite compact winches that will hook into a front eye or snap onto a tow ball and use leads to connect to your battery. You'd be better with one of those really.
I fitted a winch to my Hilux. It's a hidden winch rather than one fitted to a big external bumper. I used to do a lot of solo stalking in some tricky places and slipping into a ditch was quite realistic. No one was ever going to just drive past and offer me a pull out. So a winch was the right way to go for me. Being able to apply a little 'drive-assist' at the same time as winching is really helpful. With only one of you and a hand winch, you can't do that. Other than put a brick on the accelerator!
I fitted a winch to my Hilux. It's a hidden winch rather than one fitted to a big external bumper. I used to do a lot of solo stalking in some tricky places and slipping into a ditch was quite realistic. No one was ever going to just drive past and offer me a pull out. So a winch was the right way to go for me. Being able to apply a little 'drive-assist' at the same time as winching is really helpful. With only one of you and a hand winch, you can't do that. Other than put a brick on the accelerator!
Without doubt the best is a Tirfor winch , they will quite easily pull out a truck / 4x4 . Just make sure you have enough straps as the nearest tree is always a few feet to far !!
Yes the old wonga comes in handy.
shortieboy
Member
Many years ago, I was doing a recce of a training area for a comms exercise involving 4T box-bodied vehicles. Drove into a part of the forest that looked a likely spot only to find that it was quite damp - to the point that my SWB Land Rover got bogged in. Thoroughly. These were the days before mobile phones were widespread.
Fortunately, I found some Army Cadets training on the area. After a chat with their instructors, their training programme was amended to include a lesson on how to use rope and pulleys to move a large green object. And it worked a treat!
No money changed hands but the cadet detachment in question did get a couple of extra instructors with a generous amount of blank rounds on their next training weekend.
Fortunately, I found some Army Cadets training on the area. After a chat with their instructors, their training programme was amended to include a lesson on how to use rope and pulleys to move a large green object. And it worked a treat!
No money changed hands but the cadet detachment in question did get a couple of extra instructors with a generous amount of blank rounds on their next training weekend.
Not aware of any 'standard' breakdown services that recover vehicles stuck off road but am aware of 3 instances over a number of years where recovery has had to be carried out by a commercial recovery firm using specially kitted out vehicles, cheapest (& simplest) cost £400 +VAT... a Nissan Navara buried so deep it was sat on the chassis rails with each wheel in a hole of its own in an area where solid ground was some distance away cost the hapless owner (who had tried to take a short cut) north of £1k 
Am seriously considering fitting a winch to my D2 in the spring, not sure whether to get a fixed hidden one at the front or to have one that can be mounted front or rear using a suitable square hitch mount type of arrangement & Anderson plugs for the power - positive of that is recovery front or rear, negative is the winch would need to be carried in the car. Will probably just go for a front hidden installation.
Am seriously considering fitting a winch to my D2 in the spring, not sure whether to get a fixed hidden one at the front or to have one that can be mounted front or rear using a suitable square hitch mount type of arrangement & Anderson plugs for the power - positive of that is recovery front or rear, negative is the winch would need to be carried in the car. Will probably just go for a front hidden installation.
Chris J
Well-Known Member
Not sure that the original question was aimed at the recovery service necessarily digging you out; more just recovering you from an area off road? You could be in a forest ride and not be able to get the engine started. Off road doesn't just mean stuck on a bog. Hogey, you wanna clarify?
I had to bury the spare wheel once to winch from. Nothing else for miles.
I had to bury the spare wheel once to winch from. Nothing else for miles.
Hi Chris.
Fair enough. I saw one on telly drag a Moose from a swamp, so i just wondered if they were geared low enough if they would pull a vehicle.
did you top up the waxoil while you were there?Needed a winch to pull me out
Got to get one fitted
Just when things go wrong
yes was thinking more on the lines of a breakdown recovery not a winch out job
Firefly
Well-Known Member
A high lift jack can be used as a winch, I’ve used this and a Tirfor hand winch, both hard work !
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