[Angus Martin]

Hey guys, anyone got any ideas on this one, it's something I've always struggled with when I go 4wding with my mate in his Hilux.
If he gets stuck I really struggle or I can't pull him out!
Anyone got any ideas to help the little Zook pull the big boys out? with out a winch of course

[rpmwrx]

Don't bother... Tell your mate to invest in a winch...

[shep]

Hand them a shovel

[MrRocky]

You will explode your transfer case if u do it on a regular basis

[jdk81]

Tell him to get a sierra

[Jezza86]

tell him to go break up some milk crates till they are maxtrax

[alien]

Preparation is key - don't start any recovery until you've dug ramps, stuck wood under the tyres etc etc etc - and often it's easier to pull the thing out backwards rather than trying to break new ground.

Moph on here once has his sierra so stuck mine couldn't pull it out. We spent like 3 hours digging in mud (he did actually, while i took photos) - we even chucked a rock in the mud and jacked the car up to get rocks and sticks directly under the tyres to stop it sinking again. All that work meant that when it came time to try another pull, we got it first go - though even then i was spinning all 4 wheels!

Anything like that with a bigger car, i'd have been telling them to find a friend with a bigger, heavier recovery vehicle!

[Gwagensteve]

This is one of the reasons I don't go driving with big cars. Recovery is a pain.

Those of us with years of experience have all pulled out heavy cars with sierras. It's abusive to the car.

Avoid it.


Steve.

[tanshi]

if he is getting that badly stuck he needs to reconsider what he is trying to drive.

simple hang ups you should be able to give him a small snatch to get him free. if he is driving into bog holes that he is clearly gonna get stuck in its his own fault.

tell him to get a winch

[Pico42]

It is simple physics: the only way to have the momentum of the Suzuki overcome the inertia of the larger vehicle is increasing the suzukis velocity - and that is where shit breaks, becomes uncontrolled, go wrong.

All the answers are above - reduce the inertia, use another vehicle, get a winch or suck up the increased likelihood of things going wrong.

ETA: Or increase the mass of the suzuki - put two together. But that also introduces a few complexities to the forces on the middle vehicle. I have certainly been snapped sideways several metres playing piggy in the middle - Range Rovers are heavy.

[jonno_racing]

Seeking from experience.
Dont.

[Angus Martin]

Cheers guys, good answers

[Gwagensteve]

Additionally, it can be a complex area to negotiate - if your mates car is stuck and say, for instance, taking on water, it's pretty hard to stand your ground and say "no - I'm not helping" but I guess the key is to assess the situation each time. If it's only just stuck sure, maybe you can get it out without going full hektik and hurting the car, but if it's on both diffs or something you'll work out pretty quickly if you're going to be able to free it at all.

No point hitting it harder and harder until you have a broken car/broken recovery point.

Steve.

[Angus Martin]

Yeah that's exactly my thoughts, if I don't get him out in the first few tugs we look for other ways. Digging, track building etc

[1DYX]

Gwagensteve wrote:

T....... pulled out heavy cars with sierras. It's abusive to the car.


Steve.

... and you are rarely thanked or rewarded.....

[alien]

Angus Martin wrote:

Yeah that's exactly my thoughts, if I don't get him out in the first few tugs we look for other ways. Digging, track building etc

Swap that around - you should ALWAYS make sure that you make every effort is made to make the recovery as easy as possible on the first go. Dig, build track, then have your first attempt. It usually only takes 10mins if that, and makes everything that much safer and easier.

[Moph]

alien wrote:

Moph on here once has his sierra so stuck mine couldn't pull it out. We spent like 3 hours digging in mud (he did actually, while i took photos) - we even chucked a rock in the mud and jacked the car up to get rocks and sticks directly under the tyres to stop it sinking again. All that work meant that when it came time to try another pull, we got it first go - though even then i was spinning all 4 wheels!

I'm not sure the smell of that mud is out of my nostrils yet

[Angus Martin]

alien wrote:

Angus Martin wrote:

Yeah that's exactly my thoughts, if I don't get him out in the first few tugs we look for other ways. Digging, track building etc

Swap that around - you should ALWAYS make sure that you make every effort is made to make the recovery as easy as possible on the first go. Dig, build track, then have your first attempt. It usually only takes 10mins if that, and makes everything that much safer and easier.

Yeah I normally do, but sometimes if it looks like it's only a bit stuck in mud etc. I might try and pull first.
Cheers

[alien]

Moph wrote:

alien wrote:

Moph on here once has his sierra so stuck mine couldn't pull it out. We spent like 3 hours digging in mud (he did actually, while i took photos) - we even chucked a rock in the mud and jacked the car up to get rocks and sticks directly under the tyres to stop it sinking again. All that work meant that when it came time to try another pull, we got it first go - though even then i was spinning all 4 wheels!

I'm not sure the smell of that mud is out of my nostrils yet

There was water flowing underneath the mud, and likely something dead and buried down there!




Note the rear is up higher after jacking it up and jamming all sorts of junk underneath:


Aftermath:



Funniest part is that i drove straight over it at around 40km/hr then did donuts abotu 50m up. Moph went slower and got stuck =) hahaha

[Marko_SJ]

Get the tractor.

[Jezza86]

another point i think should come out of this is the use of a tirfor hand winch. connect it to the front, back, side, chassis rail if your upside down, and likewise to your mates cruser.

as long as theres a tree or something around, works better then busting a suzi nut

[magnat]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SX737IlQ2AU

A Hilux is nothing... Try a Hummer...

[Angus Martin]

haha cheers guys!
Yeah hand winches are good for those reasons exactly.
I'll talk my mate into getting a winch

[Built4thrashing]

yeh ive done some big recoveries....... Experiance is everything.

[magnat]

WOW.. now that IS an impressive effort...
Judging by the water level.. the driver also needed a snorkel...

[Dan`]

ive snatched out a lux and a land cruiser before (both at the same time). the lux was a mate of the cruiser that went in to try and pull him out and got stuck himself so out came another snatch strap which left me back on completely solid ground. at the time i had 31x10's and a gti motor (otherwise completely stock). it took a couple of run backs but i pulled the lux back enough that he could get enough traction that the 2 of us could pull the cruiser out. was fun and not really any stress at all. ive towed around heaps of things from trees to car wrecks and cars on trailers to dead roos and never had an issue. maybe mines just a superzook made from unicorn poop so is stronger than the rest?

[Gwagensteve]

No, you've been lucky and if you have stock gearing you can only generate stock torque. Open diffs?

[buzbox]

Another thing to think of is perhaps using a bridle or tree trunk protector to distribute the force evenly on the chassis instead of just one point of it. Same go's with the car being recovered. And of course don't forget the recovery dampner or blanket on either end of the strap.

[Dan`]

Gwagensteve wrote:

No, you've been lucky

no doubt. 15 years of abuse including being a daily driver, 4x4'in, weekly jetski puller and countless other things its done and the only thing ive ever needed to replace was uni joints once, but 20 year old joints tend to get a bit average and the bearings in the old gearbox were getting a bit noisy so replace the box with a rebuilt one. damn i love that car.

Gwagensteve wrote:

and if you have stock gearing you can only generate stock torque. Open diffs?

well yes and no, mostly no. torque is more about not only what the motor can put out but more so how much traction you can get. if all 4 wheels are spinning and the things crab walking sideways it does not matter how many more torques you can throw at it at that point because its never going to effect anything. if it only takes 100 torques to spin the wheels it does not matter if you have 1000 torques in the motor your driveline is only ever going to see 100 torques it takes to spin the wheels...

i think your confusing shock loads with torque and granted when you have everything locked up, including lockers etc then you are going to encounter more shock loads in your driveline versus open diffs. with everything locked up the shock loads can only be absorbed by the wheel that encounters it and not be transferred more evenly through the whole driveline like it would with open diffs. a proper LSD (versus a spool or locker) will also be more gentle on your driveline but as im sure you know will not be as good if your stuck in a hole with one wheel flapping around in the air. horses for courses i guess. the other big drawback with open diffs is that if you do get more traction on one wheel than the other you spin the spider gears like buggery inside the diff center, used to have this issue all the time with one of my race cars and it kept spitting the gears out the side of the gearbox (front wheel drive) but i guess big sticky race rubber and wheelspin at 130-140kph its to be expected.

[J--A--C--K]

Such a smart man right hear, we should all listen to his wise words of wisdom.