Winch use Question??

[scott-bc]

I fully undrstand that when your stuck and you have a winch you tie it to any secure tree in front of you. What if there are no trees in front of you but they are all behind your truck? How do you pull yourself backwards using the trees behind you? Would it be safe to put the winch cable under the truck? I was thinking of this yesterday.

[intender]

Short answer is no. Its not that it might not work, but most winches will say not to pull at an angle greater than about 30 degrees. If i was way out in the middle of nowhere and had no other way out and nobody to call, I might do it as a last resort. Its going to put an extreme amount of load on the winch and possibly cause damage, not to mention the angles and stresses on the cable would not be ideal and would lead to much greater chance of it snapping. Honestly if I was going to be putting myself in situations where I was alone and way out in the middle of nowhere and might need to winch from behind I would probably invest in a smaller cheaper winch and the mounts that they make for hitches. That way you can have it if you need it, but you could leave it stowed in the truck till you need it. just dont get the rear in a situation where you cant mount the winch.


Also dont forget that if your in a really tight spot, keep some straps or chains with you and you can use your high lift as a winch. you not going to move very far very fast, but its really handy when you need it. Thought I was going to have to use my hilift yesterday when the front end buried up and when I starting trying to dig it out I found my fairlead was sitting up against a log that was under the mud. Luckily I managed to get the cable out and winched it out.

[miskywhisky]

Pretty much what ^^ he said. Or you could rear mount one too!

<-- former Warn employee.

[TJTJ]

You can bury the spare tire, or use an anchor other than a tree, etc...if you need an anchor point.

Plan B is to use snatch blocks to allow redirection of the pull as needed, etc.

You should also not be wheeling alone, so the other truck can be an anchor point or pulley point, or pull you out, etc.


BTW - part of picking your line through obstacles is considering potential recovery options. If you see that not making it would put you into a difficult recovery situation, part of your decision process would be evaluating that risk/benefit ratio (Are the consequences of not making it going to outweigh the benefits of potentially making it?).

[maillet282]

you could also make or invest into a pull pall or a land anchor as another option but I agree with everything stated above

[scott-bc]

Thanks for the great feedback. What you all said is kind of what I thought. Thinking ahead of time is always important.

[Fzzt]

Check out Bill Burke's Getting Unstuck dvd : http://www.bb4wa.com/products/dvds.html

I heartily recommend Bill after taking an advanced class with him.