Southwind85
Where I Park
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Joined: 01/31/2007
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Handbasket wrote:One caution... that one fool standing between the vehicles... if the tow strap breaks, or comes unanchored under tension, he's risking being looking for a quick knee replacement. I've read ~20 yrs back of the anchor point on the stuck vehicle breaking, it & the hook going thru the back window of a Jeep, thru the headrest, and killing the Jeep driver. There's a frightful amount of force 'stored' in one of those things at full stretch... or a winch cable.
Is there any chance that incident was around late 1982 or early 1983? That exact thing happened to one of my classmates in high school. She was pulling a friend out that was stuck in the mud. The ball broke off the stuck truck and the tow strap rubber banded the ball through the back of her truck window and straight into the back of her head. Game over.
Lesson of the day: Throw the stupid rubber bands away and use chains because chains don't store energy. Chains just fall to the ground and recoil only slightly when something lets go under load.
The Good Life
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Ivylog
Blairsville, Ga. USA
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Joined: 06/30/2004
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Knock on wood, I've never broken/pulled anything loose so the 1/2 rope has never been tested. I weld the bumper hitch to the equalizing hitch on all my PU's so I have a 15K+ hitch. Use a 2" solid receiver with a 2 5/16" ball and the steel fid will fit over it and always pull on the frame, front axle, or rear hitch. Yes it took a few times before I had enough faith to put the pedal to the metal as usually 50' of run is more than enough to pull most out. After watching some good old boys spend a 1/2 hour trying to pull a over tired 4x4 PU buryed in the mud with chains and a stiff strap I offered to pull it out with a F150. After being laughed at I convinced them they had nothing to loose -should have bet them. Had to get off at a 45 degree angle to find some firm sand and had only about 20' of run. Hit it hard and was digging down to give it time to break the suction without being pulled back when the 4x4 jumped into the air so fast it thru the drive down on the seat with the tires turned the wrong way. Pretty sure there was a run on 1" rope after that. With a chain you are limited to only pulling out something of the same size at most. Agree it can be dangerous if you are not careful. The grain harvesting PU's have a heavy mesh screen behind their rear windows.
04 Monaco Dynasty 42' quad slide
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agefhx
Republic of Texas
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Joined: 06/17/2003
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Man i seem to always get stuck in my truck, i now carry a strap,shovel and "tow truck in a box". I saw "tow truck in a box" when i was picking up a tow strap at a auto parts store in Redding Ca. a few years back.
I only had to use it once (because im careful now  ) But to my surprise it did work.
tow truck in a box
2004 KZ New Vision Sportster, 6ft toybox side ramp. 2002 F-350 Crewcab-Superchipped. At COE Lake Bardwell Texas
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smkettner
Southern CA
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Joined: 03/21/2005
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Southwind85 wrote:She was pulling a friend out that was stuck in the mud. The ball broke off the stuck truck and the tow strap rubber banded the ball through the back of her truck window and straight into the back of her head. Game over.
Do not attach any tow rope or snatch strap to a hitch ball. Better direct to the pin or best is to a hitch adapter made for such work. And yes it is dangerous, bystanders need to be warned.
I wish I could have seen how much they dug out the tires first. Too little digging was probably what made it so difficult.
2001 F150 SuperCrew 5.4 Lariat Offroad 4x4 Tow Package 4.10 Truetrac
2006 Keystone Springdale 249FWBHLS
12K SuperGlide, KGE3000Ti 2.3kw rated 2.6kw max
Frank's voltage booster, Prosine 1800 powered by 4 GC2 batteries
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dennis16002
Butler, Pa, USA
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Joined: 01/11/2004
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Good film of a bunch of jerks. Lucky that no one got hurt or killed. When those straps break they aren't really selective about who they hit. There are actually professional people who do those jobs, & do them safely.
DHS
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SemperFiCop
USA
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Joined: 10/19/2007
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Wow! Good thing no one got hurt...
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rockhillmanor
On the Road
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Joined: 12/06/2003
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okgc wrote:We see stuck MHs occasionally at horse shows.
One was a large class C with a horse trailer in tow. What fun
I watched a big DP pull in behind me at night at a dog show and it just
sunk right into the mud. Where he was, a tow truck would 'not' have
been able to get in to get him out.
One guy thought he could pull it out with his dually I gave him
my tow strap, one pull and my tow strap snapped on the first pull.
Boards stuffed under the tires just shot out like a missile.
THEN a guy came over with a shovel and simply dug around each tire.
The MH pulled right out.
I must admit I was amazed that you could just dig out a big DP from mud.
I would have been pulling out my credit card for a costly tow.
"Note to self:" Put a shovel in my MH.
Sometimes the simplest way is the way that works.
31 ft Four Winds
Chevy Tracker 4x4 BlueOx Aventa LX
We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned,
so as to have the life that is waiting for us.
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Handbasket
Asheville, NC
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Joined: 01/17/2003
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Southwind85, Dunno if it was the same incident or not. It's from a dimly rmemebered article in, IIRC, 'PV4' magazine, sometime in the 80's. I do remember that the hook and whatever had broken loose from the stuck vehicle went thru the headrest. I have some memory that this was a one-piece seat, with the headrest built-in, but that may or may-not be just a 'logical' detail filled in by my mind. I don't recall that gender of the victim.
I do recall that even after 4 yrs on a Navy cargo ship, working on big winches and seeing them in operation almost daily, I was impressed by the damage a little snatch-strap could do.
Jim, "Mo' coffee!"
'06 Tiger CX 'C Minus' on a Silverado 2500HD 4x4, 8.1 & Allison ('Loafer's Glory'); '07 Forester 2.5 ( the 'HANDBSKT'); '95 Toyota SR5 V-6 4x4 pickup, ARB locker, Bilsteins, Warn hubs & M8000, etc;
'94 968, M030 swaybars ('DOPPLER')
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ufgator
fl
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Joined: 07/20/2007
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Its been over 20 years ago when I used a strap to pull a friend out from a river overflow, just as I hit the end of the strap his factory tow hook broke off the frame and came flying thru my back window. Thank God I had my rifle in the back window rack as it split the stock when it came thru the glass behind my head. Did get a new window out of it.
Lesson learned--- Factory tow hooks are just for looks.
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keepmotoring
North Carolina
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Joined: 10/18/2001
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rockhillmanor, that is what we did when our 38ft DP got stuck up to the front axiles in dirt. Our biggest problem was not only the dirt but all of the roots in the dirt. We really couldn't shovel as much as work the dirt and roots away with our hands. After working about 3 hours, we finally had enough dirt away from the tires to where we could place boards underneath and by the grace of God the MH was able to come out of it. Sometimes it pays to keep your head clear and just work with the situation.
LUVRVN currently in Myrtle Beach, SC
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