4x4 Recovery that went horribly wrong

[cmcs]

I just got these photos on the Overland forum. Damn, that is scary. (stupid, but scary none the less)

http://www.meistre.co.za/gallery2/v/...orribly+wrong/

[Knersus]

Wel hulle het nou alles wat die boek se jy NIE moet doen gedoen.

No 1. Moet nie 'n Range Rover voor 'n Hi lux sit nie..
No 2. Gebruik die regte recovery trek bal hak.
No 3. Ek glo nie die gesweisde trek bal aan die bumper is die regte ding om mee te recover nie.

Jammer oor die windscreen en bonnet skade maar dit kan baie erger gewees het. Ten minste leer ons ander daaruit.

[Barto]

Goeie Bliksem...that could have been very ugly.

It amazes me that with so many people around, noboby told the Rangy driver not to attach the rope to his tow ball....the most important rule of using snatch straps.
I'll stick to using my silly looking safety straps eventhough I only use proper recovery points....not taking any chances at the risk of loosing my head!

[OFFROAD ADDICT]

Hope no one was hurt, windscreen can be inexpensive to replace compared to other types of damage. But golden rule as was previously said DO NOT USE TOW BAR EVER and bonnet should be up so as to protect driver and windscreen. This was a heavy load a snatch could have been at least 5 tons, tow bar bolts can only do 3 tons, so there you are. We all learn from these experiences any way. Thanks CHRIS for starting this thread as this is an eye opener for all of us. This is useful info.

[cmcs]

I'm just glad I've learned from safety conscience people!

[Damdan]

Also not by the book, passengers smiling away, Savanna in the hand. A further empty Savanna keeping the towball company.
And what's with the gold chains everywhere?

[OFFROAD ADDICT]

Landy recovers toyota it cant be ? Reliability problem for LR even the tow bar huh!

[Beans]

Welding.

[alanB]

Recoveries are always a major opportunity for something stupid to happen. This strange group frenzy seems to take over where everyone suddenly is loudly giving advice, the objective is to get unstuck as quickly as possible where every second suddenly counts. This is a great way to do something stupid!

I spent my 1st 8 years working in a large workshop where the cranes routinely lifted 100's of tons bits of steel etc everyday, we had our fair share of rigging accidents (two of them fatal). I still never walk underneath anyone working above me or anything suspended above even today, having noticed how the old foremen would never do that no matter how innocent the situation seemed.

I bought ASPW's recovery video and really liked the idea of those saftey slings/loops that John Rich uses, and bought a pair. The funny thing is even when I take them out and hand them to people when lending them my recovery gear nobody uses them!

Also fascinated how people will actively try not to use kit they themsleves have gone out and bought, but try and take quick short cuts in these situations! It seems to be a bigger social error to take a precaution that may not be necessary than have your or your passenger's facial structure rearranged by a tow ball!

[Frans]

"I bought ASPW's recovery video and really liked the idea of those saftey slings/loops that John Rich uses, and bought a pair. The funny thing is even when I take them out and hand them to people when lending them my recovery gear nobody uses them! "

Pray tell, what are these safety slings/loops you mention?

[alanB]

They are basically small industrial polypropylene rigging slings (I got the 1ton safe load rating 1.5m length). But looking at the particular accident above I wander of 1 ton rating is enough.

You loop one end around the winch cable/kinetic strap and the other around some strong point on the vehicle other than the recover point. You do the same at the other end of the kinetc strap (obviously you cant do the same at the winch). The idea being that if the recovery point fails then the safety strap catches the failed end before it can go flying through the air and cause mass destruction.

You can get these slings from any rigging supplier in different lengths and load ratings (but dont tell them that you require it for 4x4 becuase the price magically triples).

[Barto]

I've also got the same slings as Alan and use them often, but I've also found that rope works very well. I'm not talking about ski rope, the rope I use is about 15mm and rated at 2,5tons, pieces of 3m each. I loop the rope between the strap and the vehicle 2 or 3 times. Also usefull to loop through a small holes on a vehicle chassis a few times to create a recovery point if the vehicle doesn't have any proper recovery points
In extreme recoveries where the is access, I've used a 3m tow strap with one end attached to the snatch strap and the other end to the rear axle on both the stuck and the recovery vehicle just in case I rip off the entire rear bar....but luckily that has never happened.

[BigRed]

Spot the bottle together with the tow hitch on the back seat....

[Frans]

Thanks, guys, definately going to get or make some up. At least they taught me how to splice a rope during my National Service in the Navy

[SimonB]

This thread reminds me...

Where is the best place to have recovery points installed on my Paj? I have the standard ones in front, but nothing at the back.

Yeah yeah, I'm waiting for smarmy remarks form Toyota drivers about me needing to be recovered....

[OFFROAD ADDICT]

Simon you are right for the past 20 yrs or so i tell people the first thing you do is go and have good strong recovery points, in accessable places front and back installed. They dont have to cost a fortune i bought solid cast iron eye hooks and lekker galvanized threaded rod and mig welded through bumper direct onto ladder chassy. used many times. popped into exhaust shop and they did the weld. Well in front i have the offroad bumper ,it comes with holes for shackles. This makes life so much easier on a trail for a quick recovery.

[Beans]

AS per the wccc6.5.1 All vehicles must be fitted with recovery points at back and front, securely bolted down (welding is not acceptable) and easily accessible. Recovery points must be painted red. Only factory produced recovery points are acceptable. Where factory produced hooks are used they are to be of a forged type, where factory recovery points are used and are designed for use with shackles, these shackles are to be a minimum of 3.25 ton rated shackles. Tow balls will not be acceptable as recovery points. All recovery points must be able to withstand the breaking strength of an 8000 pound snatch strap without breaking free from the vehicle.
6.5.2 High tensile 8.8 Bolts matching the hole size of the recovery point are to be used to bolt the recovery point to it’s mounting point. The mounting points are to be either part of the vehicles chassis/sub frame or connected to the chassis/sub frame.
6.5.3 Each year all recovery point bolts will be replaced with new ones. Working parts of recovery points must be kept in good working order all year round.
6.5.4 The Driver of a vehicle is responsible for the integrity of the recovery point, should a recovery point on his vehicle fail, the competitor will be subject to a three event ban.

[JohnDough]

Stupidity was the first word I thought of, then I found a few more:

Foolishness
Lack of common sense
Idiocy
Silliness

the rest are censored

[SimonB]

Beans

Ok these are event rules, and I agree welding is somewhat of a pot luck exercise, depending on the skill of a welder.

But how many vehicles have OEM recovery points available? What is a factory produced recovery point? The weak looking one at the front? I can't even see where recovery points would even be bolted on at the back.

I agree with Ian... This kind of incident reinforces (excuse the pun) that there is too much emphasis on flash 4x4 goodies without thinking what is really important is the soft smelly stuff that hits rotating blades.

BTW JohnDough, Stupidy encompasses all those words but forgets one important one... alcohol and it's effect on stupidity

[vizzerman]

My rear recovery point consists of 2 steel plates of 10mm that goes on either side of a cavity in my bumper (2mm plate) they are quite large around 25 x 15 cm maybe even bigger. they lie lengthwise , at each corner is a simple 12 mm diameter HT bolt, not hugely thick but strong due to the load being spread. the recovery eye is welded slap in the middle of this and is made from 20mm plate. if a proper bow shackle of the appropriate size is used the bending forces on the point should be minimized and it all hopefully holds.

Looks like the tow bar broke its bolts clean off, due to the downward bending force on the hook due to its design.

Secondly I have a simple slingbag that can be placed over ones snatch strap and filled with sand that should hopefully disperse the worst momentum in a breakage and hopefully pull the strap downwards rather then let it fly up thereby diverting the flight of a broken shackle etc.

Also, why not put up ones bonnet in a snatch recovery? People always do so when whinching, why not snatching?