[TMS2U]

The following are GUIDELINES and are not meant to be comprehensive, just some of my observations over the years. Off road vehicle recovery is an inherently dangerous activity. Be sure that all recovery equipment is in good working order. Proceed at your own risk and always remember- Drive fast and take chances


So you have a 4x4 and you are just itching to go out and see what trouble you can get in to- and hopefully OUT of. There are many aspects to being able to successfully negotiate tough terrain, such as suspension, tires, etc. But one key component is to have the tools and knowledge needed to get you out of trouble. As with any type of adventure activity a few basic rules to live by can save your bacon if you do get in over your head.

1) Let someone know where you are going and when you plan to return. A simple and effective way to give yourself some insurance if the drastic happens
2) Go with another vehicle if possible or, at least with another person in your rig. Having someone else around to help you out can be invaluable as well as a huge time saver.
3) Have some kind of communication device- a cell phone, cb, short wave, etc. Using the airwaves is much faster than a using a runner!
4) Have the appropriate recovery gear AND know how to use it.

The first 3 items are common sense and we should not have to discuss them beyond what we already have, so lets focus on # 4

How much recovery gear do I really need?

Well in my opinion you can never have too much, but the type and quantity of gear you should have should be a reflection of the type of terrain you are likely to encounter. An example of a very complete gear set can be found HERE. While this list is quite extensive, it illustrates the point of bringing what you think you may need. However, most of us are not setting out on a 14 day expedition, so what are the basics? Well if you get stuck to the point that you cannot extricate your rig with its own power you need to have a good understanding of what to do and what not to do.

Know the proper recovery points for your vehicle and be able to identify some basic points for any type of vehicle that may come to your rescue.

Some obvious spots are places like receiver hitches and tow hooks. The stock Tundra comes with only one tow hook, located on the front, under the bumper along the passenger side and 2 open hole attachment points on either side as well up front. On the rear of the vehicle there aren't any hooks, but there are open hole attachment points on the rear leaf hangers, but I would use these only as a last resort for reasons I will get into shortly. To effectively recover a stuck vehicle, the more option you have for attachments the better, so you may want to consider adding either a tow hitch to the rear, or an aftermarket hook attached to the frame with some Grade 5 or better yet, Grade 8 hardware. Perhaps the best types of recovery points involve the use of D shackles or D rings. When hunting for an attachment point, look for spots SECURELY attached immediately adjacent to the frame of the vehicle in question. If you are going to use a bumper, attach to a spot as close to the frame mounts as possible. A tow hitch is a great place to attach the strap to. You can put the loop in the receiver hitch and insert the pin thru the eye of the loop. If you have a 3" wide strap though, this wont work for you. You can also wrap the strap around the body of the hitch, if there is room (this depends upon what kind of hitch you have), and feed one loop thru the other in a kind of slipknot. Be aware that this kind of set up can move around on you if you are pulling at an angle

Places that you NEVER want to use as an attachment are things such as ANY suspension or steering component (leaf springs, axels, control arms, sway bars, shocks, tie rods, etc.) or anything else that is not immediately attached to the frame. Getting bent or tweaked suspension is no fun. This is due to the enormous forces that are unleashed while extracting a vehicle. Remember, your rig weighs more than 4000lbs so a considerable amount of force will be needed to get it unstuck. You do not want to attach to anything that will get ripped off of your rig and possible hurt you or others in the area.

This brings me to the concept of working load limits (WLL). Have you heard the saying "A chain is only as strong as its weakest link?" Well that is a very important thing to consider when using recovery equipment. Therefore, it is imperative that you know the limits of your equipment- each and every piece. While true WLL are based upon hoisting (overhead or verticle work) they still apply to towing or winching operations (later I'll give you a link to a site that talks about how much weight is actually getting moved around during a recovery operation). For instance, you have a nylon tow strap that says it is rated for 21,000 lbs. Tuff huh? Well what are you attaching that to? I bet it is not rated to 21,000 lbs! If you use your strap attached to a class III hitch, this setup is only rated for 5000 lbs, the rating for that type of hitch, despite the rating of the strap. For basic snatch extractions this may not be something to belabor or worry about excessively, but when it comes to winching type or deep stuck extractions it is crucially important. We'll talk about this more a bit later. OK, lets go through some of the gear and how to use it.

Nylon Tow Straps

AT A MINIMUM YOU NEED A TOW STRAP! Anybody who ventures off road without one is being foolish (I also advocate having a shovel - the camping/ army surplus kind is fine). Do not even think that a rope is a suitable substitute as you will be sorely disappointed with the results. A 2" wide, 30 foot strap will set you back about $40. DO NOT purchase a strap that has a hook pre-attached to the loop. This is a disaster waiting to happen. If that hook slips or breaks, it will become a projectile that can cause significant damage to your or your buddies rig, or worse maim or kill a bystander or driver. The only kind of strap you should consider is the double reinforced loop kind like you can see HERE. There is a down side to only having a tow strap in your recovery gear. You need another vehicle to use it!

There are 3 basic ways to use the tow strap after it has been SECURELY attached to both vehicles. For all 3 methods you should use as straight of a line of pull with the stuck vehicle as possible. This will help minimize torsion forces on the attachment point of the stuck vehicle. If you do have to pull at an angle you should attach to a spot that is as close to the side of the truck that is near the pulling vehicle. For instance, if you have to pull at an angle on the passenger side of the vehicle, find an attachment spot on the passenger side. Angles greater that 30 degrees should be avoided if at all possible. Also, the type of "stuck" (mud sand, snow & how deeply buried the vehicle is) will determine how much force will be required to get unstuck. Remember safety first- be sure there are no bystanders in the immediate vicinity of the 2 vehicle. Now use the following techniques in order of most gentle to most forceful:

1) Place both vehicles in 4 lo and slowly take up the slack in the strap. After the strap becomes fully extended gradually increase the throttle in both vehicles. If you are lucky you are out! If not your tires are spinning and slinging. This is generally effective for light & shallow stucks.
2) If that did not work, next get a rolling start to try and tug. Note I said rolling start, like about 3-5 MPH. You want to use to least amount of force needed as the harder the yank, the potential for damage greatly increases. Be prepared for the jolt, but the strap will absob most of it. The beauty of the nylon straps is that they have elastic properties that you can use to your advantage. Make sure the strap does not get hung up on your vehicle. NEVER EVER EVER try the tug technique with anything other than a nylon tow strap. Try this with a chain or wire rope and you will be guaranteed some kind of damage and quite possibly physical injury or even death. This is generally effective for light-medium shallow stucks.
3) If a rolling start did not work, first reassess the situation before proceeding with more speed. As I said, if you really yank hard you might tweak something so be sure that you are not overlooking something. Reassess your attachment points. Reassess your tugging angle and/or direction. Be sure both drivers are on the same page strategy wise. After doing a 2nd look over give #2 a try again, then move up to a higher speed. Use 2-3 MPH increments, but be very, very wary of anything above 15 MPH. At that point you may need to get more help before something disastrous happens. This is generally effective for medium-medium/heavy moderate deapth stucks. Beyond this you may want to consider using 2 vehicles or doing some digging or going to a winching operation or a combo of these.

Some things to not do with a nylon tow strap.
1) Tie a knot in it to shorten the length of the strap for a pull or to tie 2 straps together. You will make that knot permanent if you place a load on it. If you need to shorten it, wrap it around a bumper to get the desired length or double it up using a shackle or receiver hitch as a "hinge" for the mid point.
2) Combine a strap with some other type of item like a chain or wire rope
3) Poke or cut a hole in it. This will dramatically decrease the WLL of the strap
4) Try and sew a new loop or anything else on it. Unless you are a master parachute rigger, leave this to the professionals.

Basic Winching

There are several ways to "winch" a vehicle in a recovery situation. This includes the use of an electric or hydraulic motor winch, such as Warn or a hand powered device such as a come-along or a Hi-Lift Jack. With either method the principles are the same, but who does the work is the difference! There are advantages and disadvantages with both, but the electric or hydraulic method is easiest, but can also get you in more trouble.

Safety concerns are paramount in winch recoveries. The loads the system is exposed to can be severe and prolonged. Working load limits of EACH piece of gear in the setup need to be scrutinized and should be at the VERY least equal to the load it is going to be subjected to . Each piece of gear need to be checked for defects and used properly. An excellent source of information on WLL determination and other winching details can be found HERE This is a very comprehensive source and I highly recommend that you take the time to read all of the information provided there. The generally accepted mantra is that you should have a winch that is capable of a WLL that is 1.5 times the gross vehicle weight (GVW) of your rig IN ITS NORMAL CONFIGURATION. This means when you are fully loaded with gear. The plate on your door frame is the weight of your rig when it is empty. It can easily be 1000 lbs heavier than that with you and all of your gear in it. Knowing the GVW AND the loads that the winch will be exposed to for different types of recoveries will dictate the technique that will be required to SAFELY perform the recovery. Never exceed the WLL for your recovery gear- the price you pay for this will be very steep. This brings me to the discussion of receiver hitch mounted winches. While this is undoubtedly a very convenient setup (allows you to tow forward or backward provided you have the hitches installed), it is inherently limited in its WLL capacity. Light to medium duty jobs will be fine, but serious jobs should not be attempted. Any winch that has a rating above 5000 lbs is wasted on this type of set up and can lull you into a false sense of security - remember class III hitches are only rated to 5000 lbs. Similarly, you need to be aware of brush guard mounted setups for similar reasons.

If you have a situation that looks like you are exceeding the WLL of your gear- no worries. Most likely there is a work around. The most common is the use a snatch block(s) to double the line. This effectively reduces the load on the components by a half or doubles your winching power (actually it just reduces the current draw so the winch does not work as hard). The down side to this is that the distance that you can winch will also be reduced by a half and it takes longer to move a given distance. Typically a winch has about 100ft of line. You need to keep at least 5 or 6 wraps of line on the winch drum, so that leaves you with about 90 feet. (Your winch has the highest capacity during the second layer wrap and will loose about 10% on each layer after that) So you can see that if you have to do a double line pull you have to be about 43 feet away (giving room for the blocks and shackles needed for this setup) from the vehicle to be recovered. Some situations may not let you be that close. This illustrates that every recovery situation is different and needs to be assessed independently with some sound judgment. In the best of possible worlds, you have someone with you who has done this several times and knows the principles. If not, go out and do some dry runs in controlled situations. Practice makes perfect.

Winch Operation

Remember- Safety First. Never try to use an electric motor winch if it submerged under water!! Play out as much line as possible. Check, double check, and triple check all connection BEFORE doing the pull. Be sure that the anchor point is SOLID and can handle the load. If you are not in reach of an anchor, you can use a mobile anchor like the Pull-Pal. Alternatively you can put your shovel to use and dig a hole (about 3-4 feet deep) and bury a log or even your spare tire (vertically placed). Leave a little trench that is at a 45-degree angle from the hole for the line to exit and put a small log under the line to keep it from burying. Another option is the use of T stakes hammered into the ground and secured together. No doubt a Pull Pal is way easier!! Make sure there are no bystanders in the area (a good rule of thumb is a diameter equal to that of the amount of line played out). If the vehicle is burried in mud up to the frame you may need to do some digging to help release the vacuum effect of the mud (if not done the force needed is GREATLY increased). Take up the slack in the line. Never stand on, stand over, or handle a line under tension. If you are the winching vehicle, feed the remote to the inside of your rig, and raise the hood to protect yourself in case of line or connector failure (if you have a synthetic line or are facing up a steep hill you can skip this!). Have the engine running at about 1800 rpm. If you don't you will drain your battery (you still can even with the engine running if it is a long pull or you have a weakened battery!!). If you are using the winch to extricate your own rig, put it in gear and give it a little gas at the same time you activate the winch. Keep going until you get some traction, or need to stop and check on the line wind. Don't over drive the line! Never stall out your winch (meaning the drum does not move eventhough you have your finger on the trigger!). This will burn out your winch quickly!!! Wind the line back on the drum under tension (like winching when in neutral rolling up to an anchor spot or just by using your hands). When handling the line, use a hand over hand and do not let it slide thru your hands. Be very careful at the end of the winding process and use a hand saver for the last few inches to avoid finger smunsh and off you go!!!

Some other guidelines and safety practices

Wire Rope

If you are using wire rope, steps need to be taken to prevent to prevent the rope from becoming a projectile if there is a failure in the rigging. A sand bag, old piece of carpet, anything that puts some weight on the top of the rope. floor mats or a heavy jacket will also work. Place this in the middle of the line (and over any connections with hardware such as at a tree saver) and periodically readjust it to the middle as the pull proceeds. DO NOT clip or tie anything to the line, as this can also become a projectile. Always handle wire rope with leather gloves. If you encounter a fray with bare hand, you will be the lucky recipient of a mega-splinter and most likely a few stitches.

If you use a winch you may want to consider changing out you wire rope for a synthetic rope. There are basically 2 kinds of synthetic rope: Plasma rope (Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Fiber) and X-Line. The major advantages to these lines are they are lighter, do not whiplash, and do not permanently kink or bend. Plasma rope floats, but is more susceptible to heat damage (winches can get very hot). X-Line is more heat stable, but costs more. Both lines should be used with specially designed fairleads to prolong line life. The increased safety factor is huge with these products.

Spooling and winding the line, no matter what type you have, is also important. When spooling (rolling the line off of the winch drum) it generally is best to do a "free spool" meaning that you physically pull the line off of the drum. If you use the motor to spool the line, it will get hot and start to draw a lot of current from you electrical system, so a free spool is best. This can be a challenge if you have wire rope, as it gets heavy after a few feet, especially if you have to lug it uphill!! When winding the line in, whether under load or not, it is important that you check to see that it is wrapping neatly. If it starts to bunch on one side of the drum you will run into problems with space on the drum (while the line will fit with an even wind, if the wind is offset, the capacity of the drum will be reduced. Think about a garden hose reel. When winding that hose on if you do a nice wrap you get lots more hose on the reel). This happens if you do a pull off to an angle. If the pull is not real long and you have a fair amount of line out, you wont have to worry about it much. If it is a long offset angle pull, you may have to periodically stop, secure the vehicle being recovered, spool out the line and rewind it properly. Also, the line needs to be wound on the drum under tension. If you neglect to do a proper wind under tension, a top layer of line can bury into the bottom layers and cause line binding on the drum. This is a major headache to deal with, especially in the field, so lets get it right the first time.

When using a tree as an anchor point use a tree strap and a D shackle. This not only saves your line from kinking and permanent damage it also saves the tree! Place the line hook so that it is facing upward so that if it slips it will head downward.

D Shackles

These are excellent attachment points when attached to a suitable location and properly used. A couple of quick points. Be sure the screw pin is tightened all the way, then back it off 1/2 a turn. Never load the shackle at an angle. The loads should be perpendicular the screw pin. The 3/4" or 1" shackles are probably the best to use (6.5 ton or 10 ton WLL).

Hi Lift Jack

Lets face it. The little hydraulic jack you get with your Tundra works fine, but if you put a lift on your truck, you better carry some lumber around to put under the jack to get it working, especially if you might need to use it in the dirt. Normally a mechanical jack such as the Hi-Lift would be a viable alternative, however, there are not many spots on the Tundra that will allow a good perch for the jack (on a stock Tundra the only spot is the rear bumper and you will dimple it if you are not careful!). Does that mean that the Hi-Lift is useless? Absolutely not! You can still find lots of uses for it and if you want to make your rig more trail ready by adding a new front bumper such as the ARB Sahara Bar, a custom rear bumper, and rock sliders, then you will have plenty of places from which to lift you rig. These jacks are rated at 4660 lbs.

Lifting is only one use of the Hi-Lift. Used as a come-along, it is very useful. I have found myself in situations that I have had to use both my winch and my Hi-Lift for a recovery. If you have a front mounted winch, but need to be pulled from the rear of your rig, your winch is basically useless - Hi-Lift to the rescue! A Hi-Lift can be used as a clamp by the positioning of the upper clevis in the appropriate position. With other accessories it can even be used as a pipe straightener.

So What do I lug around for recovery gear?

Here is my list:
Warn M12000 winch mounted on custom frame mounted tube bumper with 100 feet of X-line rope
125" 3/8 wire rope (originally came w/ the winch)
Five 3/4" D Shackles
Two 29000lb snatch blocks
Two 3"wide 6 foot tree straps
One 2" wide 30 foot tug strap
One 20 foot 3/8" Grade 80 choker chain
Two sets Leather gloves
60" all-cast Hi-Lift Jack with jackmate accesorries
Full size Shovel
A complete tool set
And a digital camera to capture all the fun when I need to use it!!!!


Hopefully you will have found this to be both informative and useful. I'm sure that I have left something out so if anyone has any suggestions or comments dont hesitate to give me a holler