Let’s discuss what went wrong and how we can stop people getting killed during 4wd recoveries. This subject comes up again and again but the message is slowly getting though. Like comment and share to help spread this message if you believe in it.
Rest in peace Ryan my prayers are with your family and friends who you’ve left behind. I hope that this video helps save the lives of others.
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Roberts video on Snatch recovery forces.
https://youtu.be/dmuEacjtAVU
The original FaceBook post.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2310305859069599/permalink/5200181790081977/?fs=e&s=cl
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#towhitchkills #4×4 #recovery
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I was taught to tie to the frame on both vehicles ..
Right equipment for the right job.
Get a pintel hitch. Ultimately it all goes to the same 5/8 pin.
I'm here in the U.S. in Michigan where we've unfortunately used this method to some degree of failure more often success thankfully. The main issue I saw in this instance is it looked like a drop hitc used for lifted vehicles to pull trailers level. Granted, we try to exercise the utmost care and safety while recovering. Sometimes it goes by the wayside. Prayers to the family's loss. Be safe friends..
I have no experience in towing or recovery, but I have used tow chains to yank out trees bushes and concrete. I have always been terrified of pulling anything with a chain. An idk if laying a blanket over it makes a difference but I always lay something over the chain
This happened to a friend of mine, although with a tractor and a class B truck. It did t kill him right away but eventually resulted in his suicide about 15 years later.
Thankyou for the time taken to make this video. I perceive it to be absolutely correct.
One of the Aussie 4×4 channels (I think Dahl) did a video about the tow ball recovery. Never used it to recover never will
I totally agree with the "tow ball" recovery being inherently dangerous, but what wasn't mentioned is that the "dropped hitch" is 10X weaker than the standard hitch you displayed on your truck. It's call mechanical leverage, and for every inch the tow point moves away from the square tube mounting point, the hitch is weakened exponentially. The hitch effectively becomes a lever exerting lateral pressure on the tube which along with the violent loading is a recipe for disaster! I have a 13,000lb winch (synthetic cable) and that is how I roll. Great vid! 👍
Dislike, don't recommend this channel
What's your guys/gals opinion on recovering from a NATO hitch?
That was an excellent explanation of the hierarchy of recoveries. I don't know the experience level of the poor fella who was killed here but I watch a lot of the off road recovery videos from supposed 'professionals' and see an awful lot of out of control situations mostly involving kinetic recoveries and then read the comments of people saying how awesome and amazing they are and I can only imagine they will go away and copy what they have seen. If you want a good example of safe static load tows, watch the Jackson brothers. They run 2 cat D11s and which often need recovering, they use two 5 tonne rated straps to recover 100 tonne dozers.
Good talk, much information. Won't try that, never seen that insert before. Matter of fact, I switched to two wheel drive cos I kept getting stuck where I normally wouldn't drive.
Very good
This is a true tragedy, my heart felt condolences go to the family and friends of the victim!! I’ve been lucky in the pass with doing the same thing without damage to vehicles or ppl. Drawbars/trailer hitch receivers are designed for rolling resistance and to carry a percentage of the load of the attached trailer. I have had the hitch on a pickup fail at the radius bend of the mounting tabs under full load, do to metal fatigue. But that was close to 30 years ago now. And at that time I didn’t understand about all the different forces that took place. It wasn’t till a few years later when I started drinking tow truck about the different forces involved with a stuck vehicle and because of my pass expenses not to rely on trailer hitches for recovery points or the old tow hooks as they were more just for looks. That a vehicle stuck in the mud like in the picture could weigh lost most double it’s own weight do to the suction of the mud. We would use gravity to our advantage to over come the suction force and hook to the frame or the axle of the vehicle being recovered. As we would tension the winch cable to lift the front of the truck truck off the ground and let gravity take over. You can do the same thing with a winch on any vehicle and some type of kinetic recovery rope or sling. The same principle can be used with just loading the kinetic rope or sling. You also may need to add additional pull vehicles to get load the kinetic gear To over come the resistance of the stuck vehicle . But you will have to reduce the resistant force holding the stuck vehicle as Mad Matt mentioned in his video. And remember that one is none and two is better, with equal force being applied to each point. Mad Matt kinda demonstrated the idea in his video about adding a kinetic rope in his winch line to reduce stock load on your power train of your vehicle. Again my condolences to the family and friends of the victim. Mad Matt, keep up the great job bring awareness to dangers of doing recoveries with the wrong equipment, the wrong mindset and hidden forces in a recovery. 🍻
I don't think that was in depth enough, should have made it about an hour long to adequately explain the situation.
Thank you
You make a great point about only needing slightly more force than the recovery requires. That's what makes kinetic ropes so effective and safe. As the recovery vehicle is stretching the rope, the force applied to the stuck vehicle is slowly (relative to a static rope) increasing until either just enough force is applied to get the stuck vehicle moving, or the energy put into the system by the recovery vehicle is expended.
They usually have the ability to stretch about 30% of their length or so, but you aren't using all of that unless the rope is rated too low, or the recovery vehicle is too light to generate enough force.
So as long as the recovery vehicle is taking its time and carefully increasing their speed with each hit, it's a much more controlled method of recovery than it may first seem, especially to someone who has tried kinetic recovery with a static strap.
When I started doing moderately difficult trails, I upgraded my front and rear bumpers and both had 1" D-rings to tow and get towed out from. It makes it so much safer. My opinion is either have the right equipment or stay out of off roading. Also find a group who know what they are doing and ride with them, riding by yourself is a bad idea in my opinion.
Looks like Chinese iron
A forged one piece hitch wouldn't have sheared off like that. Also learned from an old school off roader that anytime your hooking to the front of a vehicle to recover pretend it has engine issues (even when it's still running fine) and pop that hood (bonnet). The sheet metal from the hood will help deflect/protect you if anything breaks instead of coming through the windshield. Condolences to the family.
I'm curious where the metals were made/produced. There's generic made hitches you can buy online that look strong and beefy but has cheep metal from China. Not to mention there could've been a bad weld. Not so much the "angle" of the weld