Got my taco stuck in mud - pulled out with strap on rear frame ok?

Left side of my truck got swallowed up by an unexpected mud pit. Front left was burried to 1" past the bottom of the bumper and the rear was about 3/4 up the tire. Despite having the locker on, the tilt to the left (since the right side was on solid ground) put almost no weight on the rights, so giving it gas just seemed to bury the left side more.

Had a friend come and we hooked my recovery strap to his hook, and since it seemed like a roll-over risk to pull my truck from the front, we wanted to pull it back out from the rear. It only had to go about 3-5 feet back until it ws back on good ground.

We looked the strap around my right rear frame...near where the leafs are. It seemed beefy there, and there didn't seem like a much better place to pull from. All in all, it seemed to work great. Should I be wary of any damage that might have happened from recovering me from that frame location? FWIW, truck drives great today. Slight imbalance to the tires given the 5 lbs of mud in each wheel Was it a horrible idea to pull me from the frame?

I know the best way to do it is have a hitch (which I don't) and a D-ring shackle off of an insert in the hitch, but I hear of this more for recoverING rather than BEING recovered.

 

its fine, maybe a pic of where exactly the strap was would help more but i dont see a problem with hooking it anywhere on the frame

 

Pffft. Vehicles made for towing can't have loads placed on the rear of the frame.

Go get your salvage title.

 

x2, you need one of these.
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/elite-off-road/90840-elite-off-road-receiver-hitch-shackle.html

 

I am detecting sarcasm, but, the answers below actually sound like people say it's bad....so...confused.

Thanks for the link below. I need to get a hitch, then get one of these. I really have no plans for regular mudding or anything. This was just a freak accident. I am building a new house so the lot is all bare dirt. With all the melted snow, it is a slop fest. I bot stupid/brave and thought I'd take the left side of the truck into a dip off of the main driveway...which was a swampy mud pit.

 

Throw a picture up of where you tied off to. I doubt you did any damage to your truck, I just wouldn't make it a regular thing.

 

Either / or for recovery ( Clevis Hook / D ring, is ok but don't make a habit of strapping to your rear spring shackle if this is what you hook on to....

 

It was sarcasm. There's no need to be confused, and relax, your truck is fine. Pulling directly from the frame is not going to damage it. What do people think the hitch attaches to?

 

UH OH!
Did you tell him what really happens ?

​

 

yup frame yes axle no

 

Direct pull on the axle is a good way to rip the axle off.

The frame is pretty much the strongest part of the truck. If it gets damaged during the recovery, you wouldn't have been better off connecting to anything else.

A hitch can help distribute the load, but honestly you're going to break winches (unless you have a monster winch...) or cause recovering vehicles on the other end of straps to spin tires well before you deform the frame.

And if you're mired that deep, you need to get a shovel and some 2x4s involved before attempting recovery.

 

See previous post.

 

I wouldn't do it if I didn't have to, but you're going to have to work damn hard to hurt the frame directly.

Now...the strap sliding around and fucking with brake/data/fuel lines...fucking up bodywork...all of that is a completely different story.