Wisconsin Tacomas and bad financial advice

Ha! I had plenty of that when I first ran it in 2WD, and I was wrecking his corners. The recorded run was in 4H. The video doesn't catch the elevation changes and speed very well. So fun though.

 

Remember the part (if used properly) when the hook or latch is adjusted properly a strap can't slip through.


Chains are a very good recovery tool if used properly, look at every tow truck out there.

 

The video reminded me of one of my runs through the woods at my mom's boyfriend's place up on the river. It's a tight trail with a lot of turns. Sometimes, when I'm feeling spicy, I book it through there as fast as I can. It's pretty fun! The only thing is, that if I go off course I am in the trees!

 

Yeah, a chain can be used in a tow recovery. I still prefer a strap, though.

 

But if I don't have a receiver hitch just a pintle what would I do?

 

I guess, don't go off-roading if you don't have the right equipment.

I understand using what you have in an emergency situation. But, we're talking about somebody who makes a living in off-road recovery. There is absolutely no reason for him to not use the right tool for the job. Especially because his videos encourage others to use the same hacky techniques

 

A strap can get through. Seen it happen. it might not in some instances but get a few thousand pounds of force on that point and there’s not gonna be enough clasp to win that battle.

 

Never seen it.

 

Yup. Most problems occur when people try to do kinetic recoveries.. without components designed for a kinetic recovery. There’s a huge difference in force between a slow pull once you have tension and a running start with slack in the system

 

I'm not talking about someone who makes a living in off-road recovery, I'm talking real world.

 

It can be done but you’ve got to be conscious of the angle of pull. Ideally it needs to be downward or straight, otherwise you should flip the pintle 180 so you aren’t pulling up toward the latch.

Kinetic recoveries are too unpredictable without a fully closed system.

 

I said earlier, if it was an emergency situation and that's all you had, then you make it work.

But, anybody who's actually going off-roading on purpose should buy the right stuff.

 

Tire chains are ok though

 

I really need to stop working weekends so I can do some fun offroading... besides that if there's enough interest I could host a fluid film/fire at my place. I don't have a lift, but I do have the gun and a compressor plenty big to run it! Would probably need to be a Monday or Tuesday, depending on what works for folks

 

With thousands of pounds of force, a strap will absolutely slip through the clasp. Not worth the risk.

Some tow trucks have chains, most have straps and hooks. Either way, you're not really using tow trucks for off-road recovery, theyre just pulling cars up on the flatbeds or out of a ditch. Plus when you're off roading, chains are super heavy and become flying weapons and debris whenever you go end over end. A strap won't do that.

Then how in the world is your pintle hitch attached to your truck? Unless you're driving a 17,000 lb dump truck... lol

 

So... as the discussion about appropriate equipment winds down... what should I do here? $127 for HF 80' 3/8 synthetic or a Bleepin Jeep 90' 3/8 with soft shackle end for $300??? I can get a soft shackle for $30 and 10' of line for less than the $150 difference... just trying to make the economics make sense for a tool I use three times a year at most. That difference is the rebuild on my Total Chaos UCA's... Is there hate for the Harbor Freight winch lines out there?

 

I feel recovery gear is one of those things that you shouldn't cheap out on. With that lots of people run the badlands winches from HF. If the synthetic line that you're looking at is the same as on their winches I'd say it's probably GTG. Another good source of synthetic winch line although at the upper end of the $'s would be Master Pull https://www.masterpull.com/

Soft shackles: I have some from Bubba Gear and have been happy with them https://www.bubbarope.com/

Of course you can't go wrong with anything from Warn, ARB, Factor 55, ARS Offroad, Yankum Ropes.....The list goes on




You also were takling about a mount for an ARB compressor that is up in front of the engine bay. This one mounts by the windshield washer reservoir https://sleeoffroad.com/products/sok0002/

 

Harbor freight winch line is pretty solid as are their badlands winches. The only one that isn't so great is the 9K winch because there's no way to attach synthetic line to it without drilling into the drum. All of their other winches can take either steel cable or synthetic line.