NW WA Meet / BS Thread

Okay, spent yesterday beginning round 1 of nursing my truck back to health - pulled 3 dents, fixed my foglight, dried out all my recovery gear, and washed/vacuumed the interior.

Need to get my wheels/tires re-balanced and try to get an alignment today. I developed some nasty vibes that show up between 55-70 mph. Hoping it's just my wheels out of balance and not something worse.

Mike, thanks again for coming along, you were EXTREMELY instrumental in spotting all of us, and making sure safety was top priority. I walked away learning some new techniques, and taking note of how to handle difficult recoveries like that.

I think we should have a Meet 'N Greet very soon, and I would love to buy you a beer. Maybe SATURDAY THE 15TH???

*ALSO*: 4WP has a SmittyBilt recovery bag on sale for $60 right now. About as basic as it gets, and you could probably piece together your own for about the same.

...And onto the pics (I accidentally deleted a few pictures and videos since the date was wrong on my camera, I mis-took them for "old" ones and trashed them). I'll try to get some vids up soon!









Will just kickin' it with the trees

 

Add me to this list please. I'm moving to the Tacoma Area in the spring and I would love to hang out with you guys!

 

Hey Ben I'm not sure about that bag you posted. Here's why:

-contains a tow strap, not a recovery strap
-what are you going to do with that chain??
-what is the pulley block rated for? Also, if you don't have a winch, you don't need one.

The only two kits I've seen of any worth are the one that you bought and the one Viking makes (the Viking one is spendy).
It's better to put together your own kit of good, solid gear. At minimum:

-2x30 recovery strap
-At least two 3/4" bow shackles with a WLL (working load limit) of 4.75 tons or better
-gloves
-recovery hitch with bow shackle

You can then expand your kit as you gain armor (like a hi-lift when you get sliders) or gear (like tree straps, pulleys, etc. when you get a winch).

other things to consider are tire repair kits and tire chains.

Be careful of useless 'up-sells', such as winch line dampners, fancy schmancy pulleys, or fairleads. They typically serve no purpose or are sometimes worse than the basic equipment!

 

If yall plan a tahoya trip, let me know im down

 

I would be down for Tahuya again. It's relatively close, good camping spots, and tame enough to where I know I won't walk away with new damage

Yeah, I agree this is not the *ideal* recovery kit, esp. if you don't have a winch. The specs aren't bad though considering the price:

(from Quadratec)
Parts Included

• Tree Trunk Protector 4" x 20' - 30,000 lb.
• Snatch Block Maximum Capacity 17,600 lb.
• Shackle Kit 4.5 Ton
• Choker Chain with Hooks 10' of 5/16"
• Heavy Duty Work Gloves
• Soft Side Bag - 600 Denier

But, as you stated, I would recommend piecing together your own, or getting a more reputable kit.

I got the

$102 CSI W302 Winch Recovery Tool Kit

CSI W302 kit for $100 (which is a way better package than Smittybilt's)

I need to get a few larger D-Ring shackles, another 10'-12' strap, and possibly an extra snatch-block.

 

Also down for tahuya, excellent idea!
Also down for a meet n greet on the 15th, I think we all have some gear to swap and some beers to buy!

 

Wheelers Offroad has some great recovery straps / tree savers. Very impressed.

 

hey all,

this is Eric and i want to start off by saying thank you to all of you guys on that trip... you guys are truly life savers and an amazing group of guys!!! i owe all you guys beers and then some. i will wheel with you guys anytime as long as there is no snow...that being said all i can think as to why truck struggled in the snow is the locked rear end the extremely light back end of my truck and it being a 5 speed made it a lot easier for wheel spin. but all in all i had a blast with you guys and it was truly an eye opening experience as far recovery and reasons you dont wheel alone and always let someone know where you are. so brandon tallon mike will and ben you guys can count me in anytime to go wheeling or call me if you get in a tight situation and need help i owe you guys big time!!!!!

 

Like Ben I to believe in karma... What goes around comes around, but I am gonna need a number to cash in that IOU... Lol

 

you got it buddy its in your inbox

 

Dudes!! Looks like y'all had quite the wet and cold adventure!! Glad everything turned out well. Me? Well I've been enjoying the 75degree TX winter!

 

loser

 

ERIC!!! Good to see you on here man, you're a local celebrity now

I guess I (or we) should thank you too for giving us an impromptu "Training Session" on winching 101. I think we had to do some unorthodox techniques that required the pooling of our resources and brain power. Just glad we all drove out of there safely and mostly in-tact.

I agree that your truck had some issues in the snow, most-likely attributed to the rear-locker, light-weight, manual tranny, and lower tread tires. But, that shouldn't scare you away from driving in it ever again, we may have a tough winter, so good to get the experience under your belt.

I would invest in a set of chains (these ones, the owner Brian Nettles is a PIMP), weld some addtl. recovery points on your rig (closed loops/hooks) and some basic recovery gear (D-Shackles, bigger snatch/recovery straps, recovery hitch, maybe a winch). Once you get that stuff, you'll be ready to go for next season when we start planning more trips.

 

ya it was definitely an adventure/ learning experience... and your right on the recovery points hopefully between christmas and my tax return i should have new front and rear bumpers with shackle mounts and a winch. followed by my s.a.s. and new tires.

 

x2 on what Ben said. Before anything else, you need a rear recovery point

 

As I've followed the trip report, I've been wondering the whole time about this. Was no one chained up? Obviously I wasn't there so I don't know what the actual conditions were, but with any snow involved I'm surprised that it seems like no one did?

 

The snow wasn't terribly deep until the end of the last run, one of the last bigger hills I had to chain up (thx for the chains Ben) because I had to back down it and pull Eric around for a while and after we got him off the last hill we had to chain Ben up because he had to back up the remaining trail from where we winched Eric out.... I am definitely goin to invest in some good chains after that experience!

 

You would be surprised at how few people believe in chains, and how many more believe MTs are going to be the answer. Simply put, nothing short of tank treads is going to beat a set of chains.
It's not necessary to be chained a lot of the time - but it really presses the easy button!

 

I couldn't agree more! Even if all you had was cable chains, they still make a HUGE difference.

 

Non-believer here... But after sun I have been swayed to invest in a set, just in case.