PSA: Freak accident kills man

I know that many of us don't do Facebook. I don't do FB myself either. But I logged in with my wife's FB to read the article that @eurowner linked. Here is a screen print...

 

Good to know! Thanks

 

Screen name checks out.

 

Thank you for these links.

 

We have all been talking about this at our local meets over the last week. It's terrible.

I really wish people would stop using tow straps to yank vehicles with. Everyone should have a kinetic rope in their recovery gear. Pay the extra money for a good rope.

Think slow constant pull with no ramp up on the gas -- Tow strap
if its a fast ramp up where the rope is not taught -- Kinetic rope.

You can't put that much energy into a strap that will not give. Also, in this case that was an 8inch drop hitch, with that much drop the amount of leverage on the hitch is insane.

 

I have this setup. Rated recovery gear isn’t the best time to go cheap on Amazon.

https://factor55.com/product/hitchlink/
https://factor55.com/product/crosby-34-shackles/

 

that is true.. I guess I’ll dump what I bought…

 

Nylon straps are NOT SAFE for recovery.

Period.

Full stop.

A metal chain would have not recoil like that.

If someone is forced to use a nylon strap at least tie some kind of cloth/coat/towel in more than one spot on the strap to act as a damper.

And chains are more versatile anyways...

 

I'm certainly no expert, but I look at the pictures and think; shovel, exhaust/air jack, waffle boards, kinetic rope, bridle with soft shackles around the rear axle or rated shackle hitch/D-ring of the stuck vehicle, rated shackle hitch/D-ring on the pull vehicle, safety blankets...
The shovel and exhaust/air jack would have helped immensely; that's a lot of mire force to overcome.
I've read the pull vehicle was about 5' above the stuck vehicle and that is not a particularly long strap...they have charts online to calculate mire forces at an angle.

Like I said, I'm no expert, but have enough metacognition to ask and learn.

 

The video posted of the flying bumper brings to mind the numerous times I've seen various parts of vehicle bumpers and hitch points bent broken and displaced. In locales where the Taco frames are rusting badly - other parts are rusting too.........

 

Absolute tragedy.

How was the vehicle finally recovered? I thought I saw how it was done, but can't recall. I thought there was a winch involved and more than one truck used.

 

Not as freak as some would think it does happen from time to time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-5GCgpx80Q

 

the thing about this is that a kinetic rope alone also likely wouldn't have fixed any of this scenario.

the truck was dragging frame in the mud. the first mistake was not acknowledging the forces-- they were dragging what equalled a parked, non-mobile semi truck. they would've needed a kinetic rope capable of at least 50k pounds, plus the attachment points equally rated for a recovery like that.

they needed to use a recovery point instead of a drop hitch, as the drop hitch was the projectile, and likely still would be a projectile with a kinetic rope. the danger in kinetic recoveries is that they contain energy, so if the drop hitch was still used, it would've imparted all that stored energy into the now-free drop hitch once it broke.

that was really a winch-out job only, specifically because they needed to break suction, and you can't snap out of mud. we've all been there with our shoes-- try jerking your shoe out next time you end up in mud. need to move slowly to break the suction.


i've followed ron pratt, and matts offroad recovery for a number of years, as i find it all interesting. extremely different recovery techniques, as each guy is in a different part of the country.

matt is in almost all sand, though with the lake falling and people driving on the muddy old lake bed, he's been using the winches more. used to be entirely kinetic ropes.

ron being in the midwest, when things are stuck, they're stuck in sticky mud. he's 100% winch-out all the time. he's used the kinetic ropes as extensions of his winch cable, sometimes using the kinetic part to impart some pulling force between winch tugs to maintain force to break suction, but he's never used the kinetic ropes like matt does in immediate snatch recoveries.

 

That took me a while to finally read what you meant... you may want to edit your post for clarity.

 

Exactly. I’ve seen a couple of steel cables break while static winching really heavy stuff and the cables usually fly back to the recovery truck like a bullet. I can’t imagine how insanely fast a stretched out recovery strap would recoil. Scary.
Gotta use something to make the cable/rope drop to the ground if it breaks..... Jackets, floor mats, heavy straps, sleeping bags, etc...

 

So sad. The perfect storm. Fatigued driver, full size truck, burried to the rails in mud, wet conditions, an entire family inside, a buddy that "means well", lack of common sense, improper gear, a hollow "bent to shit" drop hitch, one "hardest" pull, and many lives changed forever.

My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone involved, especially the kids. This is one complicated loss. Rest in peace, driver, dad, friend, 4-wheeler.

 

When I use to work on the towboat I use to make friends at home recovery ropes out of inch and a half leaving line. We got it in big coils like this. Some of the color patterns were beautiful. Made several guys bumpers for their boat docks with this line also.


https://www.bestmaterials.com/detail.aspx?ID=20554

 

Jesus that's awful.