another impressive story (kinda long)

[JHardwick]

I received a knock on the door last night and was asked if I could pull a car from the ditch just up the road. I'm always anxious to hook this thing to something, so I agreed.



So, I got up the road a 100 yards or so and see a 70's Bonneville in the ditch along the right side of a driveway they were turning around in. I live in a pretty hilly area and the road was pretty narrow. The left rear was 6-8" off the ground and the nose down in against a fence, and mail boxes right at the edge of the road at the left side of the drive.



I hooked the chain to my truck and handed the dude the other end (I learned along time ago that if a bumper gets ripped off, you don't want to be the one who hooked it). I had to make a couple hooks to finagle him back to the road with out hitting anything, I was close to 90* to him. I assume they were drinking because neither one of them would get behind the wheel, like that would have mattered if the Sheriff had showed up.



So, I started easing out the clutch to take up the slack in the chain and I could see that this 4000# or so sled still in park would come up out AT IDLE, lol.





1st gear HI range and never hit the throttle once. I understand there is a low end governor, but once again, I was impressed and this is my second CTD!!

 

[ttreibel]

Yeah I have been enjoying the idle crawl in the low range. I have even been tempted to get out and walk along side and enjoy the veiw.

 

[robobx]

funny I have done that on my TJ with 5. 13s and a 4:1 kit.

 

[rbattelle]

I wish you would have called me about this... I would loved to have helped. Oo. Do you think these guys would have been willing to wait 90 minutes for me to get there?

 

[JHardwick]

LOL, no Ryan, I think they were in a hurry, hehe.



"funny I have done that on my TJ with 5. 13s and a 4:1 kit. "



"Yeah I have been enjoying the idle crawl in the low range. I have even been tempted to get out and walk along side and enjoy the veiw. "



This was high range, 1st gear ... ... ... ... ... . the '79, 460 powered, 4:11 steppin, 38" shoe wearin Ford I had for almost 10 years would have required low range to do it at an idle for sure!

 

[Blakers]

Originally posted by JHardwick

"Yeah I have been enjoying the idle crawl in the low range. I have even been tempted to get out and walk along side and enjoy the veiw. "

It's great for picking up hay in the field. Just let the truck idle in low low and walk alongside throwing in hay.

 

[R.M.THOMPSON]

I came across three ealy 20's kids (2 fella's 1 girl) with mom and dads Lexis in a ditch. Thought I'd give a liitle "recovery " lesson.

Sent the girl 100 yards down road with lights for traffic safety, had the driver lay in the mud /snow /ice to find the hold down cleat under front end and the other fella take his jacket off for him to lay on. Then sent him up the road the other way with lights for safety. Had driver get back in car ( crying by this point)

with instructions to follow my tail lights. Idled up the slack in about a 30' strap I carry and drove away slow in 4hi. Had to give him acouple of tugs (not really snatches,it was snowing pretty bad and started feeling sorry for them. ) to get the car un-highcentered before the third wheel hit road. I think I drug him about 50 yards before he popped out. All is well , lesson learned , lotsa scrappin and grindin, no left over peices or fluid leaking and some good safety awareness practice. Laughed all the way home.

Mark T.

These trucks make it almost effotless !

 

[Big_Daddy_T]

Cmon I used to make the guys driving the trucks look bad when Id pull em out using my subaru. Theyd say it wasnt possible. Id say force = mass x acceleration and hook up my snatch strap. You would be suprised what you can pull out with a 3000 lb car if you knew how to hit the end of the strap.



The torque of the 4lo crawl is amazing. The force of the flywheel spinning keeps it from stalling. It feels like it would crawl right up the side of a tree. I use it when going down bumpy trails. It cruises right along at idle a little quicker than walking.

 

[hclark]

Mr. Thompson,

A quick question, what diameter was your strap? I am shopping for a tow strap and can't decide between a 3 " or 4 ". I think the 3" is 28,500 lbs bs, and the 4 " is 38,000 lbs.

Thank you

 

[rbattelle]

Originally posted by hclark

Mr. Thompson,

A quick question, what diameter was your strap? I am shopping for a tow strap and can't decide between a 3 " or 4 ". I think the 3" is 28,500 lbs bs, and the 4 " is 38,000 lbs.

Thank you

There's no such thing as a tow strap that's "too big". I have a 3" Procomp that's supposedly rated to 30000. Would have bought the 4", but cheaped out.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

3 weeks ago when we had our record snowfall I was driving home from work and there was a bigrig tractor stuck in the snow. A Kenworth with fullsize sleeper. He was in a level spot so it wasn't exactly a downslope to where he was, but he had backed in there and was hopelessly stuck in a foot of snow and the drivers were about dug down to the axles.



I pulled up there and offered to help, I figured I had a shot since the snow had melted on the road and it was only wet & sandy. Got out the strap, hooked it up, and jerked him outa there like nothing. I was disappointed it was that easy and over in 2 seconds. Didn't even spin the tires, no 4x4 low for this 2-wheel driver

Oh well it was fun while it lasted



Vaughn

 

[R.M.THOMPSON]

hclark,

I have a couple of slings that are the type I use in my line of work. 20 foot by 3 inch nylon. A easy place to get them is w. w. grainger (4ZV33) There is a rating differance for transportation use vs. industrial use and I can't explain it. Vertical rating for a 3" may be like 17500 lbs (industrial) , I would bet this is low for the same in transportation,maybe rated for horizontal ? Anyway,2 twenty footers and some 7/8 forged shackles gives a lot of options. BTW these slings don't stretch much at all,but are way better than chains for what we are using them for. I've never used a "snatch rope " , I here they stretch a long way out ! Do a whole lot of rigging at work and like things real heavy to move slow in tight quarters... ... If something is that stuck,its to to get out the jacks and winches. Not gonna bend/bust my trucks frame!!!

Mark T.

 

[rbattelle]

Originally posted by Vaughn MacKenzie

3 weeks ago when we had our record snowfall I was driving home from work and there was a bigrig tractor stuck in the snow. A Kenworth with fullsize sleeper. He was in a level spot so it wasn't exactly a downslope to where he was, but he had backed in there and was hopelessly stuck in a foot of snow and the drivers were about dug down to the axles.



I pulled up there and offered to help, I figured I had a shot since the snow had melted on the road and it was only wet & sandy. Got out the strap, hooked it up, and jerked him outa there like nothing. I was disappointed it was that easy and over in 2 seconds. Didn't even spin the tires, no 4x4 low for this 2-wheel driver

Oh well it was fun while it lasted



Vaughn

Should a got some pics.

 

[Torque King Jay]

Ricers are the most fun to pull out :-laf :-laf . These are the guys who insist that the the laws of physics are different on their cars. They think they can go 30 mph faster than everyone else on snow covered roads. Their too cheap to call a tow truck, but they'll spend $600 bucks on a non functional top fuel dragster wing for the back of their 1990 four door Accord. The conversation goes something like this... "Can you pull me out I've got no money" Sure I can pull you out, but you need to hook it up and I'm not responsible for any damage to your car. Then you look at where they are almost turtle at the bottom of a ditch and you say to yourself... (this is going to hurt you more than me). You start to ease them out and Oops :--) Say good by to the ground effects :{ :{ . He puts his broken plastic in the trunk of the car and then he thanks you for it. That's entertainment. Maybe I need to hook up a video camera next to the brake light on the cab of this new truck... could make for some good threads on here.

 

[SWendell]

I was up near Pyramid lake in Nevada and came upon a RV that pulled off to look at the lake... . well, they couldnt make it back on the road due to the sand so they drove on down looking for an easier way back onto the road... . by this time they were about 10 feet below the asphalt level, in a sand trap with a 45 degree slope back to the road. I dropped the trailer I had up the road and came back to help. A trooper had stopped as well to control traffic and said I was wasting my time even trying... it being a ~ 30 ft motorhome buried so far down. I hooked up a 30,000# strap and it snapped in two in the first few feet. Not one to give up, I tied the end in a bowline and tried once more, in 4-low just idling ... . it pulled right up the side of the embankment and onto the road, maybe touched the throttle a bit.

They gave me a C note after the cop told them I just saved them several hundred $$$ in towing charge (plus I broke my strap)

 

[Torque King Jay]

Originally posted by SWendell

I hooked up a 30,000# strap and it snapped in two in the first few feet. Not one to give up, I tied the end in a bowline and tried once more, in 4-low just idling ... . it pulled right up the side of the embankment and onto the road, maybe touched the throttle a bit.

WoW! Broke a 30K strap. So just how big of a strap do we need to keep in the truck... 40k. . 50k... or should I just go for the battle ship anchor chain?

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Originally posted by Torque King Jay

Ricers are the most fun to pull out . . . They think they can go 30 mph faster than everyone else on snow covered roads. Their too cheap to call a tow truck, but they'll spend $600 bucks on a non functional top fuel dragster wing for the back of their 1990 four door Accord.

ROFLMAO. . . but soo true. Had this happen in front of my house a few weeks ago: Beached Ricer

 

[Torque King Jay]

:-laf :-laf Great story Vaughn... made my day

 

[InThinAir]

I got to pull out a 4x4 Ford Dually on Saturday with the 2500. The best thing to do when helping out one of the "other" makes is to pull them a little ways, like down the street to a level spot and then get out and ask "if there is good, don't want you to get stuck again in that nasty snow"





---Doug