Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   4x4 Excursions (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/4x4-excursions/)

-   -   Recovery and Salvage techniques.. Post Here (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/4x4-excursions/44485-recovery-salvage-techniques-post-here-10.html)

Folks,

As we were talking about Hilift Jacks in this thread, I thought of sharing this bit of information.

Though the Hilift Jacks are famous with Jeepers and many of us found the utilitarian point of this jacks, I found the actual idea of Hilift Jacks were dated back to 1955 with VW and Porsche cars.

My miniature Hi-Lift Jack (???) from 1950s, I was told this jack was used in VW Beetle car as factory tool kit. I read the following from the jack: BILSTEIN - VIGOT DRP 520996 U8 (on the base plate in circle shape), AB1824 (on the lift mechanism body), System Ferbo ( under the bumper anchor).

while searching the internet I found System Ferbo is the actual jack manufacturer and Vigot brand got several different types of Jack supplied to major car companies.

After some research I found this Jacks(shown in the picture) were commonly supplied with Prosche and VM cars in 1955 onwards and currently sells around $250. The beauty is that this one is the grandfather of Jeeper’s delight the Highlift Jack. I added this to my collection for simply the miniature reason, but I learned that this little fellow got some history behind him.

Some observations about winching out a stuck vehicle (using an 'onshore' winch):

Scenario: A vehicle is stuck mid-lake. Too far from the shore for a single winch rope from any other available vehicle to reach it.

NIOC OTR - Gypsy & Jeep rescues from Lake (part 1/2) - YouTube

Steps carried out and key observations:
1. The Tow: Used a tow strap to extend the effective length of winch. Please note the joinery of the two (attached pic). It is important to use a shackle and not attach the winch cable's hook directly into the loop of the tow strap.
2. The anchor: Note the anchor vehicle (visible after 3:00) parked behind the CJ3B: placed transverse to the direction of the winching vehicle and attached using tow-straps. This configuration was necessitated due to the tight space at this end of the lake and there was no natural solid anchor within tow-strappable distance of the CJ3B.
3. Note the distance maintained by spectators - keeping themselves away from the kill-zone of the (if)-snapped steel cable.
4. The pulling vehicle + driver: Please note that every time the Gypsy hits a barrier (e.g. starting 1:21), the CJ3B tends to get pulled into the lake. The shores are extremely slippery and we cannot risk the winching vehicle getting pulled any deeper into the lake than it already is. The driver uses steering inputs + 4x4 in reverse to make up for any such possibility. This is a risky situation as the anchor vehicle (visible @ 3:14) isn't too far behind and a miscalculated throttle in reverse could result in a nasty bump !
5. The spotters: Notice how some daring and helpful rescue marshals are closely monitoring the winch -
(a) applying a cleaning cloth (1:52) at times when the cable might have picked up Mud+Stones mixture from the lake's shores [and quickly withdrawing the cloth - probably realizing the potential danger] and
(b) giving feedback to the driver to ensure that the slipping tyres regain lost traction (several instances starting 2:05, 3:19 etc.).
Please note how careful the marshals are while approaching the vicinity of the winching cable.

Hi Guys,

If the terrain permits then the weight of 2 or more vehicles can be used to pull out a stuck vehicle, instead of their combined power.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwKUb...&feature=share

Regards,

Arka

Want to draw attention to a post elsewhere on BHP , by our member Jerrycan.


http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/4x4-ve...ml#post2880971

I am mightily impressed with this .:) Looks like he uses it regularly can we do it too ? with proper equipment? ( like his )

Sudarshan

Arka,

Very interesting piece of information. Last year, I had taken part in an off-road competition in Kerala, wherein, two jeeps paired together to complete a set of obstacles together. The competition rules stipulated both jeeps to recover each other in case of a recovery situation and we had to do this within a stipulated time frame. There was a slush/4 feet deep mud patch where my MM540 and the CJ3B had to pull each other out using the snatch technique using wrong equipments. I am a novice and only 3 years into serious offroad situtations, and neither did I know about the issues pointed out above nor did the much experienced organizing team guide us on this. Lucky that my partners CJ3B still has his chasis intact after having my MM540 yanked out of 3 feet slush.

Found this on FB & U tube.

There is no comparison to the imagination & how they put it in to action.

Its a winch recovery of a different kind


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0_oKHARhXw


Sudarshan

Friends
Yesterday when I was browsing through the auto-accessories at Carrefour outlet in Mall of Emirates, Dubai, I came across this set of traction tracks.
Made of heavy duty plastic sections joined to each other by steel links, it claims to provide a surface so that no wheelspin happens e.g. in snow, sand , mud or slush.
I could not resist the temptation to buy it @ 60 AED (~Rs 1010) -keeping in mind the ladakh trip I plan to do later this year.
Here are the pictures of the product.



Although I have not used it, the size and easy washability means it will probably be a better solution than carrying a gunny sack or wooden plank.

Reposting from another thread since it's relevant here also:

Does anyone use Maxtrax? I was considering in investing in 2 pairs for my scorpio 4wd and would really appreciate some feedback on the Maxtrax or similar products.

Did you get a chance to use the tracks, any reviews?

I have maxtrax. What king of terrain do you traverse?

Short answer: Sand and slush, with HT tyres

Long Answer: To be honest I am a newbie to offroading, and I have a tendency to wander off on my own (now +1) on dirt trails and sandy beaches.

So far I have used a hero impulse that has only got stuck once, but fortunately was able to recover it with the help of some locals.

Now with the +1, I have to moved to a Scorpio 4WD. Getting "delivery" this Friday, when i go home to collect it.

I need to have a way to self recover especially on mud and sand without relying on locals, and also fairly quickly, the last thing i want is to attract too much attention.

Electric Winch is out of my budget and the swap to AT tyres will be too expensive (just a guess though), since the vehicle has already been driven about 500 KM and I probably wont get good value for the Apolo Aptera's on the car.

Open to procuring a hand winch if required.

Cheers!
Abhi

My advice. Stay away from your purchase for now.

Go with a local offroading club and learn the ropes of offroading. Maxtrax is great in sand and ok in slush. If the correct technique is not used with it, you will damage the plastic lugs.

Best and best way to increase traction and not get bogged down is to decrease tyre pressure.

Hope I am posting in the right thread.
You people are talking about hi-fi things, while lesser mortals like me encounter situations where hatches get stuck 'on-road'. I have some how managed to 'escape', but would like to know whether there are any better/safer techniques to deal with such situations. (Please don't ask me to carry too many offroad equipment in my small hatch :D)

Situation 1:
Somewhat similar to picture1 below. The difference was that the trench was smaller, but both the drive wheels were caught in the trench without any contact with the ground. I lifted the car using the standard jack (one side at a time), and filled the trench with stones so that I can drive over.

Situation 2:
Car was parked close to the footpath, with rear wheels facing the curb. Unfortunately somebody parked in front, blocking my car. To take my car out, I had to reverse over the footpath (something similar to picture2 below, but please ignore the ditch under the front wheels). I stacked stones near the curb so that the rear wheels can climb easily (in reverse) over the footpath, and then took my car out. In both situations, the hardest part was finding stones. :Frustrati

I am looking for a simple equipment (such as metal/wooden panel) which doesn't take too much space, to deal with such situations. Any ideas?

Note: Pics courtesy google image search.

Here's a video showing how to correctly upright a rolled over vehicle.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiQR...ature=youtu.be

Another Topple Recovery


Brief: This vehicle toppled and there was no way to get a vehicle from the side to pull it to straighten it.

Plan: A snatch block was used to correct the change in direction. Ideally we would have secured the toppled vehicle from the back to prevent it from rolling in the front.
However we wanted to let it roll a bit in the front to stabilized after straightening. Therefore stones were placed a little ahead of the vehicle to stop it from rolling on.
Additionally the correct way to pull the vehicle is to tie the strap around the vehicle and form a pivot point.
This ensures that the vehicle turns and straightens rather than being dragged. It also gave us an added advantage of keep the vehicle secured and from rolling ahead further.
What we could have liked further was better crowd control and a couple of people ventured near the kill zone during the recovery. This is the biggest issue that organizers face during events.

https://youtu.be/BvjRj5euoy0