Rescue and Recovery…Tales from the Trail

[John M BUNMAN]

Gerlach Nevada was where the PAVEMENT ENDS and the west begins movie was made. I was an extra in several scenes.

Extra work suc Ks 13hr days but some good chow if your on a good budget film.
Don’t ever let them use your 41 Ford for shots on the Strip. They almost burned my friends up letting it idle for hours and never running it enough to cool it down. He pulled it the 2nd day said, FU.
Bono from U2 scratched the hood of my friends car in his impromptu decision down on Fremont street downtown. I still haven’t found what I’m looking for, I believe?
My friends were extras by accident on the LVMPD MOTORS
Memories… Classic Vegas, Vegas Vic is in the Video too. Old Vegas was better than today.

 

[smurfslayer]

That is some Great thinking there! I never would have thought of that, great to have that knowledge in my toolbox. Hopefully I don’t forget!
Thanks for sharing, great Tales, memories and Trail Repair.

Just out of high school, my buddy’s older brother was constantly helping both of us out of all manner of shenanigans. carbs fouled, routine maintenance, not running right, you name it. Rob was tank mechanic and knew how to turn wrenches. He was also into 4x4’s and a die hard Mopar guy with a ’78 Ramcharger (not the one below). One night I get a call from another friend who was constantly in some kind of drama. It seems he took is boss’s work truck off road, nearly bald tires and got stuck. Up to the axle stuck. it was super crew Ford and he was easily 300m away, in a corn field that had been rained on every day for 2 straight weeks. Rob had tried with several others to get him out unsuccessfully.

I got onsite and hooked up with Rob - Sarge, what do you need me to do? He didn’t miss a beat and directed me and my buddies to e-tool duty. This guy had helped us out of more stupidity induced scrapes than we could count, so the 3 of us agreed that no matter what else happened, Rob was driving home in his truck. It did not go smoothly. He was working a come-along, to some anchor he was driving into the ground and moving the truck maybe 6 inches at a time. We sent him to rest and took over for a few and then started rotating in and out. After about an hour we got to drier ground and he tried getting out to some really loud clunks.
busted rear u-joint.

Rob is fit to be tied, and he is literally about to give the guy who started all this a few knuckle sandwiches. I never saw him this angry before or since. I took a look and in a fit of luck - Rob, do the front wheels work? Yes. can we disconnect the front u-joint? ... Damn Specialist, that’s an ok plan.
That’s what he did, and we escorted him out to pavement, where he stopped, got out of the truck, shook my hand and thanked me for all the help.

I hurt my should patting myself on the back !

BILLET4X4 USA-USA-USA 1-1/2 inch X 30 ft Safety Orange Kinetic Energy Recovery Rope with Heavy-Duty Carry Bag (Bigger Truck Recovery) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09QDQ897V/?tag=fordraptorforum-20

Do they offer easy financing terms?

They do look rather stout and I will say your endorsement is more meaningful than many others here. Not to denigrate pulling a prius out of a Raptor only starbucks parking lot space, but yeah, appreciate the recommendation.

I can totally reach the other side of Starbucks parking lot with that. Thank you sir.

IKR. Wait, 30’? what kind of punk @$$ starbucks is that? does it even have pavement?

my cheap @$$ says keep it simple stupid, until you get to the point of constant use and it makes sense

I understand the point here, and I don’t disagree that you can probably score a less expensive option that may well work for some conditions but I relay to this cautionary tale.

When I was 18, and 4wd meant four well shod hooves a bunch of buddies and I got 4x4’s and we had the benefit of knowing it all. I had a v6 s10, another friend had a similar gmc and other friend had a Ramcharger with removable top. We were lucky enough to meet up with some off road enthusiasts who knew what they were doing and learned a lot. in some of our adventures early on, they had some other rookies come along, got stuck and they were helping get someone un stuck using a strap. Gentle pulling didn’t work and so the guy doing the pulling got impatient and started to snatch, harder and harder. Now, older dudes told us to mount up and stay clear so we got in the Ramcharger and backed the **** up. Older dudes tried telling this guy to stop but didn’t make it in time, he drove up close and got a big head of steam in reverse, when the slack was out, the strap snapped right back into our vehicle’s windshield with a quite alarming whack.

You have to be ready for the least common denominator, which could be Florida-Man.

 

[John M BUNMAN]

Just out of high school, my buddy’s older brother was constantly helping both of us out of all manner of shenanigans. carbs fouled, routine maintenance, not running right, you name it. Rob was tank mechanic and knew how to turn wrenches. He was also into 4x4’s and a die hard Mopar guy with a ’78 Ramcharger (not the one below). One night I get a call from another friend who was constantly in some kind of drama. It seems he took is boss’s work truck off road, nearly bald tires and got stuck. Up to the axle stuck. it was super crew Ford and he was easily 300m away, in a corn field that had been rained on every day for 2 straight weeks. Rob had tried with several others to get him out unsuccessfully.

I got onsite and hooked up with Rob - Sarge, what do you need me to do? He didn’t miss a beat and directed me and my buddies to e-tool duty. This guy had helped us out of more stupidity induced scrapes than we could count, so the 3 of us agreed that no matter what else happened, Rob was driving home in his truck. It did not go smoothly. He was working a come-along, to some anchor he was driving into the ground and moving the truck maybe 6 inches at a time. We sent him to rest and took over for a few and then started rotating in and out. After about an hour we got to drier ground and he tried getting out to some really loud clunks.
busted rear u-joint.

Rob is fit to be tied, and he is literally about to give the guy who started all this a few knuckle sandwiches. I never saw him this angry before or since. I took a look and in a fit of luck - Rob, do the front wheels work? Yes. can we disconnect the front u-joint? ... Damn Specialist, that’s an ok plan.
That’s what he did, and we escorted him out to pavement, where he stopped, got out of the truck, shook my hand and thanked me for all the help.

I hurt my should patting myself on the back !

Do they offer easy financing terms?

They do look rather stout and I will say your endorsement is more meaningful than many others here. Not to denigrate pulling a prius out of a Raptor only starbucks parking lot space, but yeah, appreciate the recommendation.


IKR. Wait, 30’? what kind of punk @$$ starbucks is that? does it even have pavement?

I understand the point here, and I don’t disagree that you can probably score a less expensive option that may well work for some conditions but I relay to this cautionary tale.

When I was 18, and 4wd meant four well shod hooves a bunch of buddies and I got 4x4’s and we had the benefit of knowing it all. I had a v6 s10, another friend had a similar gmc and other friend had a Ramcharger with removable top. We were lucky enough to meet up with some off road enthusiasts who knew what they were doing and learned a lot. in some of our adventures early on, they had some other rookies come along, got stuck and they were helping get someone un stuck using a strap. Gentle pulling didn’t work and so the guy doing the pulling got impatient and started to snatch, harder and harder. Now, older dudes told us to mount up and stay clear so we got in the Ramcharger and backed the **** up. Older dudes tried telling this guy to stop but didn’t make it in time, he drove up close and got a big head of steam in reverse, when the slack was out, the strap snapped right back into our vehicle’s windshield with a quite alarming whack.

You have to be ready for the least common denominator, which could be Florida-Man.

OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTIONS Mr @smurfslayer !
Great memories live with us FOREVER until our Dirt-Nap.
I’ve learned the hard way you GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR! It holds true throughout my lifetime. I have a box of CHEAP-AZZZ holsters etc if anyone wants one..lol I tried the $39 shoulder holster and luckily didn’t shoot myself trying to draw from that p o s. Invested in a Galco-Miami Classic $300? Probably 20 yrs old now and I’m still carrying with it (if I hadn’t lost all my Firearms in the Boating Accident). Learned the hard way, save up and buy the quality gear
Love the Tow-Strap trying to be used as a KE Rope… huge MFing mistake as you witnessed. I would have done the same thing until I was educated by my HMFIC
That’s why I recommend the Soft-Shackles over the D-Rings, ease of use, you can wrap them around recovery points you could never get a D-ring on. Most importantly, if they fail, much less likely to kill you.
I have a Shxt-load of D-rings if someone wants to make me an offer..lol
Look at YouTube and see folks rip vehicles apart trying to “Snatch” with a Tow-Strap baaahaaa

Great improvising on that U-joint. I never would have thought of that, just like the Wheel-lug story above, Great Minds!

 

[smurfslayer]

Look at YouTube and see folks rip vehicles apart trying to “Snatch” with a Tow-Strap baaahaaa

Having been there for the event and adult beverages afterward, I can totally understand how it happens. You see the truck move a bit with the first small yank, and think, ok just a little more and it will come free, but it doesn’t quite make it far enough and with JUST ... ONE MORE... just a few more feet and floor it rather than stop, take the time to correct the equipment and do it the right way.

speaking of wrong way...


former neighbor and die hard S00b fan called me one day “hey can you use your fancy truck to pull me out?”

I was incredulous. A Subaru? Stuck? full time awd and all?
But yes, he was indeed stuck and buried to the axle in yard mud.

 

[raptor556]

OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTIONS Mr @smurfslayer !
Great memories live with us FOREVER until our Dirt-Nap.
I’ve learned the hard way you GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR! It holds true throughout my lifetime. I have a box of CHEAP-AZZZ holsters etc if anyone wants one..lol I tried the $39 shoulder holster and luckily didn’t shoot myself trying to draw from that p o s. Invested in a Galco-Miami Classic $300? Probably 20 yrs old now and I’m still carrying with it (if I hadn’t lost all my Firearms in the Boating Accident). Learned the hard way, save up and buy the quality gear
Love the Tow-Strap trying to be used as a KE Rope… huge MFing mistake as you witnessed. I would have done the same thing until I was educated by my HMFIC
That’s why I recommend the Soft-Shackles over the D-Rings, ease of use, you can wrap them around recovery points you could never get a D-ring on. Most importantly, if they fail, much less likely to kill you.
I have a Shxt-load of D-rings if someone wants to make me an offer..lol
Look at YouTube and see folks rip vehicles apart trying to “Snatch” with a Tow-Strap baaahaaa

Great improvising on that U-joint. I never would have thought of that, just like the Wheel-lug story above, Great Minds!

galco miami classic? ******** that is all i needed to know. **** out of here

 

[John M BUNMAN]

galco miami classic? ******** that is all i needed to know. **** out of here

Don’t knock it until you’ve carried it for 12 hrs
plus Don Johnson carried it in MIAMI VICE, so chicks really dig it

 

[John M BUNMAN]

Brian Head UT - Mountain Rescue.
The wife and I had been visiting Brian Head for the day, a spectacular place if you are ever in the area. We started heading down the Mountain about 1500 to return to Base-Camp, Cedar City.
We come around the corner and see a Runaway Toyota Celica, buried to the frame in the middle of the Runaway Truck Ramp? Odd, I say to myself. I see an elderly (70+) couple standing outside it. So of course I have to help them, pay it forward, karma or whatever. As I was assessing my options a couple of young fellas rode up on their ATV’s.
Based on the light weight of the Toyota, I went with my Strap instead of the KE Rope, even though he was buried to the frame, it was loose pea gravel so I figured it would pop out with little resistance.
I broke out my (most often used) MAXTRAX, they youngins used the MaxTrax to dig out the front tries and the nose of the vehicle. They dug under the nose enough to secure a Soft Shackle around the front axle. ( After this Rescue/Recovery I started carrying a ”J” Hook Y,with a strap, instead of chain, to use on vehicles without Recovery Points). We shoved a MaxTrax under each front tire. I instructed “Pops” to Not Stop until he was on the hardball of the shoulder. I also asked him NOT to drive over my strap.
I took the slack out and applied a slow- even throttle. Just like in the movies, the MaxTrax popped him right up to the surface and he glided across the pea-gravel, over to the shoulder. He of course , Ran Over my mfing strap! Errrrrrr
He offered me a Benjamin, since he was told it was going to be a $500+ tow from town. I declined, said my wife was happy we could help, me? Not happy he shortened the life of my strap by running over it….

 

[fordfreek]

Back in the late 80's I found a friend of mine far off the road in the deep snow with a full size Chevy pickup. I was driving a 1987 ranger at the time with a four inch lift and 31 inch tires. Now I knew if I hooked up to him and gave him a dirty yank and stayed on the throttle and my tires grabbed the black top, I was gonna break something. At the time kinetic ropes weren't invented yet. But I had a nylon rope used to tie up ore boats from my grandfather that worked very similar to the modern kinetic rope. I hooked up to him, backed up as close to him as I could without going in the ditch myself and gave it all I had in low range until the rope tightened up and then shoved in the clutch to not break anything in my drive line. Basically using my truck like a slide hammer. Took about 15-20 runs, but I pulled that truck out and never harmed anything.
This rope and yanking technique I learned from my father back in the 70's when I was a kid. I had watched him pull out many trucks out of the snow bank with his 2wd pickup.
This is just one of many stories I could tell you about vehicle recover. I drove tow truck for many years. Know your equipment, know what you're hooking it to and rig it yourself. Make sure bystanders are in the clear. Never want to see anyone get hurt.
I'd also like to say that if you have too big of kinetic rope your vehicle will be too light to stretch it and it will make it a harder hit and be less effective IMHO. Speaking from my own experience.

 

[John M BUNMAN]

Back in the late 80's I found a friend of mine far off the road in the deep snow with a full size Chevy pickup. I was driving a 1987 ranger at the time with a four inch lift and 31 inch tires. Now I knew if I hooked up to him and gave him a dirty yank and stayed on the throttle and my tires grabbed the black top, I was gonna break something. At the time kinetic ropes weren't invented yet. But I had a nylon rope used to tie up ore boats from my grandfather that worked very similar to the modern kinetic rope. I hooked up to him, backed up as close to him as I could without going in the ditch myself and gave it all I had in low range until the rope tightened up and then shoved in the clutch to not break anything in my drive line. Basically using my truck like a slide hammer. Took about 15-20 runs, but I pulled that truck out and never harmed anything.
This rope and yanking technique I learned from my father back in the 70's when I was a kid. I had watched him pull out many trucks out of the snow bank with his 2wd pickup.
This is just one of many stories I could tell you about vehicle recover. I drove tow truck for many years. Know your equipment, know what you're hooking it to and rig it yourself. Make sure bystanders are in the clear. Never want to see anyone get hurt.
I'd also like to say that if you have too big of kinetic rope your vehicle will be too light to stretch it and it will make it a harder hit and be less effective IMHO. Speaking from my own experience.

Great info, I never thought about to large of a KE Rope, hmmm. Mine is pretty big although it stares for 1/2 to one ton. I’ll report back when I use it for the first time. I can’t imagine I wouldn’t be able to generate enough force to get the ”Bungee “ effect, but now I’m curious. Someone get stuck good and give me a shout.
Sounds like your Pa taught you some great life’s lessons. We have to keep the kids off of their SnapFace and TwitChat so we can keep the information chain flowing
Thanks for Sharing, I know you have some great Tow stories

 

[John M BUNMAN]

Saving Woman and Children…2X
I was coming back on a ridge line from the CO River when coming out of a dip, I see a little girl (10yr) standing at the top of this hill, waving her cell around like she’s hoping to “catch“ a signal. Now it’s early July, 1300hrs and around 112 degrees out. The HOTTEST part of the day from 1500-1800 rapidly approaching. I ask her what the “heck” she is doing? Beyond our line of site, down at the bottom of another depression is her mom and 4 other kids, ranging in age from 6-14yrs.
Mom was trying to take the kids to what I refer to as trash-Cove. All the kids go there, cliff jump, smoke the “Devil’s Weed” and generally act like F-tards leaving all their Mfing trash behind.
Mom missed the turn to trash cove and ended up about 10 miles into the Eldorado Mountains Wilderness. She was driving a 2wd Chevy pickup. In an attempt to turn around on this single-track ridge line she buried her Chevy to the frame
She had a cooler with enough water to last her and the kids about another 2hrs if they did nothing but sit there w/o doing anything. After digging in the Mfing 115 degrees by now, shoving the MaxTrax under the rear wheels, I was able to Snatch her back up onto the Trail, using my KE Rope.
I gave her EXPLICIT instructions (2- turns) on how to get to Trash-Cove, T- intersection at the end of the single-track we were on, TURN RIGHT!
I send her and the kids on their merry way, giving them most of my remaining water, patting myself on my back for erasing one more “black mark” from my soul and gathering up my gear, putting in back into the Raptor. I head down the Trail, taking the same route I gave her, fully expecting to see her stuck again….I’m covering the Trail probably 3-4X faster than what she could have possibly done. I NEVER SEE HER?? After about 10 min I know what she did….LEFT AT THE T-INTERSECTION, GOING DEEPER INTO THE WILDERNESS!! W T F…..I drive all the way to Trash-Cove, No mom, Chevy or kids on their way to heat stroke.
I am Fning pizzed at this point…Once I am able to get a cell signal, I call the NPS and let them know about their New SAR mission
If she wants to die, I’m ok with that. The Kids? I’m not ok with, I’ve never gotten used to seeing dead kids