While I agree with most of what you're saying, I would not quite put the level of danger in cheaper recovery gear that you have. You certainly get more opportunities to use it and have likely seen more than I ever will as far as varied situations, but....many truck owners won't see that level of use, and my cheap @$$ says keep it simple stupid, until you get to the point of constant use and it makes sense. But hey, if people have the coin, by all means....stimulate the off-road economy. I think in this current day and age everyone is all too eager to get the latest cool IG brand of STUFF for their truck, and most of the time, all you're paying for over the run-of-the-mill is a marketing campaign. Any gear is better than no gear I'd say, so don't let cost be the barrier to entry in getting some simple basics in your back seat. While a kinetic rope definitely serves it's purpose and can be a great tool (so i've heard, never used one), a plain old 3" 30k lb tow strap has been my go-to for a long time, and I've used it every which way it wasn't intended to.
I've been in some hairy situations rock crawling, and used all manner of cheap gear when I was a broke college kid and it worked. Winches would definitely be one of those areas i'd hesitate to cheap out on, but I still beat the heck out of a Smittybuilt winch for a few years on my rockcrawler without issue. Also, knowing HOW to use your gear can't be understated. All the cool gear in the world doesn't mean crap if it's still in the shrink wrap when you need it. Get it out, get used to it, understand it....BEFORE you need it
I've used the stolen wheel stud trick a few times, but usually on trailers. The problem a lot of times is galled studs from closed end lug nuts that end up making you snap a stud off. Carrying a few studs would be a good idea in the spare box, because a loose nut or two can lead to the whole set snapping off eventually.
As I mentioned in a Baja post from recently, while partaking in some lovely margaritas at a bar on the beach, we heard of some locals in need of help. We showed up to a very buried RAZR that was well out onto a very muddy/sandy/marshy low-tide area. He'd been driving at dusk and didnt realize how soft the track he picked was until it was too late, putting him a good 300 yards+ from any good solid dry ground. We grabbed my buddy's raptor with an 8k winch and tried to pull from the beach, directly back, but even trying to walk to him, I sunk to my knees and I was still a good 150+ yards away. We scouted around and tried again from the closest spot, but it was about a 45deg angle, so very far from ideal, as we were pulling against the side of the wheel, the lower rockers and the rear wheel. We had one shovel in the group that got a workout, and found some driftwood (no maxtrax in sight) to help drive up and out of the holes he was in. At this point, my friend in a jeep on 40s with a 12k winch come to help, but he'd spent the better part of the last 2 hours at the bar, and proved to have less than ideal decision making abilities, almost trying to drive right out to him to help. We doubled up the winches, used a few straps as line extenders and after a time or two, we started to see some movement in the right direction. At this point, people started getting excited and making their own decisions, and that's when I learned an important lesson: ONE PERSON CONTROLS THE RECOVERY. Multiple people started to get in danger and tried to make their own moves without consulting the rest...not safe when we have a language barrier, winches and ropes under tension, low light, slippery footing, and liquid courage involved. I made the executive decision to yell at everyone and get them to fall in line or we weren't going to get out of this. We got the rig out, got ourselves rinsed off, and many thanks were shared. Fun night, but could have ended poorly.
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