Top Non Winch Recovery Advice

Ok, there are a lot of you on here with a lot of off road experience that have been involved in non winch recoveries, both for your yourselves and while helping others. I wanted to benefit from that collective experience, and share some best practices for non winch recoveries, in your personal experience. The reason I'm limiting this discussion to non winch recoveries is that most off roaders, especially newbies, don't have winches. As well, winches are a whole topic unto themselves. So, this time, let's talk about non winch recoveries, techniques, equipment, and safety. thanks!

 

Good topic!

I'd say traction boards and a shovel are your most basic recovery gear. That, and a kinetic strap might be all you'll ever need.

A Hi-Lift with the ORK kit csn be used as a jack or a (very slow) winch. Most consider the Hi-Lift a last resort, as they can be extremely dangerous.



One thing you should NEVER do is use a tow strap or chain as a kinetic strap! Especially a chain. Kinetic straps are designed to stretch. A regular strap or chain WILL break if used like a kinetic strap.

There is a video of a Jeep being recovered this way. The chain breaks and goes straight through the windshield! The end of the video shows a guy in a hospital bed with half of his face hanging off. It's disturbing, but maybe worth watching if you're ever thinking it's ok to use a chain in this manner.

Any recovery is potentially dangerous! It's important to think about the physics of what you're doing, and make sure that anyone not involved in the recovery is a safe distance away.

 

Great comments @Thatbassguy !

 

1. Shovel.
2. Air down.
3. Traction boards.
4. Snatch strap (if another vehicle is around).

 

Using your brain according to the situation; knowing the features/tools provided on your 4R; to begin with.

 

From my experience (and experiences vary),
Only use bow shackles on rated recovery points, never use them to connect kinetic straps/ropes together or to connect to other straps on trees, suspension components, etc. You want to avoid having any kind of hard projectile on the end of the snatch strap.
Use soft shackles when it is necessary to connect straps/ropes together or to attach to other straps or components.
Only use the minimum force necessary when using kinetic straps/ropes, even if that means having to do multiple pulls that fail until you build up to the minimum force needed. Taking a half rope length run at full speed the first try might not be necessary and could damage something.
The longer the kinetic strap/rope length the more energy can be stored and then released. If a vehicle is really stuck it might take two ropes combined together. Increasing the rope length would be preferred to increasing the vehicle speed to keep it a soft but powerful pull.
Ropes have more stretch, aka kinetic force, than straps and are preferred, but ropes are more expensive (Stretch in percentage of length- rope 30%/strap 20%).
Never use a tow strap for recovery, they don't stretch and typically have metal hooks on the ends.

 

Great responses on here so far, thanks guys! Really helpful.

 

Really, it's more about gaining experience going off road, and knowing what lines to take, than it is performing a recovery.

There's a lot to learn about recovery don't get me wrong, and experience to gain if you ever have to, but getting out often enough will gain you the confidence to use your vehicle appropriately and keep you from getting in a hairy situation.

I go out alone, and often, and have had to perform a few self-recoveries. Best tools to have are;

Means to air down (and up), as I air down every time I venture off road

Shovel, because you won't find me digging myself out by hand

Traction boards, because you can't always find branches/sticks to stack

Drop dead times and itinerary for loved one(s), because if you don't come back or make contact after xxx amount of time, you don't want a stuck vehicle to turn out to be a missing person's search

 

The shovel can prove to be a valuable tool, also knowing when to "quit" is a good thing. Instead of spinning till the frame is on the ground, a few shovels full of dirt/mud being taken away from the front of tires, ramped from the bottom of the tires to the surface of the terrain your on might get you out. No winch recovery might also be accomplished with a very heavy duty 'come-a-long, which technically is a sort of winch, but in some cases works.

 

Great point! Losing traction is one thing. Being completely buried is another!

On a similar note; knowing when to bypass an obstacle or turn around are important as well. I have made many solo trips, and those decisions have kept me out of trouble a lot.

 

Another piece of equipment I highly recommend is a set of waders. I use them to walk through water crossings I'm not familiar with to feel the bottom composition and check for hidden obstacles.

This hole wasn't that big, but was deeper in spots than I could reach with the waders. It also had a muck bottom which was a factor in deciding to go a different way. We later saw a video of a Jeep on 35 or 37 inch MT's getting stuck in it. I'm definitely glad we didn't attempt it!