Did my first 4x4 Self-Recovery today!

[Altreac]

Was driving down island today and my partner and I decided to go out to the beach to look for agates.

There'd been an earthquake a few days ago and some very large tides, so we thought we'd see if there was anything new.

The beach acccess (53.579724, -131.929968) was covered in driftwood. So after half an hour clearing a path for the truck, we drove out onto the beach and spent an hour looking for agates.

We got there an hour before low tide, and spent until low low tide. Then made our way back to the access point.

It was pretty tight cause some of the logs were huge and we couldn't move them, but I figured I'd gotten down fine, I'd be able to get back up....Nope.

Tried three times to get up the sandbank and no joy. A dude with another truck had stopped to watch/help if needed.

I got to try my Recovery Boards out for the first time. (Have a pair of MaxTrax)

Popped 'em under the front tires...and drove right out.

We weren't 'stuck, stuck'...yet. But I couldn't get up the bump. The other guy would have pulled me up for sure.


But...I got to try a self recovery for the first time...and it went just like in all the YouTube videos about them.


We also found a bunch of agates out on the beach.

All in all, pretty exciting.

 

[brucered]

That's pretty cool.

I keep a set (knock offs) in the back of my Tundra but never had to use them myself. I have let someone else get unstuck in the snow with them though. I have a recovery hitch and proper straps and soft shackles as well. Recovery can be dangerous, as you may know, someone got killed a month or so ago in the USA, when he tried to recover using a trailer ball hitch as one point. It came back at him like a rocket, right through the windshield.

Without a winch, I'll always carry some type of recovery board and shovel if I'm travelling solo.

Stay safe!

 

[Altreac]

That's pretty cool.

I keep a set (knock offs) in the back of my Tundra but never had to use them myself. I have let someone else get unstuck in the snow with them though. I have a recovery hitch and proper straps and soft shackles as well. Recovery can be dangerous, as you may know, someone got killed a month or so ago in the USA, when he tried to recover using a trailer ball hitch as one point. It came back at him like a rocket, right through the windshield.

Without a winch, I'll always carry some type of recovery board and shovel if I'm travelling solo.

Stay safe!

Trailer ball hitches... That's scary. I made sure to get the recovery hitch too.

I have some offroad training from the military and I did a LOT of research before I started going to some of the more remote places here.
In snow training, one of the LUVWs got stuck and my sarge decided to pull them out using chains... Chain snapped. Lucky the windows were bulletproof....

I've got the straps and kinetic tow rope, tire stuff, first aid.
Soft shackles are very cool. I love em.

I also made sure to grab a couple of the safety tarp things. The ones you fold over your tow lines at the front and back of it that Velcro together at the bottom. They have pockets to fill with sand, so if the line breaks whatever gets shot off colides with the sandbags first.

Eventually I'll grab a come along and a sand anchor. Should get me through most stuff I'll run into.

4x4ing is pretty fun.

 

[brucered]

Sounds awesome @Altreac

You hit all the points I know (I'm not expert by any means), from no chains, air/tire stuff to dampening the kinetic rope etc.

I'm hoping to do a little minor off roading this year, after we get our Eibach shocks on and higher clearance front bumper. Nothing major, just some fire roads and remote places to fish etc with the kids.

I got my RCI sliders this past year and also have some RCI skids to protect the truck a bit.

 

[Altreac]

Sounds awesome @Altreac

You hit all the points I know (I'm not expert by any means), from no chains, air/tire stuff to dampening the kinetic rope etc.

I'm hoping to do a little minor off roading this year, after we get our Eibach shocks on and higher clearance front bumper. Nothing major, just some fire roads and remote places to fish etc with the kids.

I got my RCI sliders this past year and also have some RCI skids to protect the truck a bit.

I took a lot of my kit list from Ronny Dahl on YouTube. Learned a lot from that channel.
I'm definitely still learning for sure as well. It's one thing to mess around with Army vehicles when they have Wreckers around to come pull you out of whatever etc, and you don't have to pay for repairs if you mess up...

My partner bought a brand new 2021 Tacoma Off Road last year, and it's a little different! Can't just take it over to Vehicle Maintenance and draw another one from the fleet...

Haida Gwaii is pretty remote, so getting all the recovery gear just seemed reasonable.

Eventually I'd love more upgrades...really only a lightbar so far, but it gets dark here on the roads and the beach at night. (Foraging for cockles and stuff sometimes at night, pending wash-up conditions).

The decommissioned fire roads here are tempting, but I'll need a high clearance rear bumper to pass those.

Not bad though...been taking it out offroading enough over the last year, and it's the first time we got stuck. And the gear prep turned out worth it, so pretty happy with that.

 

[Ad Astra]

Innocent-looking sand strands everything from 18-wheelers to little cars here... Put one wheel too far off road and... Spin n bury.

Do carry escape gear. Reminds me to replace my come-along, broke that rascal after the last hurricane. Moved a pier, though.

AA

 

[Altreac]

Innocent-looking sand strands everything from 18-wheelers to little cars here... Put one wheel too far off road and... Spin n bury.

Do carry escape gear. Reminds me to replace my come-along, broke that rascal after the last hurricane. Moved a pier, though.

AA

A pier!? Crazy. Hurricanes are nuts.

Sand is a different sort of beast. I'd only really done mud and snow before.

 

[Ad Astra]

A pier!? Crazy. Hurricanes are nuts.

Sand is a different sort of beast. I'd only really done mud and snow before.

A broken pier section, tossed up on land.

"Come-Along" is a Southern term, its technical name is "hand power-puller winch." I think.

AA

 

[Altreac]

A broken pier section, tossed up on land.

"Come-Along" is a Southern term, its technical name is "hand power-puller winch." I think.

AA

First time I heard "come-along" was here in the northwest Pacific.

A friend of mine got caught in a hurricane in Cuba. There were renovations going on at the resort at the time and he said the storm picked up rebar and embedded a few pieces into a concrete wall outside his room door.

When I lived in Toronto there was a minor hurricane. Called Hugo. Minor in Toronto...
1990. I was 7.
My parents had just removed the roof of our house to build a second story. So it was just tarped over.
2 crazy things happened. The ceiling almost collapsed. My mom put a hole in the ceiling to drain it.
And the second... There were 2x4s stacked on the roof and the next door neighbor had just bought a new truck. The wind picked up the lumber and stacked it in a neat pile right beside the vehicle!