Recovery gear and techniques - Check your yourself

[cruiseroutfit]

Vehicle recoveries can be fun, they can be exciting, and they can be dangerous.

Take-aways from my pre-coffee head:

Crawl - Walk - Walk a little faster with your KERR or Snatch Strap pulls, if more force is needed, do your shovel work, dig, lift, or re-think. While there are some proclaiming (or often doing) kinetic energy recoveries with speeds in excess of 5mph, the forces generated at those speeds are discouraged by many and the results can be exactly what we witness in this video.

Use properly rated gear and attachment points. The victim in this scenario is pointing to the amazon random brand soft shackle as the failure point and ultimately it was. The failure was the noose/loop as shown in the pic below. However it's also very likely the speed/mass combination yielded a load on that gear in excess of the soft shackles rating. Additionally, the soft shackle was rigged through a hard edge mount on the Jeep's bumper and while it was used with a protective sheath and it appears the knot failed, we don't have a clear picture of how it was rigged and how the soft shackle was oriented to begin.

Get proper training on how/when to use said gear. Buying the gear is the easy part. Knowing how and when to confidently use a KERR versus a tow strap, versus a winch recovery is the part that comes from training and experience. Total bias but I recommend I4WDTA Certified Trainers.

I totally appreciate the OP (Caleb) for being willing to share this experience and let others learn from it. I've got similar videos and pictures from other similar KERR mis-haps that resulted in damage and even a totaled truck BUT they were shared with me under the understanding I can't share them. Caleb made a good PSA out of this.

 

[1969honda]

That's scary for sure, glad the OP survived and is comfortable enough to relive that scenario and share it for others to learn from. I remember being told in 2013 by an outfit that came and trained my unit in KERR techniques, that they had witnessed several instances of individuals being killed in this exact scenario. The team were off road/remote search and rescue guys from Arizona and New Mexico and had worked and trained a lot of other Tier 1 entities in KERR and off road recovery techniques. They spelled out some pretty graphic scenarios of Jeep/buggy/truck is stuck, friend hooks up a kinetic rope with shackles and floors it. Most of the time the vehicle anchor point or something in the rigging failed, and the rope had so much energy stored up, it went completely thru the towing vehicle and the driver before exiting the other end of the vehicle. Tragic bad day scenarios for sure.

I definitely need to attend some of the recovery classes mentioned on the forum for refresher training; but the biggest thing that stood out to me from that course, was how small of a KERR is needed to safely recover a vehicle the size of a Jeep. I see so many KERR for sale, and on rigs that are the same size we use for 40,000lb MRAPs and up-armored HMMWVs, it scares me to think of the energy they can store and release.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

@1969honda, the forces possible when a large mass loads up energy via speed. The energy from the conservation of momentum alone is staggering. A 5700lb vehcile at just 5mph has nearly 14k lbf based on momentum. Add kinetic energy and its higher

For any nerds...

 

[Spork]

That's not going to be a cheap learning experience...

I'm expecting recovery points to change with the move to soft shackles and kinetic ropes, something more like a J hook attached to the frame.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

That's not going to be a cheap learning experience...

I'm expecting recovery points to change with the move to soft shackles and kinetic ropes, something more like a J hook attached to the frame.

There are many recovery points and bumper attachments that do have soft edges for use with soft shackles. Unfortunately many still being manufactured that don't too so users need to know when and where to use soft shackles and bow shackles. IMO and in the training I offer, it’s not an either/or but rather a ‘when to use the right one’ scenario.

 

[Herzog]

Good on Caleb for sharing his experience. That was wild. Amazing he got away with minor injuries, somebody was watching over him for sure.

 

[Hickey]

Everyone should watch this video. There are a lot of lessons to be learned and re-learned from this man’s experience.

 

[Hickey]

Same mistakes are made in this video. It would have been pretty easy to raise that trailer up with its own landing gear, and even the tractor drive-axles with it. A little shovel work, and some easy pulling. They just kept going harder after repeatedly ripping parts off and sending them flying.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

I'll have to watch that one in detail but suffice to say, the forces possible with kinetic ropes and dynamic Snatch Straps can ramp up and shock load things quite quickly. (See nerd math above which estimates some of the force)

 

[Tonkaman]

Same mistakes are made in this video. It would have been pretty easy to raise that trailer up with its own landing gear, and even the tractor drive-axles with it. A little shovel work, and some easy pulling. They just kept going harder after repeatedly ripping parts off and sending them flying.

Videos like this are why I’m so skeptical of every “professional” service out there. Their company name should be ‘fake it till you break it’

 

[Hickey]

Videos like this are why I’m so skeptical of every “professional” service out there. Their company name should be ‘fake it till you break it’

Yep. They’re based in American Fork. 😬

 

[Rot Box]

All good info thanks for sharing you guys 😎

I have to/get to present a safety minute (15 minutes-ish) at work next month. I present to a large group via Teams. I’m gonna do it on vehicle recovery and safety if there’s anything you could send my way whether it be pics or tips that would be rad!

 

[moab_cj5]

Same mistakes are made in this video. It would have been pretty easy to raise that trailer up with its own landing gear, and even the tractor drive-axles with it. A little shovel work, and some easy pulling. They just kept going harder after repeatedly ripping parts off and sending them flying.

Those dudes appear to be copying all the bad stuff from YouTube recovery channels and even pirating the logo for BOAR - Back Country Offroad Advendure Route on Facebook. One dude is even wearing a Matt's Offroad Recovery Hat...

 

[Greg]

I see a lot of industrial work-related cases of 'unplanned events' creating very risky situations. One thing that I think is incredibly important with a recovery situation is to slow down, think about what ELSE could go wrong and ask yourself 'What If?" What If the winch cable breaks with tension on it, What If a D-Ring mount fails, What If...??

Something else we talk about at work is being in a Red Zone, placing yourself in a position that you could be potentially injured or killed. Identify those Red Zones and mitigate your chance of getting injured by them. Another related consideration is stored energy and the potential that has when that energy gets released, planned or unplanned.

 

[Kevin B.]

Same mistakes are made in this video. It would have been pretty easy to raise that trailer up with its own landing gear, and even the tractor drive-axles with it. A little shovel work, and some easy pulling. They just kept going harder after repeatedly ripping parts off and sending them flying.

Wow, talk about five gallons of dumb in a three gallon bucket. "I wonder if we pulled your diff forward", do ya freakin' think?