Regulator's Side Extraction...

[djthumper]

I was actually glad to hear your side of things. I haven't been too active lately since I have been busy with SAR.

[boog2006]

You did a great job capturing the events. More reason for me to invest in a winch!

[fishsticks]

Monday morning quarterbacking is pretty easy.

That said, if I was there I would have had the rig that was pulling you instead drive partway up the side of the hill. Strap his front to your rock slider and either have him idle the truck in reverse or sit in neutral on the hill. (Anchor point/light force pulling you back up the embankment). Have a second truck drive up the hill enough to strap their front to your rear... then pull you backwards off the embankment. The idea being to use gravity to your advantage and not need nearly as much sharp force.

I'm tempted to make a drawing.

[The Roadie]

More reason for me to invest in a winch!

Getting stuck while going out solo ONCE was enough to push me over the edge. Saved my butt four times since I bought one.

[Kuchar09]

Was there only one other vehicle there to do the extraction? Given your limitations of having no winch, I would have strongly considered anchoring via a slider against sideways movement, then pulling from the front. The amount of force required to move a vehicle sideways against gravity is immense!

As for the shackle holding the two straps together, that's a terrible idea! The stretchy straps store a ton of energy in them during a pull. If one of those straps let go, that shackle would have been buried in someone's sheet metal - or worse - someone's skull. The best method is to daisy chain them together like this. No need for any heavy objects.

You can also put something light (like a magazine) in the middle to make de-coupling them easier:


A blanket or jacked to act as a parachute could have also helped alleviate damage due to a possible failure.

I agree, not aired down could have had something to do with it.

Any more info would be great.

Thats a good idea wish I would have thought of it in the heat of the moment.
I decided to pull forward for 2 reasons mostly for traction and because I have more faith in the front bumper than my rear hitch. Sure I could have probably did things a little differently like get a better angle or better yet closer, but I doubt that would have happened considering how steep that drop off was. Oh well you live in you learn and I have plenty of learning to do!

[Trail X]

That said, if I was there I would have had the rig that was pulling you instead drive partway up the side of the hill. Strap his front to your rock slider and either have him idle the truck in reverse or sit in neutral on the hill. (Anchor point/light force pulling you back up the embankment). Have a second truck drive up the hill enough to strap their front to your rear... then pull you backwards off the embankment. The idea being to use gravity to your advantage and not need nearly as much sharp force.

I'm tempted to make a drawing.

I'm somewhat in agreement... but considering the angle that the truck was sitting (nose up-hill), it would make sense pulling the truck forward, up the hill, while still using the anchor off to the side to hold it on the hill.

While pulling it downhill could require less force, it has other dangers (especially if the hill was indeed a 45 degree slope, as stated!!), because you're potentially getting the truck unstuck on a steep slope. If the truck got completely unstuck with no brake assist, you could have a truck hurtling downhill rather quickly.

Another thought - did noone have a hi-lift? A hi-lift winch setup could have been used to either anchor the truck sideways, slide the truck sideways, or winch the truck up the hill. Sure it's slow, but it's very controllable and it holds anchor pretty well.

[fishsticks]

I'm somewhat in agreement... but considering the angle that the truck was sitting (nose up-hill), it would make sense pulling the truck forward, up the hill, while still using the anchor off to the side to hold it on the hill.

While pulling it downhill could require less force, it has other dangers (especially if the hill was indeed a 45 degree slope, as stated!!), because you're potentially getting the truck unstuck on a steep slope. If the truck got completely unstuck with no brake assist, you could have a truck hurtling downhill rather quickly.

Another thought - did noone have a hi-lift? A hi-lift winch setup could have been used to either anchor the truck sideways, slide the truck sideways, or winch the truck up the hill. Sure it's slow, but it's very controllable and it holds anchor pretty well.

I didn't opt for the uphill pull simply because I've never seen the area and it wasn't specified if one could get around to that side. Since Matt made it up the hill behind him we know that's a viable route.

With a rear pull I'm pretty sure that once his rear tires slid back up a bit he could have started the truck.


Matt, go get stuck again so we can all drive out there and have a discussion on the matter.

[navigator]

We can't get a good picture of the recovery because most of the video is on the recovery vehicle.
I think given the circumstances (no winch, no room up top) you likely did it the only way you could. I think others mentioned if you could have anchored one side and not used a shackle those might be the only improvements to make.

I think one other point of worth mentioning is you weren't aired down which might have helped prevent your slide but you might also have popped a bead on recovery if you had been aired down. I would expect most wouldn't think to pump up the tires before the attempt to recover.