I regularly (like now) take my caravan deep into the bush through
forests and on tracks that are more 4WD than 2WD and on one occasion
was forced to stay an extra week to allow the track to dry out in
order to tow the van out.
Although I am very careful and try to inspect the tracks in the 4WD
vehicle before towing the van in I suspect that, sooner or later, I'm
going to get it wrong and get stuck in mud or sand.
Question:
Has anyone towed or winched a caravan out of such a situation?
I have a winch, extension straps, Dyneema rope etc but, I suspect, as
soon as I start to move the van the jockey wheel is going to dig in
and make life difficult to impossible.
Any suggestions?
blaze said
08:03 AM Jun 1, 2019
skid plate for the jockey wheel, lower nose so the extended shaft is as low as possible, plate needs to pivot at ground level and just whinch. Works well, been there and done it. The van was up to the floor in mud and had to winch about 100m before rehooking up. Hard work and to be avoid if at all possible.
cheers
blaze
Mobi Condo said
08:32 AM Jun 1, 2019
blaze wrote:
skid plate for the jockey wheel, lower nose so the extended shaft is as low as possible, plate needs to pivot at ground level and just whinch. Works well, been there and done it. The van was up to the floor in mud and had to winch about 100m before rehooking up. Hard work and to be avoid if at all possible. cheers blaze
Yep! As blaze wrote.
We experienced two bogs in one day with our rig, 1 hour of winching freed us from no1 then 2-plus hours from no2.
Skid plate for hitch on A frame with the hitch as low as possible (have used our long handled shovel - note shovel not spade - lashed in position for this) and stand the tug off on firm ground with winch cable, winch extension strap and 7metre drag chain (totalled about 70 metres) being careful NOT to overheat the winch, we had two pulls - totalled about 140 metres - to free the van out of a wide boggy patch.
the High lift jack also came in handy to raise A frame over some hidden rocks etc. in the mud!
Mind you - IF state authorities worked together on warning signs etc. at each end of roads which crossed state borders, then we would NOT have proceeded along the road we took! Grr!
Our only 2 uses of our winch to recover ourselves! ALL other uses ( about 7 now) have been to recover others not so well prepared.
Whenarewethere said
03:32 PM Jun 1, 2019
Let your tyres down!
Twice last year we saw 2 Toyota LandCruisers stuck in sand with off road tyres. One situation the driver was looking at my car wondering how I got through the sand.
I said have you let your tyres down. No not yet (which was surprising as the road to get here was full of corrugations)
As soon as he & his girl friend each did a side of the car both saying is that enough (air out). They got out without any issues.
Failing that, get some sand tracks. I have 4!
blaze said
04:43 PM Jun 1, 2019
Whenarewethere wrote:
Let your tyres down!
Twice last year we saw 2 Toyota LandCruisers stuck in sand with off road tyres. One situation the driver was looking at my car wondering how I got through the sand.
I said have you let your tyres down. No not yet (which was surprising as the road to get here was full of corrugations)
As soon as he & his girl friend each did a side of the car both saying is that enough (air out). They got out without any issues.
Failing that, get some sand tracks. I have 4!
most people who have been 4x4 for a lot of years have most often done this before they even got stuck and sand tracks are not a lot of use when you are in the **** with a van on, they are best suited to driven wheels
cheers
blaze
-- Edited by blaze on Saturday 1st of June 2019 04:46:29 PM
Baz421 said
07:20 PM Jun 1, 2019
If you are that sure that you need to carry something,,, think about this.
Towball mounted on a plate of say 600x400mm x 5mm steel (or similar) ,,, 15 degree bend in plate,,,,, simply put towball into your A frame hitch and pull away,, plate stops hitch digging in too much.
Winch pull will try to lift A frame but it will also try to dig in,, bend in plate tries to lift A frame up.
my 2 cents worth
STRETCH ARMSTRONG said
08:40 PM Jun 1, 2019
My situation was a bit different. Trees on the side of a very narrow zig zag track. I could not get my van around the bends attached to my old cruiser without removing trees. Using the pto winch l was able to pretty much drive through backwards winch cable attatched to the vans chains.
herks said
10:04 PM Jun 1, 2019
Baz421 wrote:
If you are that sure that you need to carry something,,, think about this.
Towball mounted on a plate of say 600x400mm x 5mm steel (or similar) ,,, 15 degree bend in plate,,,,, simply put towball into your A frame hitch and pull away,, plate stops hitch digging in too much.
Winch pull will try to lift A frame but it will also try to dig in,, bend in plate tries to lift A frame up.
my 2 cents worth
Good idea but if you don't have such a plate then a shovel tied under the tow hitch, without the jockey wheel, with some thought and care, will do a similar job.
-- Edited by herks on Saturday 1st of June 2019 10:05:24 PM
Olive Oil said
05:44 AM Jun 2, 2019
We bought a 4wd to get us out of trouble not to go looking for trouble.
Skulldug said
09:05 AM Jun 2, 2019
I used a winch to get our van out of its parking spot at home. Attached a tree strap to both ends of the rear bumper and winched it backwards. It was smooth but quite steep. Never had a problem but did use the move-chock-move-chock method.
Skull
oh and hello everyone.
-- Edited by Skulldug on Sunday 2nd of June 2019 09:06:34 AM
Mike Harding said
09:33 AM Jun 2, 2019
Some great ideas guys, thank you very much :)
I hadn't thought about a skid plate (shovel perhaps?) and I like the idea of the plate with towball - don't like the weight though :(
Skulldug: Welcome :) My van weighs 2.7T and I'm guessing the winch load when it's deep in mud will be more, I really don't think the rear bumper is intended for such loads.
Whenarewethere: Sadly reducing tyre pressures doesn't always work and especially not if the vehicle is axle deep in mud/sand.
Olive Oil: That's because you lack a sense of adventure.
Next question is: Where to attach the winch to the van?
Looking at the safety chains I doubt my 4T shackles wlll fit through their links and I don't want to wrap anything around potentially sharp edges of chassis, need to investigate more.
I hadn't thought about a skid plate (shovel perhaps?) and I like the idea of the plate with towball - don't like the weight though :(
Skulldug: Welcome :) My van weighs 2.7T and I'm guessing the winch load when it's deep in mud will be more, I really don't think the rear bumper is intended for such loads.
Whenarewethere: Sadly reducing tyre pressures doesn't always work and especially not if the vehicle is axle deep in mud/sand.
Olive Oil: That's because you lack a sense of adventure.
Next question is: Where to attach the winch to the van?
Looking at the safety chains I doubt my 4T shackles wlll fit through their links and I don't want to wrap anything around potentially sharp edges of chassis, need to investigate more.
Further to reply above, we are so lucky that the Van manufacturer has recovery loops weld to the chassis rail at the rear and were used in the 1st recovery via the drag chain used as a load sharing brace across the van. The 2nd recovery was forward and so both safety chains were used as the hitch point linked by a rated bow shackles from our recovery kit. our chains have links large enough for this.
blaze said
12:27 PM Jun 2, 2019
I just fed it under the tow coupler and back over and through the loop of the strap so when the load come on it tended to lift the drawbar
cheers
blaze
Warren-Pat_01 said
09:37 PM Jun 2, 2019
Hi Mike & everyone else,
Sand - if you're bogged & can stay in the position overnight, use nature. Dig as much sand away from the wheels as you can & drive out early the next morning! The dew dampens the sand sufficient. I was bogged at Palm Valley years ago & was advised to do just that. Result - the car didn't hesitate!
Ceduna & Penong people do the same at a favourite fishing spot (D....t Creek). They take their caravans over the sand dunes & back again when the sand is damp (early mornings).
Soft mud - forget it! As Olive said " We bought a 4wd to get us out of trouble not to go looking for trouble".
I saw a bloke get into trouble at Buffalo Creek in Darwin in the early 70s. He used his low crawler gear on his Haflinga to get bogged trying to cross the creek - just to show how good his vehicle was! He & his mates got it out at the next low tide! These days, he would have probably found a croc sitting in it waiting to go for a ride!
A few years ago, we & other members went to Iron Range - on the way back through Lakefield NP it rained heavily on the road (black soil). The two families of us did the "Bridal Walz" for about 10kms in low range 4wd. We had no other option but to keep going - I had our Eagle on the back, the other couple had a camper trailer.
I regularly (like now) take my caravan deep into the bush through
forests and on tracks that are more 4WD than 2WD and on one occasion
was forced to stay an extra week to allow the track to dry out in
order to tow the van out.
Although I am very careful and try to inspect the tracks in the 4WD
vehicle before towing the van in I suspect that, sooner or later, I'm
going to get it wrong and get stuck in mud or sand.
Question:
Has anyone towed or winched a caravan out of such a situation?
I have a winch, extension straps, Dyneema rope etc but, I suspect, as
soon as I start to move the van the jockey wheel is going to dig in
and make life difficult to impossible.
Any suggestions?
cheers
blaze
Yep! As blaze wrote.
We experienced two bogs in one day with our rig, 1 hour of winching freed us from no1 then 2-plus hours from no2.
Skid plate for hitch on A frame with the hitch as low as possible (have used our long handled shovel - note shovel not spade - lashed in position for this) and stand the tug off on firm ground with winch cable, winch extension strap and 7metre drag chain (totalled about 70 metres) being careful NOT to overheat the winch, we had two pulls - totalled about 140 metres - to free the van out of a wide boggy patch.
the High lift jack also came in handy to raise A frame over some hidden rocks etc. in the mud!
Mind you - IF state authorities worked together on warning signs etc. at each end of roads which crossed state borders, then we would NOT have proceeded along the road we took! Grr!
Our only 2 uses of our winch to recover ourselves! ALL other uses ( about 7 now) have been to recover others not so well prepared.
Let your tyres down!
Twice last year we saw 2 Toyota LandCruisers stuck in sand with off road tyres. One situation the driver was looking at my car wondering how I got through the sand.
I said have you let your tyres down. No not yet (which was surprising as the road to get here was full of corrugations)
As soon as he & his girl friend each did a side of the car both saying is that enough (air out). They got out without any issues.
Failing that, get some sand tracks. I have 4!
-- Edited by blaze on Saturday 1st of June 2019 04:46:29 PM
If you are that sure that you need to carry something,,, think about this.
Towball mounted on a plate of say 600x400mm x 5mm steel (or similar) ,,, 15 degree bend in plate,,,,, simply put towball into your A frame hitch and pull away,, plate stops hitch digging in too much.
Winch pull will try to lift A frame but it will also try to dig in,, bend in plate tries to lift A frame up.
my 2 cents worth
Good idea but if you don't have such a plate then a shovel tied under the tow hitch, without the jockey wheel, with some thought and care, will do a similar job.
-- Edited by herks on Saturday 1st of June 2019 10:05:24 PM
I used a winch to get our van out of its parking spot at home. Attached a tree strap to both ends of the rear bumper and winched it backwards. It was smooth but quite steep. Never had a problem but did use the move-chock-move-chock method.
Skull
oh and hello everyone.
-- Edited by Skulldug on Sunday 2nd of June 2019 09:06:34 AM
Some great ideas guys, thank you very much :)
I hadn't thought about a skid plate (shovel perhaps?) and I like the idea of the plate with towball - don't like the weight though :(
Skulldug: Welcome :) My van weighs 2.7T and I'm guessing the winch load when it's deep in mud will be more, I really don't think the rear bumper is intended for such loads.
Whenarewethere: Sadly reducing tyre pressures doesn't always work and especially not if the vehicle is axle deep in mud/sand.
Olive Oil: That's because you lack a sense of adventure.
Next question is: Where to attach the winch to the van?
Looking at the safety chains I doubt my 4T shackles wlll fit through their links and I don't want to wrap anything around potentially sharp edges of chassis, need to investigate more.
Mike,have a look at this.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVKLKyuqEY8
Further to reply above, we are so lucky that the Van manufacturer has recovery loops weld to the chassis rail at the rear and were used in the 1st recovery via the drag chain used as a load sharing brace across the van. The 2nd recovery was forward and so both safety chains were used as the hitch point linked by a rated bow shackles from our recovery kit. our chains have links large enough for this.
cheers
blaze
Sand - if you're bogged & can stay in the position overnight, use nature. Dig as much sand away from the wheels as you can & drive out early the next morning! The dew dampens the sand sufficient. I was bogged at Palm Valley years ago & was advised to do just that. Result - the car didn't hesitate!
Ceduna & Penong people do the same at a favourite fishing spot (D....t Creek). They take their caravans over the sand dunes & back again when the sand is damp (early mornings).
Soft mud - forget it! As Olive said " We bought a 4wd to get us out of trouble not to go looking for trouble".
I saw a bloke get into trouble at Buffalo Creek in Darwin in the early 70s. He used his low crawler gear on his Haflinga to get bogged trying to cross the creek - just to show how good his vehicle was! He & his mates got it out at the next low tide! These days, he would have probably found a croc sitting in it waiting to go for a ride!
A few years ago, we & other members went to Iron Range - on the way back through Lakefield NP it rained heavily on the road (black soil). The two families of us did the "Bridal Walz" for about 10kms in low range 4wd. We had no other option but to keep going - I had our Eagle on the back, the other couple had a camper trailer.