Thread: Another snatch strap death

Some weeks ago one of my office colleagues expressed an interest in tagging along next time I go on a fairly easy camping weekend. He was concerned about getting stuck as his Prado is pretty much stock standard. I asked about recovery points and he said there are some very substantial factory tow points on his vehicle. (cue: tingling spidey sense)

Eyeballed his "substantial tow points" in the carpark briefly. (circled in red in the pic - not his vehicle, he doesn't have a bullbar)

I went a-googling to get some idea how they are attached and whether they can be trusted.

This video is pretty damning. (also calls into question how strong is the bullbar attachment in the pic, its tow hooks etc... if the chassis can tear off like that.)
Wafra's offroad prado incident - YouTube




PradoRecoveryHooks2.jpg

Originally Posted by tact

Some weeks ago one of my office colleagues expressed an interest in tagging along next time I go on a fairly easy camping weekend. He was concerned about getting stuck as his Prado is pretty much stock standard. I asked about recovery points and he said there are some very substantial factory tow points on his vehicle. (que: tingling spidey sense)

Eyeballed his "substantial tow points" in the carpark briefly. (circled in red in the pic - not his vehicle, he doesn't have a bullbar)

I went a-googling to get some idea how they are attached and whether they can be trusted.

This video is pretty damning. (also calls into question how strong is the bullbar attachment in the pic, its tow hooks etc... if the chassis can tear off like that.)
Wafra's offroad prado incident - YouTube




PradoRecoveryHooks2.jpg

So is he tagging along??

Based on it being fairly easy trip a tow point will probably be enough....

if you have to recover using either snatch or winch that the track probably isn’t fairly easy.

The Prado is capable enough, well basing it on my MY15 hilux

Originally Posted by weeds

So is he tagging along??

Based on it being fairly easy trip a tow point will probably be enough....

if you have to recover using either snatch or winch that the track probably isn’t fairly easy.

The Prado is capable enough, well basing it on my MY15 hilux

Well... as has been expressed elsewhere in this thread, accidents/surprises can happen even to the best of drivers/vehicles: All it takes is a little bad luck, maybe a splash of unseasonal rain and perhaps an error or two, for a bit of a trail stoppage to exceed the envelope for successful tow recovery.


My colleague is having a good think about it first. Will likely pass on the next outing. Is considering the trip after next, considering getting some decent recovery points fitted.

His concern is that despite a trail being considered easy, he could still make a mistake that gets him stuck much worse than one might expect on an easy trail.

I think his attitude is a good one to have.

Originally Posted by tact

Some weeks ago one of my office colleagues expressed an interest in tagging along next time I go on a fairly easy camping weekend. He was concerned about getting stuck as his Prado is pretty much stock standard. I asked about recovery points and he said there are some very substantial factory tow points on his vehicle. (cue: tingling spidey sense)

Eyeballed his "substantial tow points" in the carpark briefly. (circled in red in the pic - not his vehicle, he doesn't have a bullbar)

I went a-googling to get some idea how they are attached and whether they can be trusted.

This video is pretty damning. (also calls into question how strong is the bullbar attachment in the pic, its tow hooks etc... if the chassis can tear off like that.)
Wafra's offroad prado incident - YouTube




PradoRecoveryHooks2.jpg

Christ!

Originally Posted by tact

This video is pretty damning. (also calls into question how strong is the bullbar attachment in the pic, its tow hooks etc... if the chassis can tear off like that.)
Wafra's offroad prado incident - YouTube




PradoRecoveryHooks2.jpg

Wow....

Originally Posted by weeds

So is he tagging along??

Based on it being fairly easy trip a tow point will probably be enough....

if you have to recover using either snatch or winch that the track probably isn’t fairly easy.

The Prado is capable enough, well basing it on my MY15 hilux

Just following on my previous reply to the above:
Easy trail, hard trail, whether a tow recovery will work or not, there is a huge number of variables. Describing the attached pic:
- This was a hard trail. Very hard. My 4x4 buddies in Malaysia welcomed me back to offroading, after about a 7yr break, bluffing me that it was an easy trail. (They wanted to give me and my near new, still stock standard, 2013 Defender a bit of a hazing. I was like a lamb to the slaughter.)

(- BTW, my Defender did me proud. It idled through some obstacles, cleaning them in one pass on stock tyres, while some of the lifted/locked beasts on 35" centipede tyres were valve bouncing and wheel spinning through a number of attempts before success. Good as the Defender was, the trail was hard and took its toll - all 4 of my folding steps were bent and broken by the large boulders traversed in some places, and my front bumper was bent slipping off a boulder. (Thanks cuppabillytea for pointing out the bent bumper out in many pics!))

- The pic does not do the situation much justice. It is much steeper than it looks. My friend's jeep in the pic is stationary and actually near the tipping point to flipping over backwards. As was each vehicle before and after him at that spot.

- It is a very steep hill with a huge washout in the middle and at some point, driver chooses, a rear wheel must be run into the rut (front wheel just floats over it unweighted) adding a bit of sideways tilt to an already tricky ascent.

- Driver decides how far he drives towards the point of flipping and stops. Vehicle in front (waiting and catching pics) then attaches a tow strap to the high corner and provides just enough pull (towing) to counterbalance and prevent a backflip. In this case I was the vehicle in front the jeep after being in a similar position and helped over the crest as described, in my turn.

- the process was repeated for each vehicle in turn. First vehicle, of course, self assisted courtesy of the warn winch company. But for all subsequent vehicles it is way faster, simpler and dare I suggest safer, to just run out a tow strap.

I have also attempted tow recovery on very easy trails that failed - Simply because the amount of traction available to wheels wasn't enough to overcome even mild degrees of "stuck"!

All this just to illustrate the point made in the first lines of this post: There is huge number of variables that will effect the outcome of an attempted recovery. Doesn't matter whether the trail is hard or easy. Have had success with tow recovery on hard trails. Have had instances where towing didn't succeed on easy trails. And vice versa.

keewes.jpg

That does look hard m8 no doubt. It looks like it drops away steeply and in a V drain.

Cheers

Malaysia eh? A bit like this?

Offroad Extreme : Malaysia Offroad - YouTube