Winching in sand with a buried tyre

**wyperfield** · 21st December 2010, 07:30 PM

I got the Disco severely bogged on the beach at Coorong National Park last week with no other vehicles around.
Tried the Bushranger exhaust bag - it had worked well with my old V6 Jackaroo, but on the twin exhaust Disco, I could not hold the pressure on one exhaust pipe while stopping the hose from blowing off the other.
Tried 2 x Maxtrax - they worked a bit, but not enough to get the vehicle out of trouble. I think 4 of them may have worked better.
So I resorted to burying the spare in the sand and winching. I had heard of this technique and although it was a pain unloading some gear to get to the spare tyre lowering bolt and digging the hole, at least it worked.
A couple of tips should anyone ever have to use it.
1. Dig a hole where you want to winch to, at least 500mm deep, just wide enough for the tyre to drop in. The tyre will be lying horizontally in the hole, not standing up.
2. Put a recovery strap through the wheel and drop it in the hole.
3. Dig a thin trench for the strap and winch cable for about 2 metres long so the cable pulls as horizontally as possible. If the strap and cable are on an angle upwards, the tyre will come out of the hole.
4. Bury the tyre in sand, connect the winch and pull yourself out.
5. It works as well as using a big tree. I was quite amazed.
The spare had no marks or signs of damage as the strap protects it.
It's a bit of work getting the tyre out of the hole and I had to do this 4 times to winch myself onto sand that was driveable again.
Anyway, its better than being stuck on the beach as the tide comes in.

**Blknight.aus** · 21st December 2010, 07:39 PM

yep its a goodn..

if you're only just stuck you can also get away with the shovel.

jam it into the ground leaning away from the vehicle put the winch cable on near the head and then lean back on it while someone winds the winch in. Works really well on the shovels with the steel handles.

**austastar** · 22nd December 2010, 10:59 AM

Originally Posted by wyperfield

I could not hold the pressure on one exhaust pipe while stopping the hose from blowing off the other.

Hi,
Invest in a rubber bung that will fit in the exhaust outlet snugly.You can get them from a scientific equipment supplier, or you may know a science teacher.

You need a hole down the centre of the bung (best drilled with a cork borer) to take a bolt and nut.

Bung the bung in the pipe to be blocked and tighten the nut to expand the rubber bung so it is a tight fit.

I saw this online where a flat tray Toyota had run the exhausts up the back of the cab - some what like a Kenworth or similar prime mover, but the exhaust was smoking up his slide on camper. It looked good, but was not practical.
He had his exhausts joined to a more normal exit and put the bungs in the top ones for normal driving, and would bung the lower ones only when crossing deeper water.
cheers

**jazzaD1** · 22nd December 2010, 11:14 AM

Originally Posted by austastar

Hi,
Invest in a rubber bung that will fit in the exhaust outlet snugly.You can get them from a scientific equipment supplier, or you may know a science teacher.

You need a hole down the centre of the bung (best drilled with a cork borer) to take a bolt and nut.

Bung the bung in the pipe to be blocked and tighten the nut to expand the rubber bung so it is a tight fit.

I saw this online where a flat tray Toyota had run the exhausts up the back of the cab - some what like a Kenworth or similar prime mover, but the exhaust was smoking up his slide on camper. It looked good, but was not practical.
He had his exhausts joined to a more normal exit and put the bungs in the top ones for normal driving, and would bung the lower ones only when crossing deeper water.
cheers

something similar could also easily be found at a home brew shop, they have all sorts of bungs

**alien** · 22nd December 2010, 12:01 PM

Good to see you made it out on your own

Possibly better than being snatched by a gun-ho passer by who doesn't know how to use a snatch strap.

My uderstanding is that the wheel should be standing verticly in the hole.
(This maximises the tyre/rim contact towards the pull.)
The hole should be at an angle away from the line of pull, so the wheel is leaning away from the 4B at the top(30 deg?)
(If on a lean the theory is it can't "pop" out while under load.)
Also not recomended on alloy wheels as the strain can fracture them.
I have seen a chan insurted in the hole and hooked over the wheel nut spanner, not the best way IMO.

Can anyone confirm or deny the above for me, I've only done this in training.

**Blknight.aus** · 22nd December 2010, 01:37 PM

all correct.

BUT the angle of the dangle in the trench that you dig varies with the type of ground that you are in as does the depth.

generally softer sands require a deeper hole and a bit more angle and harder stuff you get closer to verticle.

The really important bit is the lead in trench if it lets the cable pull upwards or sideways to the anchor the anchor can dislodge and work free by pulling itself into the leader trench.

**wyperfield** · 23rd December 2010, 12:14 AM

Originally Posted by alien d2

My understanding is that the wheel should be standing verticly in the hole.
(This maximises the tyre/rim contact towards the pull.)
The hole should be at an angle away from the line of pull, so the wheel is leaning away from the 4B at the top(30 deg?)
(If on a lean the theory is it can't "pop" out while under load.)
Also not recomended on alloy wheels as the strain can fracture them.
I have seen a chan insurted in the hole and hooked over the wheel nut spanner, not the best way IMO.

Can anyone confirm or deny the above for me, I've only done this in training.

Thanks for the feedback Alien d2,
I thought about using the wheel vertically as it would maximise surface area contact with the sand as you suggest. The strap would have to be over the wheel, not through it so that the pulling force is not on the wheel spokes (which may cause distortion of the wheel).
I only tried the horizontal pull as it's what I had remembered seeing or reading somewhere and its easy to fit the strap through the wheel this way.
When I was trying this, the wheel came out of the sand on my first couple of attempts because the hole was either not deep enough and/or the angle of pull too steep.
Once I had the method sussed out so that it worked well, I had to do it 4 times to get completely out of trouble, which took about 2 hours.
Needless to say I was completely buggered, but safe!
Wyperfield

Tombie · 23rd December 2010, 05:59 AM

We tried this recently but were so stuck all we did was pull the wheel through the ground!

**barney** · 27th December 2010, 07:09 PM

Originally Posted by austastar

Hi,
Invest in a rubber bung that will fit in the exhaust outlet snugly.You can get them from a scientific equipment supplier, or you may know a science teacher.
cheers

some adult shops sell a similar item

**barney** · 27th December 2010, 07:13 PM

Originally Posted by alien d2

Good to see you made it out on your own

Possibly better than being snatched by a gun-ho passer by who doesn't know how to use a snatch strap.

My uderstanding is that the wheel should be standing verticly in the hole.
(This maximises the tyre/rim contact towards the pull.)
The hole should be at an angle away from the line of pull, so the wheel is leaning away from the 4B at the top(30 deg?)
(If on a lean the theory is it can't "pop" out while under load.)
Also not recomended on alloy wheels as the strain can fracture them.
I have seen a chan insurted in the hole and hooked over the wheel nut spanner, not the best way IMO.

Can anyone confirm or deny the above for me, I've only done this in training.

this was the way i believed it should be done also.
there's another method that Ken O'keith from ultimate suspension told me about. if you carry a couple of potato sacks with you, you can fill them with the material you are stuck in, place them under and infront of the tyres, using them as traction mats to drive out. the best thing about these is they roll up small when not being used, are extremely cheap and can be used for other purposes from ground sheets to gathering firewood.

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