Axle Direct Recovery

**Blknight.aus** · 26th April 2009, 08:49 PM

black soil mud can provide that much drag on a vehicle..

if he came down the hill and turned onto the mud to try and get across (how he expected to climb out I'll never know) you could quite easily get yourself stuck in the exact same position he was in in the northern territory or the mid west coast.

**PhilipA** · 27th April 2009, 07:42 AM

I have found that under these circumstances you need 2 recovery methods. It can be a wide variety of methods but you need two eg snatch and hi lift, winch and bullbag, snatch and shovel and mats,etc etc

Our whole club got stuck one day in "vomit" country near Mudgee.

There was a crust about 80MM deep and under was porridge.
First to bog was a Disco 1 with a 12,000Lb winch. He tried to pull out but just sailed along on his belly , building up mud to almost window level on one side. BTW the first attempt was by snatch which broke at the loop and took out the recoverer's tailgate.

We placed my bullbag under the front , inflated it to lift , then rolled over it with the winch. After a short time the suction broke and the front lifted out.

IMHO the main problem wit the Cherokee was that they were pulling sideways against wheels that were fully sunk.

My interpretation of the material they were bogged in was overburden from a mine. Fine silt accumulates at the base of the "mullock heaps" and has no structure to give a base. I believe they would have eventually got it out backwards if they had shovelled and persevered. BUT who knows.
Regards Philip A

**mark2** · 27th April 2009, 09:00 PM

Originally Posted by PhilipA

I think it is a great idea.
Q\What is usually stuck in a 4x4.
A\The axle/wheels/ diff

If the body is stuck you are going to rip the hell out of it anyway towing from a tow point.

ALL of the force of snatching etc must go to the stuck point ie the axles via the axle mountings if you snatch off a recovery point.

If recovering from the axle the only mass is the 4x4 (plus inertia), not multiplied as with a snatch strap.

Regards Philip A

I agree - if it's the axles which are stuck, pull on the axles- this will impose less stress on the suspension than pulling on the chassis which will ultimately transfer the loads back to the axle via the suspension linkages anyway. The lifting action due to the low angle of pull will also assist the recovery by trying to lift the wheels out of the bog.

However, in a deeper bog where there are suction/drag forces on the chassis/floor pan, applying the load to the chassis may well be a better option if this is the only option available.

Thread: Axle Direct Recovery

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