Snow Recovery Mishap

Boiler · **Posted:** Fri Jan 08, 2010 12:35 am

Well I witnessed my first recovery mishap today. There was a car in a ditch and his buddy was behind him with about a 10 ft chain preparing to pull him out with his blazer.

I stopped to offer my snatch strap. They said yes please, and I layed it out and attached the one end to the blazer. I got in the jeep and moved well out of the way, and when I got back over there they had the strap slung through something underneath and attached to the blazers other towhook. The guy was backing up already.

Several problems here. My strap is getting some kind of pressure in the middle, not at the reinforced ends. Second the stupid blazer is still only 15 feet away fromt he car. Long story short, the car comes out after several tire melting tries, and proceeds to slam into the front of the blazer....

Tow hooks just went right through the plastic bumper of the car. Blazer seemed to receive no damage but I'm sure he'll find some in the spring.

Worst part was he ran over my strap and scuffed it up. I guess thats 100% my fault for letting someone use it that had no clue what they were doing....

JMSMN · **Posted:** Fri Jan 08, 2010 12:44 am

Common sence escapes some people.

tommudd · **Posted:** Fri Jan 08, 2010 12:49 am

Boiler look at it this way, you may of saved someones life, if they would of went tugging and jerking on that chain hard to tell what may of happened!
I've witnessed chains breaking and flying through the air not a pretty site. They didn't have common sense either.

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 08, 2010 3:21 am

tire melting? guess they didnt know hot tires don't stick to nothin

back before freon was the devil used to carry a jug of it incase got in a bad spot on the ice

hose the tires and you could just about climb a icy tree

MtnRunner · **Joined:** Wed May 28, 2008 8:32 pm **Posts:** 89

Quote:

Boiler look at it this way, you may of saved someones life, if they would of went tugging and jerking on that chain hard to tell what may of happened!
I've witnessed chains breaking and flying through the air not a pretty site. They didn't have common sense either.

Aye, I have seen it too. My buddy was pulling me out one time and the chain snap-backed and broke out his back window. Wasn't a pretty site and I felt bad for getting stuck because it cost him a new window! He wouldn't let me reimburse him. I did however buy him a case of beer for trouble rendered.

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 08, 2010 8:40 am

what was it about this time last year maybe another month or so when that guy got fragged when the tow hook broke or somethin, went through the back glass and hit him in the head?

valvestem · **Joined:** Thu Jul 07, 2005 7:01 pm **Posts:** 222

MtnRunner wrote:

Aye, I have seen it too. My buddy was pulling me out one time and the chain snap-backed and broke out his back window. Wasn't a pretty site and I felt bad for getting stuck because it cost him a new window! He wouldn't let me reimburse him. I did however buy him a case of beer for trouble rendered.

That is one reason why a blanket or something like it is supposed to be draped over a chain/cable in case it snaps, it acts as a dampener to the whipping action.

LibertyFever · **Posted:** Fri Jan 08, 2010 10:20 am

I have mixed feelings about helping total strangers out of a stuck both on the highway and on the trails.

-the driver could be drunk and better off with his ride in the ditch
-it can be dangerous trying to pull somebody back onto the highway with all the other road traffic about
-you could be responsible for any damage to his ride whether or not you actually did anything
-I've actually burned up my battery terminals & alternator and snarled my winch cable rescuing too many other vehicles. They should have bought their own winch.

Myself I think you did a good thing by loaning them your snatch strap and not offering to tug him out yourself. They could have done some real harm with the chains to themselves & others. As for the damage to the car being rescued, he should have waited for a tow truck. It would have cost him less.

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 08, 2010 10:21 am

don't totally understand how those blanket things work, but.. i have SEEN them work several times

LibertyFever · **Posted:** Fri Jan 08, 2010 10:37 am

JeepinJarhead03 wrote:

don't totally understand how those blanket things work, but.. i have SEEN them work several times

I haven't seen blankets used on snatch or recovery straps before but I have seen them used on winch cables. They're essential because wire rope tends to fly or snap back when it breaks. Synthetic winch rope simply drops.

Snow Recovery Mishap

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