Come along, jerk strap, and tire chains

I currently do not have a 4WD but have front wheel drive car instead. I want to sell the car and get a 2WD vehicle such as van.

However.... I am a bit concerned abt going back to rear wheel drive in a van.

I was thinking..... if a person carried a kit of say a set of easy on/off tire chains, a 12 ft manual come along, and a 30 ft two inch nylon jerk strap.... would those three items pretty much get me out of any bad situations as far as getting stuck in the van?

I figure I could wrap or attach the jerk strap to the vehicle and attach come along hook to jerk strap thereby increasing its length. Or wrap jerk strap around tree and attach come along to ends and then ratchet my way out of the stuck position.

On the tire chains....anyone have a source for some VERY easy on/off chains that one could install just long enough to get vehicle unstuck.... then remove and throw back in vehicle?

Reply to
me
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Reply to
L.W. (Bill) Hughes III

The definition of 'bad situation' is in the eye of the beholder. I have been in places where 33" tires, 4 wheel drive, and a 9,000lb winch was barely enough to get me out. I have video.

What type of roads do you travel? Highways and city streets? Back roads? Forest service roads? Logging roads? Long, private dirt/gravel driveways?

4x4 trails? There is a reason we lift and lock our 4x4's with big tires.

I would say so long as you stick on the road you should be fine. A chained RWD van should go anywhere a FWD car can go w/o chains. Throw a few sand bags in the rear and you probably won't have any problems.

Sometimes there is nothing to strap to and use your come-along or winch. A hi-lift can be very versetile but also VERY dangerous if used wrong. They sell attachments to hi-lift from a wheel instead of putting it under the frame. It can also double as a come-along. A hi-lift used improperly CAN and WILL cause FATAL INJURY.

Be VERY careful linking straps and come-alongs together. You are MUCH better off using D-Shackles instead of hooks. Put the shackle through the loop on the strap, and the loop where the come-along hook attaches to the come-along. Attach the pin and screw it in tight. Only use hooks if there is no other alternative and a speedy recovery is needed for safety reasons.

Also, be sure to carry a long sleeve shirt (tie the sleeves in knots and put rocks in them) or a heavy coat. Drape the shirt or the coat over the center of the strap/ come along lines. This helps keep the straps from flying if they break.

Make no mistake about it. A broken strap CAN and WILL cause FATAL INJURY.

I'm not sure how one would install tire chains while stuck, since most passenger car tire chains are drive-on. I suppose you could barely jack the van up and VERY CARFULLY install the chains with the van wheel 1" off the ground, though I do NOT advise working under a vehicle supported only by a jack, especially a Hi-lift.

Bear in mind that YOU (the Rigger) are responsible for your safety and the safety of those around you during a recovery operation. This includes traffic passing by, anyone who stops to help/gawkers, and animal life.

I can't stress this enough. Self-recovery of your vehicle is not something to take lightly. It's important to assess the situation for hazards and to check your rigging very carefully. Improper / careless setup or operation of self-recovery equipment CAN and WILL caust FATAL INJURY.

Last but not least, always use a nylon strap around a tree. Chains are second best if no strap is availible. Only use a cable as a last resort, as this will damage the tree.

Hope this helps,

Carl

Reply to
Carl

Reply to
L.W. (Bill) Hughes III

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Reply to
bubonic

In my situation i had a come along but 2 x 20 foot tow straps with no elasticity. (Yes with the metal hooks, I'm looking for snatch straps presently). My point is - the come along will be tedious with an elastic snatch strap. You'll be winching the thing till it is fully stretched out.

Reply to
Thoth1126

In my opinion chains are worse than useless off road, especially in a 2 WD van. They just allow you to get in deeper before you really get into trouble. They are useless once you are already stuck, no easy way to 'safely' get them on.

If you come to a soft spot with chains on, the chains will just dig holes trying to plow the front wheels through the soft stuff, then you can't even back out. A fiend tried them on his 2 WD van with a Detroit locker. He got stuck 4 times in one truck length, then took the chains off... He eventually put a front and rear receiver hitch on for a powered winch mount....

On road, chains are very useful in ice conditions.

As far as the come-a-long goes, they are excellent, but you need a 'tow' rope or cable or chain to extend them. ]

You also should invest in proper frame mounted tow hooks for all this.

The 'snatch' strap or jerk strap is a very useful tool for hooking to another vehicle to get you out, but it does not work well with a come-a-long. The stretch factor can take up all the play in the winch before the vehicle moves. Been there, had to walk 5 miles to a camp to borrow a non stretch rope to walk back and finish the extraction.

It is also very dangerous to hook a winch up to an elastic snatch strap because metal parts fly fast and hard when wound up by an elastic band and then suddenly released. (if something breaks)

A spool of wire winch cable or even that rope winch cable would be best for extending the come-a-long.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: N> I currently do not have a 4WD but have front wheel
Reply to
Mike Romain

There's the time factor too. Who wants to be stuck in the mud, cranking on a come along for what seems like (and could be) hours, when you could be sitting at home, watching other people on the TV who are stuck in the ditch?

Earle

Reply to
Earle Horton

Come-a-longs are very useful tools. I carry one along with my Warn winch. On one RAMJ+W run, we needed my Warn HS9000i winch and two come-a-longs to keep an XJ from going turtle in a frozen swamp.

The come-a-alongs were tagged sideways to a tree so the XJ moved on their arc as the Warn extracted him.

Mike

Earle Hort> There's the time factor too. Who wants to be stuck in the mud, cranking on

Reply to
Mike Romain

You think that better over all idea for a 2WD vehicle than all the other gear..... come along, jerk strap, chains?

Basically....I'm wanting to get rid of my FWD car and either get a RWD van or small truck such a 2WD Ranger

Intended use will NOT be off road..... just on typical snow small town street that don't get plowed well at all.

I'm trying to get the advantages of a small pick (cargo carrying, more lift)...... but also the advantages my car has (good gas mileage, city driving).

I'm hoping a small 5 speed 2WD Ranger...... used animally for city driving.... or a 2WD van..... again both stick.... would give me that.

If it would.... I'm looking to outfit it with a few things for those once in a million times I could get stuck in huge snow bank at 2 am or so.

Hence the gear questions

I did think of a potable electric winch that could be installed on front or back of vehicle. What you guys think?

Reply to
me

Nope, not at all. It is a good idea to 'go along with' the come-a-long jerk strap, tow hooks and chains. 'If you have a need for it'. It is an expensive toy.

I wheeled in the deep Canadian Bush for many many years without an electric winch and always made it home using the mechanical items. Now some days were longer than others, but an electric winch was not on the top of my list of thing to get. I actually only got it because a good Jeeper friend who passed away left it to me in his will. I was in the process of buying a bunch of cable or winch rope to extend the reach of the come-a-long when Bruce passed away.

The come-a-long and cable will hook up to a telephone pole easily to get you out of that snowbank.....

My son just picked up a 94 Dodge Caravan and it is front wheel drive.

Mike

Reply to
Mike Romain

Come-a-longs are great, but you don't want that to be your first line of defense. Four wheel drive, mud and snow tires and sand bags in the trunk will all help you leave that come-a-long in the tool bag where it won't get dirty. You can also argue that these things can help you get stuck even deeper...

We don't have swamps in Colorado, we have marshes. The difference is the presence or absence of woody vegetation.

Earle

Reply to
Earle Horton

...

Not being a van fan I don't really know, but I was under the impression that many of the minis came in FWD and 4WD, with a mileage penalty attached to the 4WD version of course. The guy who cleaned our chimney had a 4WD Astro that he said would go anywhere. He had it packed full of tools too. A 2WD Ranger is going to get real good mileage, especially if you get the four cylinder option, but that is going to go down with added cargo. If you buy something too small, you are going to regret it, no matter how great the unladen fuel mileage might be.

Earle

Reply to
Earle Horton

M,

I think you're over-doing the whole shebang. Assuming you had (comparatively) little equipment in your FWD car, I'm questioning the need to purchase so much (and carry it around) for the coming of the apocalypse....and I am admittedly both "frugal" as well as the type to buy tools that pay for themselves.

I spent ten years in a few 2wd Rangers in the Northeast, and often learned the hard way what I really needed and what I shouldn't have done in the first place. They've got halfway decent ground clearance, and the "longbed" or extra-cab models really didn't need added weight in the rear -- or rather I didn't see it as worth the trade-off. Honestly, necessities boiled down quickly: a good set of snow tires, a pair of gloves, a shovel, and tire chains. Having said that much, I whole-heartedly agree that chains often will simply get you into more trouble than you'd be in otherwise, but I never even had to mount both at the same time -- when I had been plowed in, I'd shovel (or rock) enough to get a few feet of movement and put one chain on the right rear, and that was usually enough to extract myself from whatever icy packed-in mess I was in. Quick and easy, and then you pop it off for the commute.

If I were to be back in those situations, a set of cable-chains would have made it even quicker and easier.

The vans I've owned and have driven had plenty of weight in the rear -- a cocky attitude and snow tires were all they ever required.

Now frankly if you're looking at breaking through mountain passes or spending an entire winter going back and forth on a long, icy, switch-back driveway, you might not be looking at the best choice of vehicles -- but in anything less that that, I'd be confident tackling the task.

It pains me to say so (and it sounds preachy) but I guess the big idea is that if conditions are bad enough to make a) driving _that_ treacherous and b) getting stranded lethal, then you shouldn't go out there in the first place.

Just my opinion,

Jon

Reply to
Jon

Understand

But some of the bigger vans are still RWD

This begs a question tho....why in the hell aren't there FRONT wheel drive only small pickups? Like the Ranger?

That seems and ideal solution to someone like me who just wants a "city truck"...... small one for utility purposes

Reply to
nospam

Point taken

But it won't be carrying HEAVY cargo..... only bulky cargo that wont fit in a car

Bicycles..... lawn mowers....... camping gear.... shrubs to plant in front yard.... that kind of stuff

basically my little car is a great car..... very reliable and good on gas mileage.... gets around good in snow..... but is HORRIBLE utility wise. Its a 4 door sedan and is only good for one thing and one thing only...... hauling PEOPLE's butts around

Well.... I'm single..... so no need to haul people.....have much greater need to haul light but bulky stuff

But..... wondering....strategizing..... how to gear it up so that if/when get stuck in that occasional snow bank.....can get it out myself and get it out fast.

Reply to
nospam

I could very well be!! That's why I'm here bouncing it off you nice guys!

I'm very cheap and frugal as well....so definitely do NOT want to buy anything not really needed. Just brainstorming

That was my other thought. To just get a second set of very soft and sticky Blizzak tires. Do they work as well as claimed snow/ice?

Cable chains. Are they MUVCH quicker on/off? If yes.... have link to a good set?

Well..... I live in north Missouri....so we do get snow

But more importantly I live in a small poor town. The city street dept doesn't have much money or equip to keep streets properly plowed

Its not uncommon for them to go by in plow and BURY your car in a drift. Hence the "idea".... abt 'some" extraction gear. Se my point?

Reply to
nospam

Why not keep the car and get a little trailer to haul stuff around?

snipped-for-privacy@nospam.com wrote: n..... only bulky

n
Reply to
FrankW

yeah thought of that

but its a Mazda Protege and not really rated for ANY towing

And.....Id have to store trailer somewhere.... get license..etc

Also....I'm wanting the extra ground clearance a small truck has

Last snow up here was abt 12". My poor Protege was dead in the water..... only abt 4" ground clearance on that thing!!! High centered on damn snow!!

I guess I'm wanting the best of ALL worlds and maybe that's not possible:

Ground clearance Greta fuel economy Utility Cargo hauling

Reply to
nospam

A VW bus may fit the bill (old kind, no luxury). Seems to have all those characteristics. Not Front WD but has the motor right over the rear tires for traction. I once came across a BMW that could not make it up a very steep section of paved street in the rain. The VW bug I was driving went right up with no problem. You should have seen the look on his face! I felt good for days afterwards.

Reply to
nrs

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