Ground anchors

The old Fairey/ Mayflower one was good - uses the weight of the vehicle and is braced against the front bumper as well. It looks roughly like a standard home service ramp - you drive the front wheels onto it, attach the chains to the bumper (as close to the chassis members as possible) then drive forward again till the chains are tight. The more you pull, the more down weight on the ground anchors. The design enabled them to fold flat when not in use too.

Make sure you know what your weakest link is - these anchors WORK. Best with hydraulic winches that simply blow a spring loaded valve when the resistance gets too high.

Karen

As in a spiral bar? How about the disc type:

these should give you some food for thought

Those will not work in soft soil or sand, though - the big advantage of the ramp type of anchor is that they hold on any terrain. And fold flat for storage, and are not too hard to make up yourself if you're handy with a stick welder.

Karen

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Problem is that I cannot use a vehicle as part of the anchor system due to space and access constraints - the anchor will be a stand alone item.

AWEM

I've looked at the two ground anchors that Anchor Supplies sell. The large one is very large. Around 1m long thick steel. The pegs are also about 1m long. You have the option of bolting two together as well. I've not see one used though.

The small one looks useless, the pegs are very short and will bend under load. My brother made up a similar anchor about 0.6m long, half way between these two sizes. Unless the ground is dry and very hard you will just tear up a strip of soil. They need to go very deep to get any decent purchase.

Difflock describe an anchor with three long ground stakes set in a row, each angled away from the load. Rope is tied between the top of one, to the bottom of the next and so on. Then the load is winched against the first stake. This might be worth experimenting with.

get 6 or 8 long metal stakes, angle iron fence posts work well. lay them out in a V point towards load. half (or 2/3) bury them at an angle and run wire or rope from the top of the first to the base of the second and so-on. load applied via base of font two stakes.

-- Mark.

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What about using snatch blocks in the winch line to get the direction you need, only if you have some trees nearby or screw down to concrete with a plate with a shackle on it.

Rich

I've seen this technique demonstrated in LRO. Apparently very effective. Stew.

I've used three ground anchors lashed together from top to bottom many times, my anchors are just heavy duty angle Iron, and any strong string/cord will do the lashing. I tend to run them in a straight line but you can make arrangements of V pickets. My anchors were cut to about 1.2m in length and on average about half gets hammered into the ground. I have used them effectively on many different surfaces and If they will work in a welsh bog then I think they would be fine on some nice manicured grass.

Regards,

Mark

It sounds as though you are back to the plate and peg design, then. Is the ground capable of taking pegs?

system

I'll tell you when I start winching! That's if I survive the snatch block flying through the air towards me followed closely by a bodged up ground anchor and a clod of earth and grass!

AWEM

That's quite promising then! The ground is obviously not solid rock or concrete.

These pegged anchors (plates/ropes) if sensibly installed, tend to 'let go' gradually and you will have time to stop winching. That's certainly true if the pull is substantially on the flat or the load cannot run away. It's not going to be like a wire rope breaking.

The larger military plate and peg anchor which someone mentioned earlier is good for about 0.5 ton per peg in good ground (from memory).