Winter recovery equipment
 

Hi All

I'm planning a long overland trip on ice roads / frozen rivers / forestry tracks next winter in Russia.

Driving conditions will be mostly hard packed snow on ice roads, ice on rivers / lakes (even the sea perhaps) and maybe some recent snow, perhapssome rutted forestry tracks.

It will be extremely cold and remote terrain, though the routes I use will be in use by other people.

While I am not going to attempt any unnecessary off-roading, and will have studded tyres, it is pretty easy to slide into a ditch or deep rut and get stuck.

My preferred method of recovery is getting towed by a passing truck, however I would maybe like to have an emergency recovery mechanism. I do not want a front-mounted electric winch.

One person has recommended me a hand winch and plenty of rope, another a hi-lift jack.

What would you recommend?

Hand winches seem quite flimsy to be honest (a look on ebay turns up only a 1600kg winch, which is just less than the vehicle weighs), and a hi-lift jack has the advantage of being able to jack the car up and push it off the jack if I'm stuck in a deep rut. But how 'geared down' are they? Are they really viable as winches?

Would appreciate any input.

EO

Some max-trax or similar ladders. Two is good, but four-six is better. I found a set of two is too short to really get you out of the muck- just as you build up momentum, you get stuck again (i.e. put two in front of the back wheels and four in front of the front wheels (interlocked) or vice versa).

You can also make your own. We used to make some roll-up ones out of old conveyor belt or allu before these moulded plastics became the norm

some sort of mats would be handy in deep snow, instead of an electric winch, a tirfor hand winch is an extremely good piece of gear, the good quality ones are not cheap, but if looked after will last a lifetime and with good recovery points front and rear and on side protection bars they can be used to pull in any direction. They are also fairly lightweight and can pull >4000 kg. I would also carry a hi lift jack and a snow shovel.


Portable wire rope winch for material handling | Tirfor codes | Tractel

Thanks for the replies.. this is going to be real winter stuff. So there's no soft ground or muck. Whatever the ground is, below the snow it's as hard as bedrock. So no chance of digging in a ground anchor. It's cable round a tree, or waiting for a passing vehicle as far as I can see.

The Tirfor looks to be the best option, but the 3200 kg ones are big and heavy, as is the rope. Plus I'm thinking that a lot of the time I may be hundreds of metres from a tree. That said it's the forestry tracks I'm most worried about where trees should be in abundance.

Waffle boards sound like a great idea. Maybe an exhaust airbag jack to lift the truck out but by bit with the help of some shovelling of snow under each wheel?

Cheers

EO

IMO, Tirfor winch sucks. I had to use one at work a few times because they were too tight-arse to pay a bit more for an electric one. Hard work, in the mud/dirt. They work, and with a snatch block (or couple) you can up the load to 2x and 4x easy. But they suck...

Now days, with synthetic rope, you can have more than double the distance on the same size drum as the old steel rope. That always helps.

I'd agree with the comments about the Tirfors, BUT they can pull in any direction which can be handy if you need a sideways pull or there are no trees in front and the only way out is back.


If I had the money I'd go for a PTO winch, then an electric winch.


Again if you have the money have the winch bolted onto a tow bar receiver hitch and have a front and rear mount setup.


Steel waffle boards maybe your only option in really low temps as the plastic or fibreglass ones can become brittle. Same issue with exhaust jacks.


Mechanical equipment is safer - eg high lift jack over a bottle jack if the seals freeze and leak.


You've got engine block/gearbox/diff/fuel tank heaters fitted? My father used little kerosene Davey Lamp type things to keep the engine warm enough to turn over, not sure about the temps that would work.