Offroad-Express

Hi all.

Reasonably new to this offroad thing - December last year but have done four club trips so far.

My HJ60 has a PTO winch so I thought I was pretty well covered but what if there is no one to winch from and no trees ie the beach?

What "ground anchors" are recommended?

Thanks,

Rick.

Welcome.

The beach situation, I would go for exhaust jack instead of artificial ground anchor. Or perhaps, you could use your spar tyre deep in the sand?

Welcome to the group

A properly designed one will work well in sand. Watched either last years or 2003 Outback challenge vid and one of the stages was a sand dune climb. Those that didnt make it had to winch using a ground anchor. Most managed to get theirs "set" in the sand and winch their vehicles up (Im talking fully loaded LWB Nissans etc up a bloody step incline). Some however didnt set. Whether they were home made or not I couldnt tell. They are bulky items to carry but is a small sacrifie if youare stuck and the tide is fast moving in.

cheers
Rex

http://www.genie4x4.com/about%20terragrip.htm

here is one i found,, not cheep tho

505180 TERRAGRIP STANDARD - 1800S $399.00

505185 TERRAGRIP PROFESSIONAL - 1800P $599.00

505360 TERRAGRIP COMMERCIAL - 3600P $899.00

ouch,,,

just make a dead man,,, always carry a spade

Thanks wopass.

The Terragrip looks to be an interesting and very simple design.

The handle shaft would have been a weakness but the tilt over
action is quite clever and turns the handle etc it into another ground grabber.

It could be cheaper of course but the design and rating make this for me
an option worth considering.

Cheers,

Rick.

Your right they are not cheap and for that reason I havn't got around to putting this one on the site yet. Offroad-Express has access to these ones for $450 + GST

http://www.offroadexpress.co.nz/forum/ground.jpg

Just another option.

When I get my winch I will probably have a go at building one

Mike

There are two options. One would be to bury the spare wheel, this is something that we have been known to do, espicially when you are out with just one car. But the problem is you have to dig.

Heres a picture of us winching off a buried spare wheel on the crunchie trail.

http://www.offroadexpress.co.nz/modules.php?set_albumName=The-Crunchie-Trail&id=Crunchie_Trail_24_1_05_023&op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php

The other option is to have a ground anchor. We are going to build one soon. The easy style we are going for is a piece of plate steel and then holes which you knock warratahs down through and a hole to clip the winch onto. There are a couple of problems with this design. One is it is bulky you have to have steel, waratahs, and a sledgie. And the next is how to get the waratahs out of the ground so winching vertically on each one might be the answer to that

bought ground anchors are too expensive and bulky.
spare tyres: you need to be an athelete to bury them let alone dig them out. Steel plate and warraths work fine. In fact I just use the warraths (3) banged in at 45 degrees and lashed together with good rope. To get them out, you use a highlift jack. Pretty simple really. If you carry an axe when out 4wheeling, you don't need a sledgie as the back of the axe will work fine.
Albundy

Well said Albundy,

Bought ones are very bulky and heavy. 3 warraths lashed together work brilliantly, a little bit longer to set up maybe but you can basically be assured it'll work and you don't need two poeple to operate as you do with many others.

The PRT ones that you are looking at carrying Mike seem to be the go. Saw one of those in action at the winch challenge a while back and it was effortless, compared to the home made ones where the codriver was lying on them trying to get them started. The PRT one being used was held by the handle and it started easily. They look like they fold fairly flat and 14kgs is bugger all more to carry... Keep me posted please Mike

cheers
Rex

Kent wrote:And the next is how to get the waratahs out of the ground so winching vertically on each one might be the answer to that

Use your high lift jack if you have one to pull these out, I have seen this done at one of our our local clubs training days.

I have always worked on the principle that you should spend your hard earned $$$ buying xtras for your toy that enhance your off road ability.

Buy bits that go toward NOT getting stuck first ie. tyres. lockers, ground clearance etc..

Then add the "save me I'm stuck" stuff..

Yup

if you are in a light vehicle, we always used to use a hand winch and a ground anchor from the staybacks used for power poles.
they are like a rod with an eye at one end and a screw at the other. all you do is screw them in at 45 degrees, then unscrew them when done winching. they get a bit bent but straighten up easy.

a clever dickie would weld a bracket on a waratah, to make it easier to get the high lift on it for extraction.

a type of anchor, or dead man that would be handy, and easy to make. (though require digging in). but still light and relatively small....

picture this if you will,

a steel plate of 3-5 mm about a foot square, (possibly folded over along the edges for strength)
hole cut in the centre to accept a length of 40 mm box, say a foot long
weld a tee on the end of the box so it can't slip thru the plate.
run a length of chain thru the box and put a large dee on each end, one for the winch, one to stop the whole lot pulling thru the plate.

the end result (if you follow that jumble) is a steel plate at 90 degrees to a bit of box, with a chain thu the lot.
can be slipped apart to stow and just needs digging in to a tee shaped hole.
i would even put a length of rope on one corner of the plate to winch it out after use.

cost bugger all, could be made in my shed in 20 minutes with just whats laying about, not built to be pretty, just practical


glen

Thanks Glen.

My HJ60 is around 2.3 ton unladden.

Your description of the plate, chain and box section was very easy to follow and yet another option that would I think get the job done.

Not sure if I'm keen on all the digging that people keep suggesting but if the chips were down it is probably quicker and cheaper than a tow truck

Cheers,

Rick.