Winch anchor

[outofrshell]

This not a comparison of winch anchors or which is better than the other other. This is a short story of a bird hunting adventure that involved winching and 15 miles of drifted in roads in a very remote area of Wy. We left the main road headed for Fenton Pass to chukar hunt. Most of the road is on a flat bench and although drifted in it didn't require tire chains until we started up the the hill and even then it looked like we were going to make it to the top. But the last corner stop us cold.With only a few feet to go to get back on the road after carefully bumping the drift open we opted to winch, I've done a lot winching to various anchors but I had never had to set an anchor but I do carry 2- 7/8" X 36" stakes and a hammer just in case. A bar was driven into the frozen dirt at about a 30* angle leaving about 8" sticking out, I hooked the hook right at the bottom of the stake and started the pull every thing went as planned for about 3 Ft. when the 2nd stage planetary gears stripped on my Warn VR 8000s. Fortunately helped had arrived (a rancher checking sheep) and we were able to still get a little bird hunting in. The point of the stories is that the stake anchor makes a very good anchor point and if you used 2 stakes chained together you could pull almost any thing. Where we were at none of the self setting style anchors would of worked. 2 stakes and a hammer also take up very little space.

 

[Ducky's Dad]

Very true, but a couple of stakes won't work in sand. Need to carry what works in your environment.

 

[outofrshell]

That is very true and that was the point of this post was to get people thinking of where they travel and what they really need for self recovery

 

[Wilbah]

Very cool....I like that idea. Are they metal? Wood? Any pics of them?

Curious why the gears stripped if you can guess? Is your vehicle much heaver than the winches' capacity? Is that a known weak spot for that winch?

 

[Kerensky97]

You can get 18in long J-hook rebar stakes from ebay. They practically bond to the dirt once pounded into the ground. Make sure you have a beefy set of vice grips and plenty of strength to get them out when you're done.

 

[TwinStick]

Most times, these devices have or should definately have a loop on them. Before it sinks/gets pulled into the ground, hook a chain or strap to it, so you can use your vehicle or winch to remove it after your done. Most times when pulling in the opposite direction, they will come right out. We used a pull-pal in the military with a 2 1/2 ton winch. We hooked a chain to the D-loop. It went about 4' into the ground, couldn't even see it. It worked, got us out of the mud & we hooked chain to the rear & pulled it right out.

 

[maktruk]

The drawbar of a Hi-Lift buried 2/3 of its length at about 30° is a very stable winch point in certain types of terrain. You'll need a good 5 pound sledge to drive it.

 

[KAkers]

Pullpals are great just carry a pick axe and start a small hole and it will dig into frozen ground.