How to do self rescue by winch? Let’s talk about it in this article.
01 Before self-rescue: please be calm to observe analyze
Once the vehicle stuck, remember: don’t panic, calm down!
When most of people encounter a slipping truck, their first reaction is to increase the accelerator to get out of trouble. However, if the road is slippery, the friction between the wheels and the ground will be lost, and the greater the power, the more severe the slip will be.
The correct way is: first try to steer left and right, let the wheels find the ground with greater friction, and gently press the accelerator. If you try twice and it doesn’t work, please give up! Don’t blindly try many times, it will only sink deeper and deeper…
In fact, in general, we can carry out rescue according to the degree of vehicle sinking:
Vehicle Slightly Sunken: the wheels are not sunken too deep. You can find several people to push the vehicle. Sometimes, you’ll get out of trouble as soon as you push hard.
Deep sunken vehicle: if the wheel is deeply sunken, at this time, it is often necessary to raise the vehicle body with the help of rescue tools such as Jack, and then lay stones under the wheel and in the direction of wheel travel. After preparation, remove the jack and try to get out of trouble.
When none of these methods work, what should we do? Use the winch! But when to use the winch?
In fact, most cases need to be judged by experience, and there is no unified standard. However, if you come into contact with the winch for the first time, there are some general principles to follow. For example:
When you put on low gear 4WD and try various driving methods, even use the differential lock (if any), plus dig with a shovel and pad under the wheel with a sand board or other things… These methods can’t work. At this time, if you can find a suitable anchor nearby, you need to use a winch!
02 self rescue: tacit cooperation and adaptability
When using the winch for self rescue, it is necessary to find a suitable anchor point for the winch. Usually, the best anchor point is a hard off-road vehicle with a girder. Because it is strong and flexible (if conditions permit, it can be moved directly in front of the winch of the trapped vehicle, which is the best position of the anchor point).
Of course, if there is only one truck on site, you need to observe whether there are strong trees or rocks nearby as anchor points.
In addition, please start the engine of the winch truck. This is to enable the truck engine to generate electricity for the car battery during rescue, so that it can provide sufficient power for the winch at all times!
If the vehicle engine is not started, the winch will run out of the original power in the vehicle battery, and even damage the car battery, making the vehicle unable to start.
The first point: if the truck is selected as the anchor point. Anchor truck needs:
① When the hand brake is pulled on, it is better for the driver to step on the foot brake all the time.
② Put triangular blocks or stones at the stressed wheel as a barrier.
This is to prevent the anchor truck from being pulled by the winch during the rescue process.
Second point: the driver in the trapped vehicle should follow the command of the winch controller, hang low-speed 4WD and cooperate for the rescue.
Third point: winch operator:
First, press the winch control handle in to observe the situation of the trapped vehicle.
Secondly, if you feel that the vehicle is in a difficult state, reach the key point of rescue. At the same time, use the hand or gesture to remind the trapped personnel to step on the accelerator and cooperate, so as to achieve success at one stroke.
Note: at this time, the winch is heavily loaded. Try not to press the handle continuously for more than 30s.
Finally, if the rescue is not successful this time, in order to restore the battery power, it is recommended to let the winch rest for 5 minutes and then repeat the above operation until the trapped vehicle can start the vehicle without external force and get out of trouble successfully.
Summary
Although, in many off-road rescue tools, the winch seems to be the one with high cost and low utilization. Some offroad suv owners who want to “play around” will feel that when they encounter a stuck car, they can basically solve it by sand board or tow strap.
Why install winch?
However, the winch means that you can explore more cross-country fun. If you like climbing rocks, digging mud holes, drilling rain forests, or even challenging no man’s land. Then, at this time, you must install a winch on your off road truck.
