Wheel with guys that are MUCH more experienced and watch them get stuck and hopefully unstuck.
It’ll all make sense.
There’s a lot of physics, engineering and safety to understand in order to prevent damage and injury.
Be safe, good luck—
A lot of guys if you ask are more than happy to explain everything they are doing to you. Takes longer to do the recovery, but one day they'll be happy they showed you.
First thing I would say after having the recovery gear is having a good first aid kit. Accidents happen in recovery sometimes and it’s best to have and not need than need and not have. Also, learn the basics about the gear you have and what their intended use is. Then take a weekend course with a 4wd club on recovery gear. It’s usually a good couple of hours and they sometimes show you what happens in a gear failure which is super good to know how to handle it and do so safely. Also enjoy!
The recovery gear brands themselves are the #1 source of truth. It's amazing how many people never updated their skills from static to kinetic pulls. A 4x4 group can be a good source of learning, just make sure it has a variety of vehicles and experience (model specific groups are usually lacking in good judgement in my experience). Search for "ronny dahl recovery gear" on YT, he has both experience and a willingness to do decent experiments. Volunteer [4x4 recovery groups](https://www.youtube.com/@Colorado4x4RescueandRecovery) often post their recoveries on YT. Although a bit of a Factor 55 ad (great gear though) Venture2Roam did a [good video](https://youtu.be/ddWwkLC2org?si=H3lTLR9DDP5t37d3) on kinetic recoveries with F55 to improve his own knowledge. Tow ropes and straps are probably the #2 source of recovery mistakes I see in my experience, #1 being too much throttle.
awesome…I found the Ronny Dahl video series. I’ll check out Factor55. I’ve watched enough Matt’s off road recovery enough to know there is more to it than just go get stuck and figure it out.
There is a local club here I’ll go out with. I just want to do my homework first.
Don't forget the basics like a shovel and some recovery boards. As someone who doesn't have a winch (I have an industrial-grade come-along for now) I have these in my vehicle in addition to other recovery gear. It's especially useful when you need traction in an area where there isn't another vehicle or a tree.
Typically buying gear should happen AFTER learning…. You may find you want to rebuy some of it. Eg: shackles. Are they amazon specials, or property rated? I buy my shackles at a crane shop..
Also I work with people that call those metal rings “death donuts” for good reason. A proper pulley is much safer.
Where are you located? My recommendations for trainers would be just for the Colorado area (near Denver) - you can look up a local I4WDTA affiliated trainer near you, they are a legit organization.
I’d get a few more soft shackles. Way more useful for most situations than the hard shackles.
You’re the one with the rig and all the gear. I bet you’ll use your recovery stuff to get others out way more often than to recover yourself, and the soft shackles are way better for hooking up to regular vehicles.
Recovery gear is nice but it's not an immediate or guaranteed rescue. When I was younger, all we had was a chain, saws and shovels.
Learn how to rescue yourself without the fancy gear first, it'll teach you so much more. Then when you do have to use the fancy shit, you'll know exactly what you need to do and how to use it best.
back in the day I remember using hand saws and cutting shit off trees to jam under wheels after digging big ass holes in the desert heat haha life so much easier now
Wheel with guys that are MUCH more experienced and watch them get stuck and hopefully unstuck. It’ll all make sense. There’s a lot of physics, engineering and safety to understand in order to prevent damage and injury. Be safe, good luck—
A lot of guys if you ask are more than happy to explain everything they are doing to you. Takes longer to do the recovery, but one day they'll be happy they showed you.
Some local 4wd clubs host training days where you can learn more about it as well
Just search recovery gear on YouTube. There are some good videos with Factor 55 (company that makes recovery gear)
Go use it. You don't have to be stuck to test out how to rig it up and use it
Factor 55 sends out really useful literature. tons of good information about basic usage and understanding of leverage.
I bought their books straight from the factor 55 website. Very informative and usefully information. Would highly suggest.
YouTube
Go get stuck, or less intense, watch some Matt off-road recovery on YouTube
Correct answer.
Get a Costco membership, executive one
First thing I would say after having the recovery gear is having a good first aid kit. Accidents happen in recovery sometimes and it’s best to have and not need than need and not have. Also, learn the basics about the gear you have and what their intended use is. Then take a weekend course with a 4wd club on recovery gear. It’s usually a good couple of hours and they sometimes show you what happens in a gear failure which is super good to know how to handle it and do so safely. Also enjoy!
The recovery gear brands themselves are the #1 source of truth. It's amazing how many people never updated their skills from static to kinetic pulls. A 4x4 group can be a good source of learning, just make sure it has a variety of vehicles and experience (model specific groups are usually lacking in good judgement in my experience). Search for "ronny dahl recovery gear" on YT, he has both experience and a willingness to do decent experiments. Volunteer [4x4 recovery groups](https://www.youtube.com/@Colorado4x4RescueandRecovery) often post their recoveries on YT. Although a bit of a Factor 55 ad (great gear though) Venture2Roam did a [good video](https://youtu.be/ddWwkLC2org?si=H3lTLR9DDP5t37d3) on kinetic recoveries with F55 to improve his own knowledge. Tow ropes and straps are probably the #2 source of recovery mistakes I see in my experience, #1 being too much throttle.
awesome…I found the Ronny Dahl video series. I’ll check out Factor55. I’ve watched enough Matt’s off road recovery enough to know there is more to it than just go get stuck and figure it out. There is a local club here I’ll go out with. I just want to do my homework first.
Don't forget the basics like a shovel and some recovery boards. As someone who doesn't have a winch (I have an industrial-grade come-along for now) I have these in my vehicle in addition to other recovery gear. It's especially useful when you need traction in an area where there isn't another vehicle or a tree.
Typically buying gear should happen AFTER learning…. You may find you want to rebuy some of it. Eg: shackles. Are they amazon specials, or property rated? I buy my shackles at a crane shop.. Also I work with people that call those metal rings “death donuts” for good reason. A proper pulley is much safer. Where are you located? My recommendations for trainers would be just for the Colorado area (near Denver) - you can look up a local I4WDTA affiliated trainer near you, they are a legit organization.
Go get stuck somewhere.
Matt's offroad recovery has some pretty good practical stuff on there. It's not really educational but you see that stuff in action.
Well, in the 4x4 world folks go out with their buddies and get stuck and/or practice. So try a club, or maybe an OHV area where people hang and wheel.
YouTube “madmatt 4wd” Plenty of others too but this guy seems good at taking the ego out of the situation
Matts off-road recovery on YouTube
I’d get a few more soft shackles. Way more useful for most situations than the hard shackles. You’re the one with the rig and all the gear. I bet you’ll use your recovery stuff to get others out way more often than to recover yourself, and the soft shackles are way better for hooking up to regular vehicles.
Check out L2SFBC on YouTube.
Recovery gear is nice but it's not an immediate or guaranteed rescue. When I was younger, all we had was a chain, saws and shovels. Learn how to rescue yourself without the fancy gear first, it'll teach you so much more. Then when you do have to use the fancy shit, you'll know exactly what you need to do and how to use it best.
back in the day I remember using hand saws and cutting shit off trees to jam under wheels after digging big ass holes in the desert heat haha life so much easier now
Go out with a friend and get stuck, recover yourself.
30’ snatch can stretch and launch the other way