Club 80-90 Forums

Almost never got home yesterday. We went for a drive through a forestry yesterday (on a track - nothing too tricky) but the surface turned to very wet and very boggy. We had decided to turn around and managed to get ourselves stuck close to the trees in the process of turning around. Not stuck as such more that if we tried to move we would have slid into some trees and had some expensive body repairs. We figured at one point that we'd be stuck for the night however Ian and Andy from Syncronutz came to the rescue. A couple of bridging ladders a lot of rope and a few strong backs had us free. we ended up reversing back down the track rather than turning around.

I did enjoy myself but realise if I keep the Syncro a winch would be a wise buy as well as a couple of bridging ladders.

The photo is after we were recovered

[img:640:480]http://homepage.mac.com/kombiman/Dollar%20Glen.jpg[/img]

nice one , good to hear you got out unscathed ,, would be best to get a winch in case there's no helpers next time

Yep, I was the other van and looking back it was all great fun. There are people that run management courses that deliberately put you in these problem solvng situations. We would have probably failed for thinking out of the box and phoning Ian and Andy from Syncronutz. We were only stuck up in the woods on the hill side for a few hours and not since Saturday morning as Andy thought, just to embarrassed to phone the boys. Up until the van was stuck I was quite happy with the vans performance.
Thanks again for the help from Syncronutz the cakes will be coming soon.
Chiz

cmon,golden rule of off roading .

Winches are great -and i really nice toy to spend your money on. However, i have never found that i really need one - a high lift jack, strops, waffle boards (erm, i mean planks of wood) have always got me on my way. Plus, i never go laning on my own.

I have also seen people using their winches when a high lift jack is far more suitable.

However, i have been pulled out by a winch when it was perfect for its use - and it was soooo easy..

I think what im trying to get at is - you may not actually need to spend £500 on a winch cause most of the time its just bling.

Ringo

Side-slip on a muddy slope is nasty though. As soon as you get the yoke moving (by whatever means, winch or no winch) there is a very high chance of it just slipping, slipping, out of control until something stops it with a bang.

Ive had my van stuck in a wide variety of situations and a winch would have rarely been useful.
Well, by that i mean a front mounted winch.

I have however made use of hand winches many times to drag an end of the truck in the right direction.

More useful/essential items being a spade, Hi-Lift or a mate to pull you out.

The latter being the point really, if you must go off-road on your own, then at least take sufficient equipment to get you outta the sticky stuff.

This includes spare fuel and water, no point having a winch if you run out of fuel or lose all your coolant........

Speaking of water, make sure youve got something to drink aswell, it dont half get thirsty what with all that shovelling...

I always go "off-roading" on my own and I don't bring anything ...hence my offroading is of the very mild variety as I simply can't afford to get stuck

Go on, ... buy yourself a shovel and have some fun

I got stuck a while ago, luckily in my bottom field.. (vid on Utube) so the walk back to the house was too far... wasnt an easy recovery either as I oly have a small tractor.. If I had a winch on it I could have hauled myself out.. I dont think a HiLift would have helped...

want to go down the lanes near me (runs next to my field) but not on my own as it would be very embarising to have to call the neighbour out with his big tractor...

It wasn't really off roading. It was a forestry track hence didn't think it would prove difficult at all. It was the several weeks of rain soaking into pine needle mush and mulch that caused the problems.

The wife was good about it all - came home to a hot cuppa and a warm bath.

It wasn't really off roading.

But you weren't on a road though....

didn't think it would prove difficult at all. It was the several weeks of rain soaking into pine needle mush and mulch that caused the problems.

Um,. i think its being ill prepared for unexpected circumstances that caused the problems, had you been prepared, there would've been no problem.

syncro-nutz to the rescue!!!!! quite a different breakdown than i am used to! 40 miles from me up a very boggy hillside on a sunday night(the lords day,dont normally work on the sabbath) couldnt say no,could be me needing that type of help someday! my syncros first run off road too! glad to help,especially for the slagging that i gave and more to come from others i expect! cheers mcgill

think them ratchet straps come in real handy to keep you off trees ,thats if you can lash them to some't ,,done it in the other 4x4 built alongside the syncro the mercedes g wagen