Anza Borrego TC Rescue

[anutami]

buried my camper this weekend in June wash. Pulled into the wash and thought, I don't need to put it in 4wd just yet..



200yards down the road decided to stop for lunch and then put it in 4wd...



It just won't engage!!


I got to dig a swimming pool in the desert





5 hours later I had enough and called my bro who came to the rescue
RESCUE VIDEO

finally got to our campsite for the weekend and could relax








thinking of adding some rescue platforms to the gear list, any suggestions?

also, after 5 hours of my camper being totally out of level, my fridge shut down and took the whole weekend to get back in the 30's, another reason to get a compressor fridge.

[AnEv942]

Obviously First is to find out why front wasn't engaging and fix the 4x. Auto hubs can take a bit more wheel travel to engage as already mentioned. However they are prone to simply not working as they age, lack of service, being vacuum activated many sources to also cause fail. Even manual hubs can fail to lock, especially under load or worse not fully lock.

Having never had auto hubs I don't know if applies, I assume you have auto/lock hubs though that can also be manually engaged. Being already in a pickle you can manually cause hubs to fully lock while stationary. (or when you positively need/want to know)

With transfer case in 2x or neutral (or whatever on a non manual transfer case) where front drive-line can spin freely, turn hubs to lock- turn /jiggle drive-line from drivers side, you can hear/feel the hubs lock, assuming they are free and not gummed up. Though I prefer do one wheel at a time, lock one wheel hub, reach behind wheel, turn/jiggle axle u-joint yoke until hub locks, then do the other side. Hopefully won't need to do, but an exercise to play with in driveway.
Sometimes 'light' brake pedal or ebrake pressure can help, where rear end is open or limited slip, slows down wheel that has least resistance which will recieve all the torque.

[kohldad]

I run a winch on my Jeep TJ and it gets used a lot, but having a decent amount of experience with a winch I can say I wouldn't bother with one on my truck camper. To get one sufficiently rated and good enough quality that you can rely on it that one time you need it means spending quite a bit of money and adding a load of weight.

I disagree that it takes a tremendous amount of winch on a truck camper. I have an under rated 9,000# winch on my rig. The mount and winch only weighs about 80lbs. No it won't get me out if I'm buried to the frame in mud, but it sure will get me out of most oops I'll find myself in with a camper on the back. It definitely would have gotten him out of the sand if he had something to attach to or could bury his spare as an anchor - of course so would have 4wd.

I use to run the same winch on a 4,000# jeep on the trails so know what it takes on the extreme stuff, but generally we aren't talking that type of "stuck" when in a truck camper. The 1-1/2 times the weight rule doesn't apply.

[sabconsulting]

Glad you got out of there in the end.

That "truck claw" mentioned above looks like a useful and inexpensive piece of kit for just these situations.

I run a winch on my Jeep TJ and it gets used a lot, but having a decent amount of experience with a winch I can say I wouldn't bother with one on my truck camper. To get one sufficiently rated and good enough quality that you can rely on it that one time you need it means spending quite a bit of money and adding a load of weight. I've also seen plenty of people turn up with a winch they fitted 2 years ago and haven't used or looked after only to find it now doesn't work when they have got stuck somewhere they might not have had the confidence to attempt without that winch.

So unless you are seriously likely to regularly use a winch, I would go with a cheaper / lighter / simpler set of recovery options such as that truck claw, long handled shovel, decent tyre compressor (I went down to 12PSI when I got stuck in the Sahara, but don't have DRW).

Steve.

[time2roll]

Digging just one side? Consider Eaton TrueTrac differentials front and rear.
And otherwise shift from 1WD to 2WD a little sooner 😉

And great pics BTW 🙂

[Reddog1]

JoeChiOhki wrote:

Reddog1 wrote:

Tiger4x4RV wrote:
... DRW in low 4 is best for sand. ...

Would you give more info on this? Do you think DRW would have helped anutami?

I ask because I have a 4x4 DRW.

Wayne

Depends on the sand, but duallies generally have higher flotation in the rear because of the wider contact patch. This is why empty they can get stuck on grass with a light dew when empty.

That is my thought, but it is my understanding that some beaches on the East coast do not allow DRW vehicles.

[profdant139]

Well, you know what they say -- "if you ain't gettin' stuck now and then, you ain't four wheelin'."

Actually, they don't say that -- I just made it up -- but it sounds like something they ought to say.

[JoeChiOhki]

Reddog1 wrote:

Tiger4x4RV wrote:
... DRW in low 4 is best for sand. ...

Would you give more info on this? Do you think DRW would have helped anutami?

I ask because I have a 4x4 DRW.

Wayne

Depends on the sand, but duallies generally have higher flotation in the rear because of the wider contact patch. This is why empty they can get stuck on grass with a light dew when empty.

[Reddog1]

Tiger4x4RV wrote:
... DRW in low 4 is best for sand. ...

Would you give more info on this? Do you think DRW would have helped anutami?

I ask because I have a 4x4 DRW.

Wayne

[Reddog1]

anutami wrote:

Ventura Dogman wrote:
Has anyone ever tried the Truckclaws or knows anyone who has? I like the concept but I have not seen any user reviews other than the videos on the manufacturer's website.

That claw looks pretty nice, but I wonder how well it will work with a 3000lb camper in the bed of the truck. I was also looking for reviews but can't find any. when I got stuck I called the tow company and they wanted $150 an hour with a 2 hour minimum to rescue me. So it looks like the claw will pay for itself pretty easily if you have to call a tow. Nice insurance to have. Thanks for the link on this.

I tried to email them, but could not get their email address to work. I'm wondering if they would work on a DRW. Looks like they would.

I am curious, did you try dumping water under the tires to aid in traction? A good opportunity to dump gray water. Worse case use some of your fresh water.

Wayne

[Rubiranch]

I'm soo happy that wasn't me. 😉

[Mello_Mike]

Nolan, sorry to hear about this. For deep sand, 20 psi works best. Would've tried that. As for gear, getting a good winch and traction boards are recommended.

MM

[Strabo]

Buzzcut1 wrote:
Even with the auto lockers you can just twist the dial on the hub from auto to lock for 4wd. I do that whenever the surface looks iffy. Then all the dash switch is doing is engaging the front driveshaft to the transmission.

X2

[Buzzcut1]

trick I used to use was to carry a couple of dozen empty burlap sacks , shovel and high lift jacks. Get the wheel up fill the burlap sacks with sand put one under the tires and build a road bed out of the rest of them. you may only move a few feet at a time as you keep moving the bags in front of the tires but it beats burrying yourself to the frame. Note: do this a soon as you start to bog down , way before you get hopelessly stuck

[anutami]

Ventura Dogman wrote:
Has anyone ever tried the Truckclaws or knows anyone who has? I like the concept but I have not seen any user reviews other than the videos on the manufacturer's website.

That claw looks pretty nice, but I wonder how well it will work with a 3000lb camper in the bed of the truck. I was also looking for reviews but can't find any. when I got stuck I called the tow company and they wanted $150 an hour with a 2 hour minimum to rescue me. So it looks like the claw will pay for itself pretty easily if you have to call a tow. Nice insurance to have. Thanks for the link on this.

[Ventura_Dogman]

Has anyone ever tried the Truckclaws or knows anyone who has? I like the concept but I have not seen any user reviews other than the videos on the manufacturer's website.