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Considering getting a Pull Pal.

Visited their website and listed was one for vehicles under 6000 pounds. Since the pinz weighs about 4500 is this the best one?

Advice is welcome.

Cheers,
Morris

Hope you don't mind some imput from a FNG, I used to have a 3/4 ton Dodge with a Cummins diesel and a Warn 12000 lb. winch on it. Talk about nose heavy...anyways, if I were up to the frame in goo or trying to pull myself up a steep, rocky incline, Iwould want all the Huevos I could muster. I prefer using a double line when winching if possible, it's a little slower but gives me alot more piece of mind. I suppose it all depends on just how stuck you are; myself, I' take the big guns any day. Yeah, it weighs (and costs) more, but if I'm by myself (most of the times) I'd rather drive out than walk out.

Hi Morris yes Ive been thinking the same about getting a Pull Pal I do a lot of tracks on my own and you tend to take a lot more care in case you get stuck with no trees around to put a strop on.

Let me know if you get one and if it works as a lot of people say it needs 2 people to operate to get them to dig in.

Any one else out there who uses one ?

Steve

Their store is about 150 miles west from me (Carbondale,CO) and if it wasn't so snowy in the high country I would stop there and check them out in person. I will put a bit of cash aside and maybe get one on my way to Moab in the spring. Which, by the by, is a great place to try one out.
I also want to know if anyone has one and has recommendations for use and knows the best ways to keep from getting stuck any deeper.

Cheers,
Morris

Morris, I'll be ordering one as well. I got stuck again yesterday with no trees around.

When are you going to Moab? A group here will be up there at the end of May.

Steve and Morris,
IIRC, Jerry up in the Yukon has recommended them here before. Maybe he'll jump in here. Otherwise, he's Jerbearyukon on the forum I believe.
Paul

The Pull Pal has been around a long time ( at least back to when I had a Series LR... over 20 + years?). It is a compact design of a Danforth anchor ( which I've heard of people using for offraoding too).
It been said that they work well, but if you look at some of the vids on them, there are 2 people doing the setup ( one to operate the winch and one to hold and set the PP to get a bite). There places it won't work too.
You already have a "poorman's anchor" on the Pinz......bury your spare tire across the path you're going and attach the winch to it ( also cut a trough for the cable to guide through so the tire isn't pulled out).
In hard pack, drive a spike ( with an eye welded near the top to pull it out) diagonally into the ground.

I like the spike idea. How big of a spike would one carry? Wonder if I could mount one under the rear of the pinz next to the shovel. I have bought a bunch of D-rings I could weld one on piece of rebar easy enough.

There is an aluminum sand spike (http://www.sandspike.com) that I have used in gravel/sand with great success- with my boat. It's nothing more than a pointed piece of angle aluminum about 18 inches long with a welded ring at the top. It grabs the substrate pretty well though. Pull-out strength is a factor of the length of the spike and width of the angle sides.

Someone should come up with a modified steel version to pound into harder ground. Would be very cheap, easy to store (carry two?) and if it works as well as the boat version, might do the trick.

Obviously, these aren't anything new, and if you were so inclined, you could weld 'wings' onto one to help transfer the load to the surrounding ground.
As far as length, it depends on how solid the anchoring ground is.
If it's real soft, a spike would just pull and bend, and then you'd have to resort to digging in a tire and secure the cable through the pilot hole....Everything is about displacing stress and holding power, and geometric angles, which is key behind the Pull Pal and the Danforth anchor

I would imagine for mud, you might need a spike as long as 6 feet, and you need to attach the winch down as close as you can to where the spike is in "solid ground", or you'll just bend it and pull it out... geometry again
I've known people to use "range" type T fence posts, and use several to tranfr the load to several points..... a lot of work, but heck, you're not going anywhere

a 18" spike wouldn't do anything as an anchor when you have a 4400 lbs stucked Pinz pulling against it. Even in hard ground, I'd imagine you'd would need 36" buried ( again, depending how bad you were stuck).

Thanks David,
That's why I used the word "modifyed". It would be subject to much greater loads, so would have to be bigger.
Probably the best thing I've found for getting out of sand/muck are waffle boards/sand ladders. I've even used them as bridges over trenches.
Seem to be common in Europe/Austrailia, but more elusive in the US. Sometimes e-bay and craigslook will list them.
Ed

Sand ladders and bridges are quite common to the old LR crowd. And when I'm looking for accesories, I go back to my old LR sources.
http://www.britishpacific.com/BPSite/la ... adder.html
http://www.britishpacific.com/BPSite/la ... adder.html
Vince and I talked in the past, where older LR Series drivers were on average, better drivers because of the lack of some of the items people take for granted in other vehicles.

Speaking of Sand Ladders: ebay has some of the thinner 1.5 inch thick ones.
I've used the 2inch wide as a ramp over fallen trees in the 712 (forgot my chain saw- dumb thing to do in the Cascades), but don't think I'd use the 1.5 as a bridge to support a pinz. Still, should offer pretty good traction improvment on the ground.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Sand-lad ... ccessories

I've used a Tee post before worked good but I didn't retrieve it or my tow rope as it seemed pretty well buried.