Sad and Tragic Recovery Accident in AZ.

[HawkinsHollow]

Sad truck recovery accident out of Arizona. Sad becuase the guy died, but also sad because his 3 kids were sitting in the back seat as a 30 lb. drop hitch came through the window and killed him. Could have been avoided, putting this here to remind us to not make a similar mistake.

 

[5030]

I use a pintle combo and mine is welded (not bolted) to the solid steel shank.

 

[RustyA]

Every time I saw a customer's pickup come in our shop with loose heavy stuff in the bed I pictured them as projectiles in an accident. People use unsecured railroad ties, train rail sections, loose concrete blocks, etc. For me it's a habit that anything heavy gets tied down or doesn't go in the bed. Enough stuff in an accident can hurt you without it being something of yours.

 

[scaredychicken]

Great, informative video. Sending it to my Jeep buddies, because they get stuck regularly, mostly on purpose.
Sad Story. Tragic


FIRST THOUGHT WAS ... nobody should be sitting inside the vehicle during the recovery. The occupants should have been standing like 30 ft clear of the vehicle. There is no way that steering is going to be any concern until there is some movement and progress. Put the vehicle in neutral, keys on, and then stand back. This was not mentioned in the vehicle, but that is MY first safety option.

 

[check]

Great, informative video. Sending it to my Jeep buddies, because they get stuck regularly, mostly on purpose.
Sad Story. Tragic


FIRST THOUGHT WAS ... nobody should be sitting inside the vehicle during the recovery. The occupants should have been standing like 30 ft clear of the vehicle. There is no way that steering is going to be any concern until there is some movement and progress. Put the vehicle in neutral, keys on, and then stand back. This was not mentioned in the vehicle, but that is MY first safety option.

I am wondering about using the tow hooks as an alternative. How strong are they on an F150?

 

[JasperFrank]

Its sad in the way that I can see every small, bad decision, multiply to create something very dangerous: This happens to all of us in one form or another, but 99% of us are lucky that at least one of those bad decisions didn't come into play if it all goes wrong. This initial setup for the tow, must have looked entirely okay, to both parties. We can all Arm Chair this till the cows come home.
Very glad the video points out that drop hitches are a bad idea for a recovery tow like this. I think drop hitches are a bad idea, in all cases, in any situation, as you've created a right angle that just can't take the same forces as a straight pull. What we don't see, is the angles of how they set it up. Was the tow vehicle much higher than the stuck vehicle? I won't Arm Chair here. I'll say, once you've set the tow up, with the pulling straps, or what ever you are using; step back, for a few moments, and think of what COULD go wrong: Run though every way it could fail and the possibilities. That's all we can ever do.

 

[Wolfy]

The video showed a drop hitch with a giant drop. The recovery truck must have been jacked way up. I know people say nylon straps absorb shock but I have always felt safer with chains.

 

[Jchonline]

A weighted blanket over the strap might have been all they needed. 30 lbs is a lot of weight though.

 

[Streetcar]

Great, informative video. Sending it to my Jeep buddies, because they get stuck regularly, mostly on purpose.
Sad Story. Tragic


FIRST THOUGHT WAS ... nobody should be sitting inside the vehicle during the recovery. The occupants should have been standing like 30 ft clear of the vehicle. There is no way that steering is going to be any concern until there is some movement and progress. Put the vehicle in neutral, keys on, and then stand back. This was not mentioned in the vehicle, but that is MY first safety option.

The stuck truck was a heavy duty pickup, not many vehicles can pull it from stuck position without assistance

 

[ovrszd]

I've offroaded for 40 years. Experienced hundreds of stucks. Bought my first stretch rope in 1975. Our group now carry a dozen of them.

1. Both vehicle drivers should always lay over in the seat just before impact. Get their heads below line of sight.

2. Avoid mixing items if at all possible. If you must do so, NEVER use a metal object as a connector. NEVER. There's a very simple way to connect two ropes or straps with loops. Easy to connect. Easy to disconnect.

3. Back to mixing. NEVER use a chain with a stretch rope. NEVER. None of our group even carry a chain. ALWAYS use a heavy static strap or rigging rope connected with the simple loop method. No iron in the mix.

4. Educate yourself to the forces involved using a stretch rope. They can quickly exceed the limits of anything mixed with them. NEVER mix iron into the equation.

5. Understand that the introduction of the stretch rope into the equation rapidly exceeds the capacity of the hitch points. I once saw a receiver hitch assembly ripped off the frame of a ton truck.

Sorry to hear of the loss of life. My rule #1 above would have ensured that couldn't happen.

 

[nisaacs]

This is the news story.

https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=Awr...ccident//RK=2/RS=arnqrS59i9PcRynczIpX9OFF.xk-

 

[ovrszd]

Here's a pic of connecting two looped ropes/straps without iron.

 

[dodge man]

Pretty sad story and a good video, I leaned a lot.

 

[check]

Pretty sad story and a good video, I leaned a lot.

I agree. Had no idea the hitch ball was so weak. Have to check out some of the other equipment that he told us about. Also really wondering about those towing loops on my F150. How strong are they? Can’t seem to see much on the Internet about it.

 

[dodge man]

I have loops on the front of my 2017 F150, I also wonder how strong they are.

 

[Bearsixty7]

I've offroaded for 40 years. Experienced hundreds of stucks. Bought my first stretch rope in 1975. Our group now carry a dozen of them.

1. Both vehicle drivers should always lay over in the seat just before impact. Get their heads below line of sight.

2. Avoid mixing items if at all possible. If you must do so, NEVER use a metal object as a connector. NEVER. There's a very simple way to connect two ropes or straps with loops. Easy to connect. Easy to disconnect.

3. Back to mixing. NEVER use a chain with a stretch rope. NEVER. None of our group even carry a chain. ALWAYS use a heavy static strap or rigging rope connected with the simple loop method. No iron in the mix.

4. Educate yourself to the forces involved using a stretch rope. They can quickly exceed the limits of anything mixed with them. NEVER mix iron into the equation.

5. Understand that the introduction of the stretch rope into the equation rapidly exceeds the capacity of the hitch points. I once saw a receiver hitch assembly ripped off the frame of a ton truck.

Sorry to hear of the loss of life. My rule #1 above would have ensured that couldn't happen.

Only thing to add to these guidelines is We always put the hood up on the stuck vehicle if we suspect it will be a hard pull, that way it will stop or at least deflect the object down and stop it from hitting the windshield.
I couldn't hear the video where I am now and maybe he mentioned it.

I don't have any of the kinetic pull ropes, mine are all the older style straps.. Winches are our biggest used item anyway as on the trails it's rarely possible to get another vehicle in a straight line and a good position with good traction to tug. But we always throw something over the winch cables as well.

 

[ovrszd]

I have loops on the front of my 2017 F150, I also wonder how strong they are.

I suspect the failure would be moumtimg bolt shear, or tearing holes in the frame. The loop itself will most likely exceed those two possibilities.

 

[crashz]

I learned quite a bit from the video and ovrszd. While I never have used a ball mount as an anchor point or tow point, I have done some of the other bad things (ie static strap and chain used at the same time). Thanks guys.

 

[JasperFrank]

This is a photo of the accident site from the article.

First bad decision was attempting to tow from the front. Seeing as the truck was stuck down to the front frame, towing the truck back out from the other side of the trail would have made more sense.

Second bad decision was attempting a line of sight tow. Given the drop hitch was at eye level to the stuck driver using a tape fabric tow line.

Third bad decision was to attach the tow strap to the ball of the drop hitch. As trucks got taller, the hitch stingers had to compensate, and I've seen insanely long drop hitches to compensate for lifted trucks. Drop hitches are inherently weak by design. The entire concept of a drop hitch is just wrong. It needs an entire new design with some extra bracing to reinforce the right angles to be certified for a tow capacity.

Fourth bad decision was to use a running start to yank the stuck truck out of the hole. This is always a bad idea. Repeat... Always a bad idea.

And last and most important bad decision, was not just abandoning the truck there, after the first few attempts at a forward pull out didn't work, and have the friend drive everyone home for the night. Figure it out the next morning. The first posted photo of how stuck that truck was, I would have just said she is done, if they couldn't pull it from the rear.
I've walked away from stuck vehicles, till better knowing people with better equipment were called in. It doesn't make you lesser of a 4 wheeler to say, this is a total mess up, and beyond my ability to fix.

These small bad decisions added up to a fatality. Each step, was considered to be okay, yet together, they add up to potential energies that make for a very dangerous situation. In this situation, all those bad decisions ended up with a very bad result. I can feel for the friend that came to assist. He has that bad outcome to live with forever.

 

[ovrszd]

Fourth bad decision was to use a running start to yank the stuck truck out of the hole. This is always a bad idea. Repeat... Always a bad idea.



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I think they were using a non stretch strap. But I'm not positive about that. If so, getting a run at it caused extreme pull force on the hitch for just a micro second.

Stretch straps or ropes are designed to be used in a "get a run at it" situation. They soften that micro second extreme force. But as they stretch to their maximum they magnify the force on the hitch points.

A Jeep for example would be able to pull out that much larger vehicle using a stretch strap or rope. That's why they are so frequently used and what they are designed to do.

But again, it appears this was a normal strap. If true, I'm a bit surprised by the kinetic energy displaced at the moment of failure.