Pulling Vehicles out of a Ditch in the Snow

goddom · Feb 14, 2021

We had a decent snow storm a week or so ago and as I was coming home and pulling onto my road there were two vehicles in the ditch and a Dodge Dakota was trying to pull one out. I stopped and let them know I can bring my tractor to try and help. Its a compact LS tractor so I wasn't sure how helpful it would be. I think the biggest advantage was just how much more maneuverable it is compared to the truck. We were able to get them both out in the end.

I do not have a lot of experience extracting vehicles but you can see what we did in the video below.

Snow Rescue - Pulling 2 Vehicles out of a Ditch with my Tractor - YouTube

oosik · Feb 14, 2021

In previous years I've used my 4WD vehicle to pull my share of cars/truck out of stuck situations. Then I had a chance to talk to my State Farm representative. Their take on this situation - from the moment the tow cable from my vehicle to the stuck vehicle is connected - my State Farm vehicle insurance policy is no longer in effect.

The vehicle insurance policy is to cover normally occurring situations. Pulling/towing a stuck vehicle is a job for a commercial towing agency and requires some form of commercial insurance policy.

My tractor is covered by my homeowners policy and only while the tractor is on my property. Same for the tractor - it's not licensed as a commercial tow vehicle and not insured as such.

Sooooo ......... now I will stop and see if I can assist by using my cell phone to call relatives, a towing company, their insurance company, etc.

square1 · Feb 14, 2021

^^^ yep, the days of being a good guy and saving folks the price of a wrecker call have passed.
Without the proper gear there's no good way to even connect to most of today's vehicles and even with the proper gear it's too easy to do damage.

PILOON · Feb 14, 2021

I've done my share of 'good guy'!
Always have a HD braided tow rope (as used for sling loads) and long jumper cables in my AWD Kia.
Generally I have the 'client' do the hook up at his end.
Also I do a waiver sort of speech B4 pulling.

So far this winter I have only 'extracted' 4 vehicles but sure there's more to come as the city plow tends to plow over the ditches and many are deep.

My Kia AWD with track lock is simply awesome plus I'm shod with studded winters.
I just like to help.

Where I to get sued? well I'd use my waiver defense, plus non commercial and his doing actual hook up.
Nope, don't lose any sleep and will continue being a nice guy.

Must say that 'sling' braided rope is just great.
With good traction it stretches a bit like a big elastic and almost plucks a decent sized SUV that was well off at about a 45 deg angle.
Helped a bit that I was slightly downhill from him.

Have done this for probably 10-12 years and never a comeback.
Lucky? perhaps.

MossRoad · Feb 14, 2021

goddom said:
We had a decent snow storm a week or so ago and as I was coming home and pulling onto my road there were two vehicles in the ditch and a Dodge Dakota was trying to pull one out. I stopped and let them know I can bring my tractor to try and help. Its a compact LS tractor so I wasn't sure how helpful it would be. I think the biggest advantage was just how much more maneuverable it is compared to the truck. We were able to get them both out in the end.

I do not have a lot of experience extracting vehicles but you can see what we did in the video below.

Snow Rescue - Pulling 2 Vehicles out of a Ditch with my Tractor - YouTube

Nice of you to help them out. :thumbsup:. Unfortunately agreeing with the others as to liability these days.

MossRoad · Feb 14, 2021

MossRoad · Feb 14, 2021

goddom · Feb 14, 2021

I take your point, but I guess I feel for the most part the liability is limited. They can only sue you for the value of the property/damage. I would probably think twice about pulling out a Lambo or something because then the samage could be in significant. My bigger concern would be personal injury since that can really rack up the dollars. I guess I feel most people are going to be good people.

Couple points in this particular case that might help give a bit of perspective. The Jeep I was pulling out got stuck trying to pull out the Avalanche so I was pretty sure he would appreciate the help. The Avalanche was a... sh!tbox.

Second - a tow tuck may not be available until the next day. When a snow like this comes down and drops 2-4" within 2 hours the accidents pile up and all the tow trucks are booked. That is partly why I decided to help them out.

Liability is certainly a concern and I was a little worried about that and I was probably more worried about getting hit by a car on the road.

Thanks everyone for the comments.

k0ua · Feb 14, 2021

If I may offer a couple of pieces of totally unsolicited advice.

Pulling backward with your front end loader and bucket components in a "heavy" pull like you were doing in the video is usually not recommended. It puts a lot of stress on the front end loader components and their mountings. They are made for pushing not pulling. I will do light pulls like pulling a grape vine out of a tree with my FEL, but I will never do a heavy pull like that with it. I will only do heavy pulls with my swinging drawbar which is located at the very bottom of the tractor. This accomplishes two things, one the swinging drawbar is MADE for heavy pulling and with it being on the absolute lowest point of the tractor chassis there is less chance for a tractor overturning. Also with the vehicle being lower than the drawbar up on the road would be, it puts some downward force on the drawbar which increases traction on the large rear tires of the tractor by the downward vector of the strap.

I keep a clevis mounted in the hole of the drawbar and this would have been ideal for running the strap thru its smooth contours and the other end of the strap back to the other pull point of the jeep or the avalanche. Again I cringed several times when I saw you pull with the bucket backwards and even at times with the loader elevated. That is a recipe for disaster.

But with all that said you prevailed. And apparently LS tractors and their loader components are very tough as you mentioned no damage. My only goal here is not to pee on your accomplishment, but to try and help and educate you and others about the method you went about helping those folks. Best Regards, James.