Road and workshop
Page 50
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by Handyman
Vehicle recovery: tricks, trucks and tactics
• The silliest position for a vehicle recovery operator to find himself in is this: he goes to pull out a vehicle stuck fast in mud and then finds his crane being wound along the cable! In other words, the vehicle which is bogged down has the better anchorage.
Without a sound anchor for your own machine no progress will be made, and with no trees, stout posts or other vehicle to shackle to, you are in trouble unless you have a suitable anchor with you. For this class of work, and it is useful for many other operations too, a simple spud anchor hitch can be made in your own garage from 5in. heavy steel tube. It is well worth while making up at least three of these anchors as they can be applied together —as I will describe later.
To manufacture, cut a 5ft. length of really heavy 5in. diameter steel tube, leaving the bottom open for easy entry into the ground; a 2ft. length of the same tube should then be cut to angle on to the main tube at 60deg. Weld this securely within 4in. from one end of the main tube, and again, leave this end of the main tube open to take a shouldered impactmandrel to avoid damage to the tube when driving it into the ground.
A good steel ring should then be welded very strongly to the area between the spud weld and the top of the main tube—all welds should be treble runs. The completed spud anchor should be driven into the ground at an angle or 60deg towards the line of pull, until the angled spud bears down on to a 2in. thick plank.
The anchor or hauling block is shackled on to the spud eye, and as stress is applied the spud locks down on to the plank, sharing the load with the main tube deep in the ground. Two or three such anchors can be used together, dependent upon the expected load. and each should be coupled by a turnbuckle to the anchor-rope ring.
This method of anchorage gives a 4 to 5-ton improvement over the straight iron stake. It is also very useful when compelled to work at an angle, as the hauling cable can be passed around a sheave or snatch block shackled to the spud eye. To withdraw from the ground, and where the crane may not be able to draw up to the spud, the hauling cable will do the job.
Use a 5ft length of 6 by 4in, plank, stub this into the ground just in front of the spud, but leaning over and slightly past it, pass the hauling cable over the plank down to the spud eye. As power is applied, the cable and plank will move together, bringing the spud out smoothly.
On really marshy ground the leverage plank may have to be fitted with a bolt on cross-bar at the bottom. When several spud anchors are used to take a heavy strain, set the turnbuckles at unequal lengths to each other when shackling to the cable ring. This stops cable vibration loosening the anchors in the ground, as operating vibrations pass strongly along the cable when it is coupled directly to the eye.
A point to remember when using the spud to anchor your winch vehicle, is to set the spud at least 30ft from the vehicle, this distance gives the cable a chance to act as a shock absorber, and also provides a more level pull.
Another point of considerable importance is to have a reasonably correct assessment of the actual resistance you are going to meet when you make the first pull at a bogged or ditched vehicle. This can be up to two-thirds of the bogged vehicle weight and must be taken into account. Very often this is the real purpose or need for the spud anchor, as once the vehicle has broken free it comes the rest of the way easily.