Pulling stuck vehicles out of the ditch with a tractor

[tundraman01]

I've pulled a few vehicles out from the tie down hooks. I wouldn't do it if they were buried. Most times they just need a little help. If possible, I try to pull them out the way they went in. I have used the tow ball on a lot of pickup trucks to pull from. Is that a bad practice? Remember; I go very gently. It has always worked, or I didn't have enough traction and spun my tires.

 

[Hard Knocks IV]

Always let the owner of the vehicle to be pulled hook to their vehicle so if something pulls off it'll be on them

 

[Gord Baker]

With winter coming up I'm sure someone is going to go off my road, into the ditch, and get stuck. I used to recover using a Jeep with a winch, but it I no longer own it. My tractor has a hitch, but my rear blade is most likely going to be in the way. So where's the best place to attach a shackle to the front of the tractor? Also, my tractor, with the rear blade attached is about 10,500lbs, what's the heaviest vehicle I should be trying to recover? Any other tips for using a tractor to recover stuck vehicles (this is my first tractor)?

If possible have the Driver of the Stuck vehicle hook up his end.
Tell them in advance you will not be responsible for any damage.
Hook to the drawbar and Low Gear for pulling. Spinning does not help.
Caution the driver Not to help other than steer.

 

[Gord Baker]

I've pulled a few vehicles out from the tie down hooks. I wouldn't do it if they were buried. Most times they just need a little help. If possible, I try to pull them out the way they went in. I have used the tow ball on a lot of pickup trucks to pull from. Is that a bad practice? Remember; I go very gently. It has always worked, or I didn't have enough traction and spun my tires.

NEVER use the Tow Ball. You are putting the cheap bolt in Shear. A special tow hook is available for your receiver.

 

[HAR]

Years ago, I too would help pull some vehicles out of snow/ditch/etc. However, with today's unibody/plastic construction, even if there is a legitimate tow point, many times the legitimate tow point is buried and totally inaccessible. I truly love when the engineers decide to put the tow point on the under body where something has to be either inserted or other to make it work. Why not have a truly legitimate access point in or through a bumper. Other times, the legitimate tow point is really just a bunch of really soft metal. I now offer to make phone calls, and if inclement weather, offer a sheltered place to wait, until professional help arrives. As anyone can see, from the many YT videos, even professionals can have a bad day!

 

[Eebbee]

With winter coming up I'm sure someone is going to go off my road, into the ditch, and get stuck. I used to recover using a Jeep with a winch, but it I no longer own it. My tractor has a hitch, but my rear blade is most likely going to be in the way. So where's the best place to attach a shackle to the front of the tractor? Also, my tractor, with the rear blade attached is about 10,500lbs, what's the heaviest vehicle I should be trying to recover? Any other tips for using a tractor to recover stuck vehicles (this is my first tractor)?

First I would tend to avoid doing this in most cases. Its nice to be of service but there are so many things that can go wrong with vehicle recovery that in most cases it is better to leave it to a licensed tow truck.
In the event that you do pull someone out...
Unless you are talking about recovering heavy duty vehicle like F250 or heavier, I would worry more about damaging the vehicle than the tractor. It would be more important to use a towing point of the vehicle or a properly mounted hitch.
If this is something you do often, I would think about having the people sign a waiver absolving you of liability.
I have a neighbor that was sued for damaging a vehicle he was pulling out of the ditch (for free) and it was the owner of vehicle that had tied the strap to the car. The neighbor lost and had to pay for the damages...something like $5000 and his insurance would not pay.
As to where to tie to the tractor, the draw bar is the obvious choice. If you have a mounted winch that could be used too if you are pulling up to midsize car. However if pulling with the winch let the winch pull...don't pull with the tractor you might damage your winch.
In any situation you should very slowly tense the cable/strap/chain before slowly pulling with the car on neutral. If you are not finding traction, say "sorry" untie yourself and call a tow truck for them.
Insisting is not worth the possible aggravation.

 

[oosik]

When we lived in Alaska we belonged to the Top 'O the World 4WD club. An adventure/exploration trip almost every weekend - year round. Got to use the winch on my Jeep - really more than I liked.

So......coming home from a trip one weekend. There is a car in the ditch. One member hooks up and begins to pull. His Jeep skids rather than the stuck car coming out. He backs his Jeep into the ditch across the road. Down the road comes a car. IT DOES NOT STOP AS A CLUB MEMBER REQUESTS.

The car hits the winch line - slides down the winch line - hits the owner of the stuck car - kills him.

Serious things can happen in an instant. This happened in November - 1978. I can still picture this event - vividly - in my mind. It all happened so quickly. I only had time to open my mouth. Not even time to shout. Many members had children there. Many had to witness this entire event.

As a young parent I had to answer a really tough question from my eight year old son.

"Is that man really dead, Dad".

 

[ljgordon]

There is a big difference between a tow strap and a recovery strap. Never recover with a tow strap. They usually have hooks on the end and if it breaks, that hook could come back toward you at 200 mph. A friend would not listen to me when driving on ice/snow and we stopped backwards in the medium ditch.It was a van fully loaded with scuba diving equipment and clothes. A 4WD P/Up tried to pull us out. Nope. A small P/up asked if he could try because his two daughters wanted him to try. He had a 4 inch wide 30 foot long recovery strap. He would race forward as far as he could, jam on his brakes, I would give a little gas and I would move about 5-8 feet. After 5 or 6 tries, we were out. Get a reccovery strap

 

[qualsite]

The draw bar... but let the driver of the car be the only one to touch his car and hook up the chain or tow strap, and tell them that they are fully responsible and you are only pulling whatever they attach and where they attach it, and you assume zero liability, preferably in writing or video, unless you know the person and are willing to assume whatever damages may result, or they say results.

 

[Tpondel]

We built a house literally in the middle of a field. First thing up was a barn and first thing in the barn was my shiny new tractor.

Maybe a month into a wet and muddy house build , one of the contractors was stuck. I smiled and said … I got this.

Pulled out the Deere and pulled the van clear.