Come along recovery

Has anyone used a come along for vehicle recovery? I’ve pulled some heavy ass trees with them and it seems like a good supplemental tool on the trail. Thoughts?

 

Yes. The poor man's winch. They are amazing and cheap. Just protect the trees.

 

With a big enough one yes. In college our buddy had a lifted dodge ram 2500 that he bought to get into wheeling (he asked 3 of us separately and we all said don't buy that truck... so he did). One day he asked if we wanted to go out - me and my other buddy both said not thanks. As soon as he left we looked at each other and said "he's going to get into trouble today"

2 hours later he calls us asking for us to go to tractor supply for an extra come along and some more tow straps. We found him on a trail that got too narrow so he tried to back out with both passenger wheels hanging off the edge of the shelf road above a 2-300 foot embankment. It took us a day and a half winching on it with 2 come alongs anchored to trees to pull him out... was during finals so we had to leave it about 2am the first night and come back a few days later - he was shitting bricks hoping it'd still be there.

It was a pain in the ass but we eventually got him out. He was in way too precarious of a situation to try to pull him out with another rig, understandably no one wanted to be connected to that heavy ass truck if it went down the side of the mountain. Not to mention he weighed so much more than everyone's jeeps and pickups that they would have been pretty useless for that recovery anyway. Come alongs are definitely doable but they're slow and alot of work with ALOT of resets but Definitely worth carrying if you don't have a winch.

Another option is a Hi Lift Jack which can also be used as a come along. That's what I carry since it has many additional uses as well. I've never had to winch with it but I carry all the necessary shackles and chain to do so in a SHTF situation where I'm alone and can't get out (I've also practiced and am familiar with the process). Beats walking out. If you're buying one for recovery I recommend the Hi Lift over the come along any day but if you already own an 8k come along it wouldn't hurt to throw in the truck when you're going out.

 

Sounds like that poor guy learned his lesson, at least he got it out of there. Hi lifts are great, the high lift and traction boards have gotten me out of many predicaments; that’s the main reason I’ve never bought an electric winch.

 

I’d rather leave my truck and just go buy a new one than use a come along.

 

I've used them and have one. I have a front winch, but last winter had to haul my ass out from the rear. It took a hell of a long time, but did it.

 

Nice. Do you use chains or a strap?

 

They’re cheap and work well but are painfully slow.
I had winches on other trucks but now I just carry a come-along, a few straps and a snatch block. They work in a pinch but i’d buy another electric winch if I thought I was gonna need it a lot....

 

A come along works fine. It gets you out. If you really want to go slow hook one up to a block and tackle lol. Double your pull, halve your speed.

 

I went with a highlift, adapter, and chain.

 

This is a step above a come a long for sure. I've used both many a time in mud. Hi lift works well.

 

Highlift or https://www.wyeth-scott.com/orders.php

 

It's doable. Slow going though. Don't use a tow strap, too much stretch and you'll need to do a number of pulls even without the stretch. A synthetic winch line extension would work well.

A long time ago...

 

We used to use them all the time to recover my old offroad BMW. thing didnt weigh very much, but it worked great. Spacer lift and old mastercraft snow tires on a awd BMW was great fun.

 

https://www.wyeth-scott.com/orders.php

 

When I first got into Jeepin, the first two recovery tools I purchased were a Hi-Lift jack and a come-a-long. With those two and assorted straps and chains you can do amazing things. But, they a lot of work. Once the Warn was installed I made sure those original tools stayed on board. There are times when a winch, come-a-long and Hi-Lift are all needed to get unstuck. Toss in shovels, axes and sand mats too.