Pulling another car out of a ditch

BigDanTheMan · Jul 17, 2009

I pulled a truck out of ditch in my truck tonight, and it made me wonder if I could have done the same if I was in the vert. where would you tie onto?

Follow up question: I have a roll bar, would that be better than the rear diff?

BlownFiveLiter · Jul 17, 2009

I wouldn't even attempt it if I wasn't in a truck/SUV of some sort. Now if it was my car needing to be pulled out of the ditch, I'd let a professional handle it. They have equipment and straps to be better equipped and prevent further damage to the car.

QUICK91LX · Jul 17, 2009

did u really just suggest possibly hooking a tow strap to your rear diff? ugh. you are asking to rip the dif from the control arms doing that

if your car was one that someone received one of those toy like mini u haul hitches that one could use to tow jet skis or some other small type of trailer, you could possibly have used that but i wouldnt trust it to pull a truck out of a ditch. maybe a small car that got stuck but not a truck up an incline. that might rip the hitch from the car.

your car has the power to pull stuff, but lacks the stregnth and traction to be effective at anything other than very light duty pulling

BlownFiveLiter · Jul 17, 2009

QUICK91LX said:
your car has the power to pull stuff, but lacks the stregnth and traction to be effective at anything other than very light duty pulling

Not to mention the structural integrity of the unibody.

BigDanTheMan · Jul 17, 2009

I'm just trying to avoid this level of knuckleheadery.
YouTube - snowtowcar

hemi_fan · Jul 17, 2009

As of last night my car has now had to be towed off of a roadcourse twice by tow straps, and both times I could not find a really solid place to mount the strap. I used the fog-light bracket which did the trick but is there a better place to pull it from? It may be down for a while though as I lost oil pressure this time, but shut it down quick so hopefully shes okay.

FrankenStang · Jul 17, 2009

NIKwoaC · Jul 17, 2009

QUICK91LX said:
did u really just suggest possibly hooking a tow strap to your rear diff? ugh. you are asking to rip the dif from the control arms doing that

if your car was one that someone received one of those toy like mini u haul hitches that one could use to tow jet skis or some other small type of trailer, you could possibly have used that but i wouldnt trust it to pull a truck out of a ditch. maybe a small car that got stuck but not a truck up an incline. that might rip the hitch from the car.

your car has the power to pull stuff, but lacks the stregnth and traction to be effective at anything other than very light duty pulling

Think about it... Your rear axle pushes the car, the car doesn't pull the rear axle. If you towed something with your Fox by wrapping straps around the diff/axle housing, and you somehow positioned it so that the straps didn't contact anything else, your control arms (or any other structural part of the car for that matter) would see no more loading than what they would if you weren't towing anything. Of course if you attached the vehicle in tow to a body or chassis part of the car, then yes, the control arms would see the load force.

I'm not encouraging towing with the car, by the way.

1991notchbackLX · Jul 17, 2009

BigDanTheMan said:
I pulled a truck out of ditch in my truck tonight, and it made me wonder if I could have done the same if I was in the vert. where would you tie onto?

Follow up question: I have a roll bar, would that be better than the rear diff?

Is this a serious question?

Beasty306GT · Jul 17, 2009

BigDanTheMan · Jul 17, 2009

yea it is a serious a question for two reasons.
1) I like to be that helping hand in situations, and i don't know the limitations of my car very well.
2) It would be good to identify a good structure for being pulled out myself.

An appropriate answer might be something to the tune of avoid it at all costs, highly not recommended, or it shouldn't be done. It would be a rare occasion for me to take the pony to the mountain, but if on the way I came upon someone being stuck I would find a way to help them. Normally the rear axle is a pretty strong point. We are not talking about tugging a K-5 out of a gulch, we are talking about getting someone out of a snow bank or irrigation ditch.

bynummustang · Jul 17, 2009

Beasty306GT · Jul 17, 2009

1991notchbackLX · Jul 17, 2009

This thread is exacty why I hate previous owners. Do your torque boxes look shredded up? Maybe some genius towed a truck out of a "gulch" with it.

I commend you for helping people and for being polite, but the phrase "stump pulling torque" is just a figure of speech. I'm a firm believer in the right tool for the job, and the right tool for towing a vehicle is a tow vehicle. If you're in a Mustang and see someone stuck on the side of the road, offer them a ride or ask if they need to use a cell phone to call a professional. Offer them a bottle of water. If it's a girl, stay with them until the tow truck arrives. It is possible to help people without causing more harm than good.

nisreo · Jul 17, 2009

5.0 Mustang gulch pulling kit

BigDanTheMan · Jul 17, 2009

now thats how you reply to a silly hypothetical.

nisreo · Jul 17, 2009

Seriously though, Thats probably the best way to help someone out. Theyll pull the car out for you as long as its your "friend" who is stuck. Usually they dont even ask to see the car or anything. Save your rear- end

68stang351 · Jul 17, 2009

I used to use my 87 4cyl LX Coupe to pull an 86 LX 5.0 Hatch project I had around the driveway. I got all kinds of weird looks. But the 87 was a daily beater, and I only did that when I needed to move it from one spot in the driveway to another, like when I had to move it from its normal parking spot to underneath the carport so I could put the motor in.

25thmustang · Jul 17, 2009

I pulled a Ford Festiva out of the trees with my old 2003 Audi A4.

QUICK91LX · Jul 18, 2009

25thmustang said:
I pulled a Ford Festiva out of the trees with my old 2003 Audi A4.

hand in your man card...it was a festiva...you should have been able to pick it up and heave it back onto the road! thats what i woulda done

Pulling another car out of a ditch

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