This morning I had to go and help one of my buddies set trusses on his new house. I get out there we are waiting for the crane truck to show up, finally he does, and we talk about where would be best for him to setup so can reach the house, garage and also the stack of trusses. Once done talking he goes to drive up the driveway, which is all sand, to the front of the house. He gets about 60ft up the drive and there is sits, stuck, the rear tires have sand up to the rim. He tried to put his out riggers down to put block under the tires, but the out riggers just keep sinking into the sand. So I get into my truck (the truck in my sig) put it in 4WD low range and back over in front of the crane. Now this isn't a very big unit, the empty wieght on the door says 27,000lbs. The first tug I tried to just pull him out, nothing just dirt flying everywhere. Next I got about 3 feet of slack in the strap, again nothing. So now I starting to thing that we might have a little problem. We talk about it and deside to try once more. This time I get about 6 feet of slack and once I hear him reving the crane up I take off at about 1/2 throttle, dirt starts to fly and he is actually moving alittle. So I hammer on it, right to the floor boards, I had to turn the wheels to get onto the gravel road and in doing so all kinds of sand comes into my open drives window. And he was finally back on the road.

This was the biggest thing that I have ever tried to pull with my 04 and I was very impressed with it. My buddy said that all 4 wheels where spinning , and then the crane operater, who is a big Chevy fan said "I can't believe you got me out!!" I told him, "yep thats a Ford for ya!!!"

Sorry I don't have pictures, but I didn't plan on doing anything like this today. I thing that I am going to carry disposable camera in the truck from now on, just incase.

 

Always good to hear a story like that.

 

The truck driver should at least vacuum out the sand for you!!

Woof
Bowser

 

nice job but that is always dangerous when u get a running start with slack in a tow rope its just asking to break something

 

He used a rope? If you are involved in extractions so much why don't you put a little money into a quality, non-keeper strap. I've been through about 4 keepers (3x30) and they only lasted me a few extractions. There are some straps that have a 3rd internal layer coated red so you can see through the threads when the strap is wearing and about to break. Get reinforced loop ends and my special recipe for longevity is to wrap many layers of duct tape around the loopends to prevent shredding, etc.

That said, great story! ...before all the conservatives rip you to shreds. There was a 20,000lb stuck tow truck I tried to help get unstuck on Christmas Day, till 1 in the morning or so. I made a post about it a long time ago...the cop wouldn't even let me try. He looked at my truck and laughed/snickered, "yeah right...we're calling another tow truck." Cops out here are stoked with the power they behold, no respect for most of them.

 

nice job

 

NICE !!!!!


jrbhc8

 

Sweeeeet, 150's rock.

 

awesome story!

i have been told you should floor it in 4lo is this true?

 

Great write up
Glad the rope didn't break (Any paint chips from the gravel? )

 

Man 27,000 lbs, thats pretty incredible! Great story

 

I totally agree with you about the staps Josiah, but my guess is that they one of the straps that the crane operator had on the truck. But ya great story.

I remember one time we were out at the desert after a good rain and all of the motor homes wanted take their normal little short cut to their camping spots despite the foot of mud. We ended up pulling out like six of them with our 4Runner. It was great because everyone was just laughing and telling us not to go in cause we would get stuck. There were even a few trucks stuck out there as welll that we pulled out.

 

Awesome story...that's what these trucks are about!

 

I'd love to see you try to pull someone out like this that is actually stuck. Its just not going to happen. . you've got to get a little ******.

 

You don't have to, but you can if you need to.