Winch or sand ladders or both

Bullbars, roof racks, suspensions and other accessories relating to vehicle performance
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izakjbrt
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Winch or sand ladders or both

Post by izakjbrt »

So what is the opinion here? Winch/ sand ladders or both? I know the easy answer would be both to cater for most situations . But on preference, winch or sand ladders?

There are varied opinions on 4x4commmunity, but most of them are from a Toyota Land Rover point of view so they require a
lot of recovery.

So from a patrol point of view?
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Peter Connan
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Re: Winch or sand ladders or both

Post by Peter Connan »

I don't think there's a standard answer here.

It depends on where and what.

A winch is close to useless if you thunder into the Makgadigadi pans alone, but sand ladders are useless if you drown the electrical system in the Khwai river...
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Re: Winch or sand ladders or both

Post by TijmenvdS »

Most of the time I only buy something if I have needed it at least twice or 1 serious situation.
So as some might know on the forum I can get quite over exited at play time. So on our trip to Botswana in December things were quite boring most of the driving part. Was hot and no water or mud for things to get exiting.
When we got to the salt pans my excitement grew. I saw a patch of water and thought it is so dry the bed should be quite hard and I will just take a quick drive through.
So I approached cautiously and at an angle for incase.....and bloeps :think: no forward and no reverse.
Took 11tons of pulling power of winch and snatch block with 4 vehicles were standing still and having no effect :surprised:
So I started working on the clutch and turning left and right to try and break suction and slowly but surely we eventually got out.

Essentially without a winch in the group and so many vehicles I would have had to go look for a farmer with a tractor.

If I had something like maxtrax I would have been recovered much quicker and would not have had to turn left and right in the fine mud and have such a huge repair bill. Maxtrax would have been cheaper. Some common sense on my part would also have been cheaper. But who can put a price on fun :blonde:

FYI: half hour later all 4 of those vehicles got stuck at once and I had to recover all of them. :rolling:
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Re: Winch or sand ladders or both

Post by izakjbrt »

TijmenvdS wrote: 17 Apr 2019 06:41 Most of the time I only buy something if I have needed it at least twice or 1 serious situation.
So as some might know on the forum I can get quite over exited at play time. So on our trip to Botswana in December things were quite boring most of the driving part. Was hot and no water or mud for things to get exiting.
When we got to the salt pans my excitement grew. I saw a patch of water and thought it is so dry the bed should be quite hard and I will just take a quick drive through.
So I approached cautiously and at an angle for incase.....and bloeps :think: no forward and no reverse.
Took 11tons of pulling power of winch and snatch block with 4 vehicles were standing still and having no effect :surprised:
So I started working on the clutch and turning left and right to try and break suction and slowly but surely we eventually got out.

Essentially without a winch in the group and so many vehicles I would have had to go look for a farmer with a tractor.

If I had something like maxtrax I would have been recovered much quicker and would not have had to turn left and right in the fine mud and have such a huge repair bill. Maxtrax would have been cheaper. Some common sense on my part would also have been cheaper. But who can put a price on fun :blonde:

FYI: half hour later all 4 of those vehicles got stuck at once and I had to recover all of them. :rolling:
Thanks for the response . A lot of people say maxtrax has helped a lot more than a winch. Last night I watched 4WD action on YouTube and on the one trip those guys basically lived on winch power. But Maxtrax / substitute looks like the budget smart way to go (well maxtrax is close to the price of a winch)
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Re: Winch or sand ladders or both

Post by TijmenvdS »

The most common situations that immobilise a Patrol would be:

Driving with a friend: Snatch strap essential

Solo Driving is the point of view:

Sand (Driving capabilities with tire pressures essential, PRO MaxTrax, winch useless)
Mud (Pro MaxTrax, Winch dependant on availability of anchor point such as trees)
Bottomed on the belly with wheels in the air (shovel+Maxtrax, Winch dependant on availability of anchor point such as trees)

Maxtrax is cheaper and NOT dependant
Winch is more expensive and dependant on anchor

Also I have not used my own winch to recover myself yet. I have been recovered by winch twice.
So drive cautiously when alone and get a friend with a winch or convince a friend they NEED a winch :lol:
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Re: Winch or sand ladders or both

Post by Peter Connan »

I have also been on the end of a winch cable just twice in ten years.

One of those times, the winch was just a precaution to stop the car from flipping/rolling over. The other time, a winch on my own car would have been useless, as the recovery had to be done from the side.

I have been on the wrong end of a rope a couple of times too. One of those was due to a breakdown. A couple of the others, a winch could have worked too if I didn't have friends. One was the aforementioned drowning of the electrics, although not in the Khwai river but in the Molotots. Another was getting stuck in a flooded vlei in the Moremi.

I have never used nor needed any kind of sand ladder, but would much rather carry that than a winch...
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Re: Winch or sand ladders or both

Post by Tinus lotz »

I once drove over chris ford sand ladder in the river trip and it broke :rolleyes:
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Re: Winch or sand ladders or both

Post by JohnBoyZA »

TijmenvdS wrote: 17 Apr 2019 08:46 Also I have not used my own winch to recover myself yet. I have been recovered by winch twice.
So drive cautiously when alone and get a friend with a winch or convince a friend they NEED a winch :lol:
:biggrin: :lol:
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