Worst case - pull the hitch, slide the recovery loop in and just use the pin … it’s a little fiddly, but safer than using the ball. Update: I’m not suggesting this as a preferred alternative to having the correct gear just the best worst option. You should always carry the right recovery gear when off road. Madmatt 4wd has done a long video on using the hitch pin to recover - before commenting - go watch that. He talks about failure points and loading. Don’t have bystanders when recovering (regardless) , recover gently rather than slingshotting the car to the moon, use alternate controls to reduce flick back…
No. This is almost guaranteed to fail, as it’s placing the hitch pin in bending, rather than shear as it is designed for. Use equipment designed and rated for the load, or walk away.
@@TWeatherford88suspect you may never have tried to bend a bit of rod that thick. Again, we are talking last resort, choice between loosing a vehicle and bending a pin? Bend the pin.
Something I learned in tree work when using ropes winch cables or straps. We would always toss a pair of chaps dead center of the line between the two points. If the line broke or slipped off it would only swing back half the length of the line. Rather than the whole thing coming through a window.
Excellent lifesaving advice right here. Alot of people wish they had known this right at the moment a ball hitch was traveling through their face at high speed.
@@LexusGX460-OFF-ROADNo, it isn't. Only people who are going to agree with you are people who never took or failed physics. It's not extra yeet force, the yeet force is linear and equal at both points, but there are extra torquey bois tryna snap the hitch.
@EtherFox you might want to drop the formula. I always remembered it as me getting home late as a teen me = F'd (take away the "e" and the " ' ". For the formula)
I went on a tour of the Arapahoe County Coroner's office in Colorado and they had an x-ray of a tow hook embedded in someone's head. What a freak accident.
From this, I gather there are 2 critical factors to consider: 1. Use a straight hitch 2. Use a one-piece hitch I imagine material and construction matters too. Like steel vs iron, and forged vs. cast
Im not a rocket surgeon but i don't know why *anyone* would want to use their tow ball for recovery. When I built the bumper for my truck, i have a solidl, frame-mounted hitch which can take tons of straight pull force *and* two shackle mounts/shackles, one on each side, above the hitch level, for alternative and/or additional pulling points. I can pull a tank out and not sheer anything off. 😊
It is more common than you think. As a younger kid not knowing any better I have used the tow ball to uproot unwanted bushes in the yard and to pull out of ditches. This was all before I bought a real off road vehicle and took the time to research the correct way to do things. Still pulling a honda Civic out of being stuck in a mud puddle(what I did) is a bit different strain than recovering a bog down 4 x 4!
@@mynameisprivate158 Everyone pushes things past limits sometimes, it's what we do. But... There comes a point when a little bit of common sense has to enter the picture. 😆 Especially when you're in this position and not driving a Honda Civic. 😉
Mikes Towing here. Absolutely; and you’re the first OR recovery guy that has put the math down. That was very good. People don’t realize how much there is to doing a recovery correct. Then y’all scoff at the price. Recovery is thinking man’s work and thinking costs. Love this video.
When I tow strap vehicles, I wrap the strap around the trailer hitch first and then attach the loop to the ball mount... no need for fancy expensive "recovery" add ons
@@platinum6978for most things it really doesn’t matter, but certainly is something to consider when analyzing a pull. The considerations for pulling out a geo metro that’s hung up on a bit of snow is a very different pull then a pickup buried up to the bumpers in thick mud.
You’ll never see Matt give it the beans when pulling on a ball. It’s always well within limits of the equipment. Every one of these fails I’m sure had a healthy dose red neckery and probably a few of them started with “Hold my beer!”
I have tons of video evidence proving this comment incorrectly, also I have a lot of text messages from Matt where he is demanding me to approve ball hitches because he has been using them for 40 years he aslo blew up a few safety videos saying we are full of crap and just trying to make people spend money just use the balll hitch etc.. and this was like a month after a guy died in Arizona from a busted drop hitch, and our video was strictly talking about the drop hitch design and why they fail not the stupid tribal he uses.
I still would highly recommend against it man. The force that thing is coming at you at is just ridiculous. A really good snatch and it may even go through the hood.
Good idea, I bet you use 20 gauge steel as protection from bulletts too :( but you do you I mean if your life isn't worth the $35 for the recovery hitch to you then it isnt to me either!
the most important part is knowing what your gear is rated for. you can have the strongest rope in the world but if you yank off the anchor point its still going to kill you just as fast as any chain or cable will
I don't have the attachment with the loop for the receiver. I usually stick the strap inside the receiver tube and put the pin in through the strap loop. Double shear points on the pin makes it pretty strong.
that is bad bad information. You can bend /break the pin. If it doesn't break it can easily bend then it's stuck in there. The reason to insert a hitch link in a hitch receiver is because the shear strength of the pin. You can easily bend the pin in the center, but you can not easily shear it on the points of contact with the hitch link. A better method would be to throw the stupid 5/8" pin away and just loop the strap around the whole hitch if you ain't buried it. As long as there is nothing to cut the strap. I've seen a few bent pins. If it has worked for you so far it's only because you have not done any serious loading on it. Which is good.
@@ifyoutip I don't do serious loading. I don't snatch hard or anything like that. Just basic slow soft pulls. I don't really get into anything extreme enough to need to snatch or pull super hard.
Remove hitch pin, remove hitch, insert tow strap in empty receiver, reinsert hitch pin. Simple, cheap, and available any time you would have the option to use a hitch.
@natec599 that is bad bad information. I agree it sounds good, but in reality it is not good practice. You can bend /break the pin. If it doesn't break it can easily bend then it lets the strap fly out, if it's a long pin to where the end don't shorten up enough to pull it out of the receiver as it bends,, well, then it's will be permanently stuck in there. The reason to insert a hitch link in a hitch receiver is because the shear strength of the pin. You can easily bend the pin in the center, but you can not easily shear it on the points of contact with the hitch link. Hope my poor way of explaining it makes sense.
yeah do this if you like having to cut your hitch off and replace it or spend hours with the sawzall cutting the pin from the inside. you will bend that dam pin and it will not come out
@@imchris5000 I have never bent a pin, I like to use class v though, but if I did… I would use a torch… if I didn’t have a torch I would air arc it. If I didn’t have an air arc I would use a cutting wheel on the outside and punch it out… I don’t think a saws all would ever enter my mind, and if it would indeed take hours to cut the pin with a saws all, then it would hardened so it would be more likely to snap than bend.
@@robertg9334 correct. I’m just saying If anyone is thinking about a hitch as their only option consider the pin as a better option. All I’m saying. I’d rather have a bent pin than a broken hitch in my head.
Elastic "kinetic recovery" rope or static line will yeet the ball hitch once the failure point is reached, I agree that the shock or dynamic loading is lower with a kinetic recovery rope, but catastrophic failure is does not change once break strenth is exceeded.
Pintle ring in 2in receiver tube using a 5/8 grade 5 bolt. Solid recovery point. 👍 I grimace every time I see people using bad ideas to recover stuff. Yes, a grade 8 is stronger, but when it fails, it snaps or shatters. Grade 5 normally bends before rapidly breaking. I've snapped off many grade 8 bolts
That exact thing happened to a friend of mine.. a guy offered to pull him out of a ditch. The chain let loose and exploded his rear window. Goo thing he wasn't being pulled forward.
I like the welded tri-ball setup that Matt with Winder towing uses for the light duty jobs that don’t require a lot of force. I have the factor 55 as shown.
The craziest mechanical leverage that I'm aware of is how much force is extruded on your lower back when you fully extend your arm and put one penny on your middle finger 🤯
It’s better to have the correct gear from harbor freight then not be able to afford any of it, not everyone can afford top shelf recovery gear or will use it often enough to warrant it. Personally I actually use the harbor freight recovery gear, it’s cheap enough if it gets damaged or ends up in someone else’s truck i don’t care. Only thing I’ve had fail was a tree sling but I was jerking on it with a skid steer so it was well outside of its intended use
If you don't have a proper recovery hitch, pull the hitch out of the receiver and run your strap in the receiver with the hitch pin holding it. It isnt the best but it's a hell of a lot safer than using a ball hitch.
If you need a free tow hook there’s one in your trunk near the spare tire, if you’ve ever wondered why there’s a little square on the front and rear bumper, that would be where you screw it into the frame of the vehicle.
It's not that ball hitches are a problem, it's that drop hitches with people that don't understand levers are a problem. Your first failure example wasn't a hitch breaking, it was the front tow point. However there is a few drop hitch failures to use as examples. Yes a soft shackle hitch is good but a non drop ball hitch is still much stronger than the strap you could attach and also stronger than the bolts holding the tow bar assembly into the thin pressed steel chassis. But good on you for helping Factor55 sell their accessories. Even more good on you for trying to educate people about leverage.
another way, remove ball hitch... insert the loop of the rope into the hitch.... insert pin into hitch. now if the pin breaks there is nothing to be launched but rope. also (in a hard pull) you can throw a welding blanket over the rope. if it pin snaps the rope will drop to the ground with the weight of the blanket. both have work for me
I've been in sticky spots and removed the hitch using just the hitch pin with rope rewrapped around it. If the hit pin bends or breaks ratchet extensions slide right in and work. When I first got into off road and was known as the guy to get you out, I had a 1972 f250 with a welding shop bumper on it. That bumper cleanly snapped several 2.5" receivers off one tons that where stuck. I've never had a hitch go into low earth orbit. Kinda hard when they're in the bed
I never use the ball to to pull/ yank stuck loads-vehicles.. I over-wrap the hitch shank with the strap crisscrossed to ensure a proper grip and attachment.
In addition to this. If you don't have a recovery shackle mount but do have a receiver hitch. Remove the ball mount and slip a soft shackle or the loop of a recovery rope or strap into the receiver using the hitch pin as the connection through the loop.
I've used a triple ball hitch for general pulling but then again I have an actual 20k break strength recovery strap safes a lot of pulling 40 bucks well spent 😊
I wrap the strap around the receiver hitch, then put the loop over the hitch, or shank if I don't have a hitch installed. Then you don't have to worry about that hitch pin failing.
good point. I never had to pull out of bad situations like that but have pulled flat with a ball 100s of times. now i know if it gets real dont ues a drop ball. TY
Wait im cornfused another Matts off rd recovery 😂😂😂😂 well i subbed to ya buddy because you are in my area and the other ones way out west im in north Ga i watch his channel every video and hv for around 3 yrs now but ive never came across your channel but ill start watching tho lol
I always use the 55 metric ton (120 000 pound ish) rated towing line I have for my tractor and shackles to secure both ends firmly. If something would go wrong it would most likely drop right to the ground.
Good advice, apart from the ball drop/ leverage bit. The reason you don't use the ball is because the shank can't handle the bending/ leverage. If you're not going to buy a recovery hitch, put the strap in the receiver and put the hitch pin through it.
I mean for towing purposes I’ve used the ball, but what I do is I loop it around the hitch in some way then I have it wrap back around the ball, so it takes up any slack and then the tow strap cinches itself around the ball.
Man, there was a 19yr old guy in the area who was killed a couple years back trying to pull a stranger out of the ditch. He was a good kid and was always ready to help anyone. Sucks, he had a newborn at home too. 😢😢😢 It really torn the community up.
And we still use a 5/8"pin to hold the receiver in, even 2 1/2" receiver hitches. I use Stainless pins, higher strength than steel. I've bent steel ones.
1. Don't use a 12" drop hitch for recovering, they do in fact make hitches that aren't a big ol drop. 2. That lever force happens exactly the same way with a trailer and the hitch is reinforced to take that I to account. 3. That hitch ball is strong enough for you to slam on your brakes with a 10,000lb trailer behind you without breaking. It will not break on a dead pull or a light bump. 4. If you're hitting the end of your kinetic rope at 30mph then yeah don't use a ball.
Best way if you don't have a shackle hook up is remove the hitch slide your strap or recovery rope into the hitch and slide the pin threw the loop on said strap or hitch so your pulling direct and straight in the hitch
What we see in this video - the cable & attachment breaking off the towed vehicle and flying off through the rear & f glass of the tow vehicle - is true, although it may seem impossible. Physics can prove this, just as well as the video itself does. Don't scrimp on your tow equipment! 👏👍💪☝️ 🫡🫡
You can achieve the same dynamics by simply sliding the loop end of the recovery strap into the reciver and using the hitch pin to secure it without having to buy any type of hitch
I use a quality 2” braided nylon tow rope with loops on the end/ no chain or hooks. I regularly throw it around my hitch ball to pull guys out with my Tacoma. Pulled two Chevys out of the mud two falls ago. There’s no way that hitch ball is going to sail through a back window even if it breaks. The ball will fly a couple feet into the mud and the rope will maybe hit the back of my tailgate. It isn’t hitch balls killing people it’s the chains on the end of cheap tow ropes.
Good message, bad math. Fully agree with what you are saying from a rigging standpoint, but that's not how the force works - it generates a moment due to the lever arm but does not multiply the tension force at the receiver. This is not a lever-fulcrum system, i.e. force multiplier. It's a force-moment system for the standard hitch setup depicted in the video.
When we do sugar beet harvest and the trucks - both straight trucks and semi trucks - would get stick in the mud we used to use log chains or thick tow ropes on the pull tractor to pull them out. For the last few years we have used Safe-T-Pull and that is so much nicer than the old log chain and tow rope
And chuck some car matts, towls or something alike along the strap so it slows the the strap if it does break. Can buy purposes made blankets for the occasion
One I haven't seen on video yet: using tow straps with metal connection hooks for recovery. Guy that used to work for me did that, and to compound the mistake, he connected the hook from the top down. If you think that recovery strap snapping back in this vid was dangerous, imagine that steel hook inbound. Only thing that saved him from something worse than broken glass was steel panels between him and the window.
Sliding the end of the strap into the receiver hitch and putting the pin through the loop isn’t a terrible way to do it either, if a clevis isn’t available. The strap has to go around a tighter radius (the hitch pin) compared to a shackle, but it’s still like 1000 times better than the hitch ball.
If you dont want to buy a hitch to fit a D-ring, buy 2 D-rings that will fit in the holes for the safety chains. But make sur its made from plate steel and not bar stock tacked into place.
If no recovery hitch, remove your hitch from it's sleeve pocket and then slide your recovery loop through the sleeve pocket and out back through the rope. You are then just pulling from the strongest part.
I used to drive a tow truck for and this was always something I’d see people try to do. They would also try and put the chain hook inside of the chain links before they started to pull. They didn’t understand how the hook actually has a slot for the chain.
First off, I agree drop hitches should not be used at all however a decent hitch ball (or tri ball) should be able to handle the pull, if not then I would wager if it can't then neither can the receiver and frame mounts... Second, lots of people just use lifting straps as recovery straps which is incredibly dumb and can make almost any recovery point fail. And third, I don't understand what the OBSESSION is with kinetic recovery? "Heres a vehicle stuck really deep, lets attach a stretchy rope to it and get gojng as fast as possible and instantly apply a tremendous amount of strain to every piece of recovery gear and hope we don't loose control of the vehicle doing the recovery and stuck or break it to!" Has no one ever heard of a winch before? I can see a narrow few situations where this may be ok (like sand) but for most it just looks like a recipe to make a bad situation worse...
Or if you need to pull someone out in a pinch and don't have a shackle style mount you can just shove the strap end into the empty hitch receiver and use the pin to secure it. I have pulled people out several times like that without any issues.
@alexlutz2221 please don't do that anymore. I tried that. It was dumb and dangerous. I was in my pickup truck. I guess the pin was weaker than what you use or maybe I pulled harder. It bent my pin to almost breaking. But then it was bent and stuck in there. Talk about a stupid experience. I never did that again. That 5/8" pin can easily be bent, it was designed for shear force. Put in a hitch link. Many many times stronger. I can easily bend the pin but can't easily shear it with the proper hitch link.
If you screw up and leave your shackle at home, and your strap will fit, remove the trailer hitch, push the strap end through the hole and stick your pin through. The radius is a bit tighter than I’d like, but… It’s better than sliding it over the ball, or nothing at all.
