On beating up a car: Back in the early 90's when I was in college, I had an acquaintance that had a late 60's Dodge Dart. It had an inline 6 cylinder engine. It was actually a pretty decent car, but the paint and body was looking a bit rough. Even then, I knew that the Dodge I6 was a reliable motor. But since that Dart looked old, faded, and rusted, it got no love. When the guy had finally saved up enough money to buy a shitty car made in that decade, he decided to beat the hell out of the Dart until it failed. He beat it up for days. He could not kill it. He finally drained the oil in it, and still ran it a few miles around the neighborhood until it died. Then he had a junk yard tow it away. I liked the body style of that car and would love to have it now, but back then I had no extra money, and the older cars were just not appreciated.

Even then, I thought it was a bit sad to abuse a car like that. My dad had a Chevy Nova with a similar 6 cylinder engine. That car made it over 250k and by then the body was so rusted we had to junk it. We all thought it was an ugly car, but knew it was reliable and we drove it for years. My dad had bought it with (supposedly) 105K on it, and ran it to 250k, but as he drove the car and noticed the wear it had, in his opinion he had bought it with not 105K but 205K, and the car really made it to 350k. But he had no proof, just his impression of the car.

Back then, the odometer on most cars only went to 99,999 miles, since it was unusual to go beyond 100k, and if you did, you just had to remember how many times you turned the odo over.

Long ago, I looked into the cost of off road recovery.  Iirc, $400 would get you a close, easy recovery, and it went up from there quick.  I was young and poor, so I just hiked back in with some friends and some shovels, and got to work.  

A buddy got his 90s Dodge Dakota stuck on a beach somewhere. The bill was $500 to start work and the guy said at any point he could refuse to continue and the $500 was not refundable. I guess he had a long tow rope and got no where near the stuck truck, but pulled it right out. Also... the guy that got it stuck had worked for the forest service in the mountains in his youth, he used to take 2wd trucks where ever he wanted but those skills didn't translate to west coast sand.

A winch only works when the recovery vehicle is standing still and has enough traction for the pull... in this guy's videos, he doesn't have the traction for that, he'd just pull his truck back into the stuck vehicle.  That's why he always gets a run at it, and uses the momentum of his truck to pull on the other.  He's using Bubba Ropes, which have a 30% stretch, to keep from yanking things *too* hard when he hits the end of the rope.

There's another video of his where a wrecker is lifting a car out of a ravine... the opposite situation, the wrecker is super-heavy (more traction) and is on dry pavement.  Since they easily have the traction, they just winch that sucker right up out of there.

I was in Moab a couple of years ago. I did some trail riding in Canyonlands National Park. Recoveries on the White Rim Road started around $1,500.00. That's not really even considered "off roading". I imagine it got expensive out on the real trails .

Ha! There’s a similar thread at noreast.com called “Blasko’s wall of shame” full of similar pics that’s gotta be at least ten years running....

He was turned sideways at the bottom of the first hill on the "short cut", I guarantee he did not drive in from the falls side he would never make it that far. And if he did the hill would be no problem. If he stayed on the main road to the falls it would have made it fine. The short cut turn off on the main road is a decent road for a few hundred yards. Then it gets steep and rocky fast.

I live about 30minutes from there. The spot he stacks rocks for 7 minutes is the worst spot of that hill. The main road is not to bad, biggest concern is popping a tire on sharp rocks. The SXS popularity has definitely degraded the road and spun lots of rocks up.

Bee Canyon?

Read that whole story from the SAR guy who finally found them. Very disheartening

People always shit on rednecks until they need something done .

Wonder what that cost ? $1000?

A friend had a white Ford Probe. FWD. This guy was as hillbilly as they come. He'd make moonshine and fuit cocktail wine and bring it out to our little off-road gatherings.

We'd all be kicking tires and talking about how awesome so-and-so's new lifted truck on 44's was and ol Probe would arrive at full redline bouncing from hole to hole down whatever deer lease we were on. He'd hand everyone a shot of whatever he'd whipped up and join in on the small talk. Yep. A car on street tires made it here. No biggie.

After we'd all discussed the latest and greatest and how many huge trucks the mud hole we'd gathered around had swallowed, he'd put in a fresh dip, fire up the Probe, get a running start, and hydroplane halfway into the monstrosity.

We'd spend the next hour trying to pull him free and by then the ice was broken and everyone would give it a run.

He'd have that little motor wound out with some sisterfucking country blaring put of the pieced together stereo. It was ballsy as hell and hilarious.

That Probe was a permanent fixture in the high school shop class, getting this or that fixed. After about 3 years he eventually drove it into the river and sank it.

Yep.  About 14 years ago I took a Pontiac G6 wayyyy up a trail that got a couple of Tacomas stuck, one of them had a nice lift.

I cared not for the fucking exhaust, and that was decidedly a good thing.

There's always a guy that lights up the Little Pony batsignal in threads like these.

Today, you were that guy.

I was on a run with my Jeep club one time over some Class VI "roads" in NH. They were pretty gnarly; lots of 2-3' tall rocks to pick your way over. There were several sections and a couple of miles spent on regular paved roads to get from one Class VI section to the next. You would take it out of 4 Lo and put it in 2WD for the pavement sections, then back in when you hit the Class VI. On one section of Class VI, I am finding that I am having to give it more throttle to get over the rocks and whatnot and generally having to work the Jeep harder and finding it somewhat reluctant, and spinning a tire here and there. This confuses me until I look down at the controls and realize I've been doing that section of Class VI in 2WD, having for gotten to go back into 4 Lo. I popped it back into 4Lo and continued with somewhat less drama, although it had been really doing pretty well.

Not to worry, they'll get someone who passed an ASE test to breathe on it and call it certified first.

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Damn I love that area.

And here I thought WV had the only Herkin.

Did you keep your Xterra or trade it for the Jeep?

Good thinking, you won't get stuck if it breaks down on the way to the trail.

And you want need to call for help when that happens because distant rescuers will be able to see the smoke from the electrical fire.

People are dumb, but they can get unlikely vehicles surprisingly far in the rough stuff.

I pulled a Nissan minivan and a Chrysler 300 out of the sugar sand on the Delaware drive-on beaches this year.

Well, it's not a KIA.

Think about how far the Death Valley germans got that minivan.

It would have worked though. Once I got out of this I was able p roll back down and up the other side no issues

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