Winch Ground Anchor

[4x4Brick #1561]

Anybody out there have any experience with a winch ground anchor? Maybe it's me but I find myself taking a lot of solo trips and have had some close calls getting too stuck to get out. Got stuck in some rice field silt and later, after getting free, tried to figure out a better (faster, less digging way) and came across the winch ground anchor. Pull Pal and ARB versions look bulky and expensive. Bushwinch's ($250 usd less costly) version looks interesting but I'm a little nervous about 'screwing' augers into Texas and Louisiana mud and sand. As a person who has too often experienced breaking the tops off of bolts or bending the screw, I'm nervous that I wouldn't be able to screw down the augers and in trying to get down the auger anchor breaks. Murphy's Law loves when you get stuck and breaking the top of an auger so I couldn't get the anchor out and the winch rope wouldn't hold would be classic irony on a bad day of 'stuck'. Anyone use Bushwich's anchor successfully with or without their Grenny?

 

[Dokatd]

Anybody out there have any experience with a winch ground anchor? Maybe it's me but I find myself taking a lot of solo trips and have had some close calls getting too stuck to get out. Got stuck in some rice field silt and later, after getting free, tried to figure out a better (faster, less digging way) and came across the winch ground anchor. Pull Pal and ARB versions look bulky and expensive. Bushwinch's ($250 usd less costly) version looks interesting but I'm a little nervous about 'screwing' augers into Texas and Louisiana mud and sand. As a person who has too often experienced breaking the tops off of bolts or bending the screw, I'm nervous that I wouldn't be able to screw down the augers and in trying to get down the auger anchor breaks. Murphy's Law loves when you get stuck and breaking the top of an auger so I couldn't get the anchor out and the winch rope wouldn't hold would be classic irony on a bad day of 'stuck'. Anyone use Bushwich's anchor successfully with or without their Grenny?

Being in the US it's not often you don't have a tree or some other stationary object to anchor to. Maybe beaches or I guess in the plains. But why muck around in the muddy plains. The beach I can see.

A good selection of straps and maybe some winch extension cable/rope is probably more useful than an anchor. But I do understand an anchor can be handy in just the right situation.

I'm not sure there is a perfect solution, but again, lots of straps and extensions can go a very long way. Pun intended.

 

[4x4Brick #1561]

I've got some forest land that I can't drive through (too dense) but there is a gas line easement I do drive through. So I'm driving east / west in a forever strip of 'no tree land' with trees to my right and left and never in front. So when I get stuck I'm parallel with the trees. Like an American Tantalus - I can never reach the trees that are juuuusssst out of reach. If I'm not on the edge of the easement I can't even do a side pull. And I'd like to do some solo beach runs (solo as in me and whomever I can talk into getting up pre-dawn to go crabbing) but it's still just a single vehicle on the beach. And Texas sand is a lot less fluffy than sand most other places but I've still managed to get stuck. Not in the Grenny (yet) but plenty in my past trucks.

 

[Tom D]

I have heard ground anchors aren’t great. But I have never used one. They are heavy and bulky.

In the desert or on the beach you can bury your spare wheel, I’d invest in some maxtrax instead..

 

[Steve.B]

Anybody out there have any experience with a winch ground anchor? Maybe it's me but I find myself taking a lot of solo trips and have had some close calls getting too stuck to get out. Got stuck in some rice field silt and later, after getting free, tried to figure out a better (faster, less digging way) and came across the winch ground anchor. Pull Pal and ARB versions look bulky and expensive. Bushwinch's ($250 usd less costly) version looks interesting but I'm a little nervous about 'screwing' augers into Texas and Louisiana mud and sand. As a person who has too often experienced breaking the tops off of bolts or bending the screw, I'm nervous that I wouldn't be able to screw down the augers and in trying to get down the auger anchor breaks. Murphy's Law loves when you get stuck and breaking the top of an auger so I couldn't get the anchor out and the winch rope wouldn't hold would be classic irony on a bad day of 'stuck'. Anyone use Bushwich's anchor successfully with or without their Grenny?

I have a Lan-Cor ground anchor, they are smallish when packed, and weigh 9kg and they work, but you need to follow the instructions exactly, and speaking from experience a lot easier to use than spending half a day burying your spare tyre.
Lan-Cor ground anchors are made in New Zealand and were approved for use by Nato, I don't know if Nato still use them.

 

[ECrider]

I have a Lan-Cor ground anchor, they are smallish when packed, and weigh 9kg and and they work, but you need to follow the instructions exactly, and speaking from experience a lot easier to use than spending half a day burying your spare tyre.
Lan-Cor ground anchors are made in New Zealand and were approved for use by Nato, I don't know if Nato still use them.

I think Lan-cor have ceased trading, according to their webpage. Shame, I would've liked one of their anchors

 

[AaronS]

I carry a PullPal. Rarely used... great peace of mind when traveling solo as my wife and I tend to do.

Readjusted lower on the ladder since this photo was taken.

 

[4x4Brick #1561]

I carry a PullPal. Rarely used... great peace of mind when traveling solo as my wife and I tend to do.

Readjusted lower on the ladder since this photo was taken.

Wow that's big! I carry a big plastic box with a lid to carry my plastic gas cans and battery fuel pump on my roof. I could find a way to put on edge behind the box. Have you used it? Worried that I'd pull myself deeper in to the muck since I only have the front winch. Down side of getting a built in winch, can't move to rear.

 

[Tjeska]

I had the same issues, lot of mud & sand.

Bought 4 Maxtrax, to help/do self recovery...

 

[AaronS]

Wow that's big! I carry a big plastic box with a lid to carry my plastic gas cans and battery fuel pump on my roof. I could find a way to put on edge behind the box. Have you used it? Worried that I'd pull myself deeper in to the muck since I only have the front winch. Down side of getting a built in winch, can't move to rear.

You can use your front mounted winch to pull backwards...

There are smaller models... this is the 14k# Pullpal model. If I need it... I'll need it. Like my Highlift jack, a lot has gone wrong when I get to the point of needing my Pullpal. I've used my Highlift maybe a dozen times in 25years; I've used my Pullpal twice "for real" and of those times, once I probably could have found another way.

Other items only used a handful of times in 25 years: breaker bar, first aid kit (other than bandaids and advil), valve and/or valve core, jb Weld, tire chains (other than planned trips), fuses etc etc...

Plan for the worst... do your best to avoid it.

 

[4x4Brick #1561]

I have 2 maxtrax knock offs, need to get 2 more. I deployed them but the rice silt mud absorbed them. Rookie Grenny owner mistakes on my part, I didn't air down near enough, couldn't get the front or rear dif locks to activate. I've gotten better at locking now. I certainly know why bright colors are needed, they were buried and I just barley saw them to recover them once I was finally out. It was getting dark.

 

[AaronS]

I have 2 maxtrax knock offs, need to get 2 more. I deployed them but the rice silt mud absorbed them. Rookie Grenny owner mistakes on my part, I didn't air down near enough, couldn't get the front or rear dif locks to activate. I've gotten better at locking now. I certainly know why bright colors are needed, they were buried and I just barley saw them to recover them once I was finally out. It was getting dark.

Need recovery lanyards on traction boards and on recovery anchors.

What did you air down to?

 

[4x4Brick #1561]

Last year so don't remember specifics. And I didn't have at the time a manual pen air gauge or auto deflator. Got the pen gauge now. But looking at the pictures now - not low enough. This was my second Grenny trip out last year and the first in mud. So airing down by 'feel' (i.e. my thumb nail is feeling hurt, that's low enough). Later in the year I was airing down into the teens and 20's with the pen gauge in Colorado back in October on rocks and performing well. I use a Dewalt inflator that tells you the existing tire pressure, you dial in the desired pressure and it auto stops. Great for airing back up, NOT for airing down. Deflation tool(s) on my list before next trip. Also just clearing the sticky silt mud from the valve stems and stem covers was a pain. REALLY glad the caps were on.

 

[AaronS]

Last year so don't remember specifics. And I didn't have at the time a manual pen air gauge or auto deflator. Got the pen gauge now. But looking at the pictures now - not low enough. This was my second Grenny trip out last year and the first in mud. So airing down by 'feel' (i.e. my thumb nail is feeling hurt, that's low enough). Later in the year I was airing down into the teens and 20's with the pen gauge in Colorado back in October on rocks and performing well. I use a Dewalt inflator that tells you the existing tire pressure, you dial in the desired pressure and it auto stops. Great for airing back up, NOT for airing down. Deflation tool(s) on my list before next trip. Also just clearing the sticky silt mud from the valve stems and stem covers was a pain. REALLY glad the caps were on.

Yeah... in that stuff 15-16psi. Even that is no guarantee. Knowing how the lockers work probably would have helped... or made sure you got really buried.

Do you carry a shovel?

 

[4x4Brick #1561]

I had two - a sharpshooter and a folding camp shovel. Problem was the rice silt clay is like some neutonian fluid - you feet and tire sink into it, tires spin freely like a clay co er potters wheel, and then WHAM! Solid and hard to dig when shoveling. Now I have a wide stubby shovel and a folding camp shovel.