Strange things you have had to recover...?

but adam isnt it fun !!!!!!!!!!
steve

Did you get photo's - it sounds like the Ford F250 television commercial?

way to many to recall all. Biggest loosers ? would be 6 cars stuck in Toolangi .

I was called to go but refused to go alone, so they organized another friend of theres to come along, this just made it 7 cars I had to recover in the middle of the night lol

Back street of Dandinong is another , had to get a Vitara out from behind a factory and his mate who tied to help lol ..

Hi Crazie,

My story happened a few years back when my oldest son who is now 23 decided he might take his girlfriend to a secluded spot to the south of Brisbane for some late night romance.

Obviously they got too carried away to realise that a bloddy great storm was going on around them and the couple of gullies they drove through to get where they were now had a good bit of water in them.

Anyway to get home he has about three of these gullies to get over and he makes the first two with no problems but on the third he mounts this giant submerged rock and his Pajero is going nowhere despite his best efforts. So then he and his girlfriend get out of his truck and nearly sink in mud and rubbish only to realise they are in a bad spot. I think it was about at this time they forgot about romance and realised they were well and truly in it.

Anyway what do your offspring generally do when something like this happens, they call home. I know it was inconsiderate of me not to be awake at 1am waiting for his call but there you go. Anyway my wife and I get some idea of where they are and off we head.

Eventually we find the pair of them standing on the side of the road in the pouring rain, both covered in mud, so we pick them up and get shown into where they are. After a little while we spot his car and I needed to get a look at this rock he was sitting on to try and work out the best way to get him oput. So after I then got covered in mud and rubbish we decide that if we could snatch the car slightly off centre it should slide down one face of this rock and then hopefully he would be clear to drive out.

The end of the story is that the snatch worked and we got them out, and once on slightly firmer ground I told him what a bloody idiot he was and the usual what were you doing out here type stuff although I probably was forgetting what it was like to be his age.

So we ended up driving home at about 2.30am in the rain with me covered in mud etc and that is probably the strangest/funniest (though not at the time) recovery we have ever done.

Kids - You gotta love em.

I drove trucks for twenty odd years back in the land of the long white cloud, i delivered a load of gravel to a new house block out on the east coast and as always when in hurry got stuck, 20 tonne mack up to its tail in the sand, and the house arrived on back of the removalist semi and it had a sliding turntable , they backed the house up to my truck and hooked up then with the sliding turntable set about to pull me out half a metre at a time took about 2 hours but the only other way out was with a dozer whitch would have been hundreds of dollors and the next day .there was some funny looking faces and photos around for a while.

I pulled a falcon full of mum dad 2kids and picnic gear off a track heading to the beach. They had got about 3 feet off the bitumen and the car was up to it's gunnells in soft whispy sand.
No shovel !!!
No hats !!!
No sunscreen !!!
and absolutely NO IDEA !!!

I once got asked to help tow a Falcon wagon out of a culvet that a NYL had backed into.

I was on my bike at the time, a hugely underpowered XL250.

I lent her my phone to call a mate of hers with a F250 and I ducked home to get a tow strap.

That XL would go most places but I knew it had limits.

Not really anything that I've recovered, but a good recovery story anyway. I met a young couple who'd bogged their van in the soft sand north of the rocks on Cable Beach. As they didn't realise the sand was soft there cause it was above the high tide mark, they paniced and ran up the beach looking for someone to help them. Suddenly they were surounded by a group of female blonde Swedes au naturale, and they helped push them out. I didn't believe him till he showed me their hand and other body part prints in the dust on the back of the van.
Andrew

Two road graders and 3 Cruiser utes pulling a road train out of the boggy road. Out near Boulia in western Qld. The amount of Diesel smoke was immense.

Wasn't really a true recovery, but a tour operator in on the Gulf track stopped in a creek bed and forgot his starter was stuffed and turned off his extended Troop carrier (about 12 seats) so my old pathfinder did the honours of pulling him out of the creek and towing him to a roll start. Dumbest thing was he asked for no photo's and silly me agreed ;-(

Or then there was this other time when I needed the army boys down at the Holsworthy barricks to get me out of tiny creek that well and truley got me. Water was only 18" deep and 3 car lenghts long but the sand under it was like quick sand and the pathfinder had water covering the tail lights by the time I had given up on getting it out (rear tyres only had about 4" showing, the rest was buried) . Anyway a unimog, 1 big mother winch and 2 cases of beer as bribery got me out. Drove home from our "I'll be back for lunch" 4wd outing at 4PM with the wife going NUTZ, still went back for more next weekend :-)).

i found this poor indian taxi driver (i dont have a clue if he was indian, in fact he could have been from freaken anywhere) he was really worried and i felt really bad for the guy. His falcon was front first in a ditch with the rear up, the ditch was around 1m deep so it was on quite an angle. I pulled him out no probs in 2wd low. he was thankful, and asked what to pay me. He did not realise that many 4wd owners get a good feeling out of helping people.
I just had a thought - if every 4x4 owner in australia pulled every stuck car off the road every time, people would never say "i hate 4x4's" they would look at them and remark "gee its glad to see another 4x4, i know if i ever need help there will always be these guys around" lets make our selves the helpers on the roads. the road authorities private national guards.

As I teenager in my paddock basher, me and my mate neighbour thought it be good idea to loosen a couple of the old mans fence posts so we could get the two bashers together (using our bumber bars). Got the Ford stuck in a wombat hole and thought we'd better try and get it out before the old fellows saw what we were up to, so we tied a rope to my mates car(on the other side of the fence)and around a tree and thought we'd pull it side ways using the tree as a snatch and out of the hole, so what happend next? The Flukin tree decides to up root it self and falls onto my car. Well the Old boys didn't have a go at as for trying to destory the fence as they where in a laughing fit for the next two days. Ah the days of been a kid and thinking you can out smart the old fellows!!!!

a man and his woman in a Jackaroo in snow?

A young bloke and his girlfriend who tried to go parking in Gemmills Swamp between Mooroopna and the Goulburn River.

We gave her heaps about what they were doing out for a Sunday drive in a Calais in 4wd country.... she denied it strenuously...blushing bright red... and she was very tidy....so we dragged him out and told him he was a dumb lucky bastard and left them too it.

Dave

Many years ago in Darwin, at start of wet season, on construction of a sub-division that was blown away by Tracy. Contractor wa new to the Top End (I was supervising for the D of W)

Mobile crane laying stormwater pipes got boged. - No worries, bring in a grader to pull it out - grader bogged - no worries, bring in D7 to pull grader out - D7 bogged - left the lot to dry season

About 15 years ago I was in my 86 Troopy driving across the soft sand behind Indian Head on Fraser Island. Came across the entire Subaroo club all bogged in a line.15 Subaroo's in total. Spent the next 45 minutes dragging them through the track one at a time.
Used my snatch and shackles on every one of them except the last one already had one connected. That was the shackle that nearly cost me my back window when it let go.

Brett

Some years back a few of us heading up Double Island for the weekend. Off the last ferry for the night and on the beach on an incoming tide we came across a Valiant wagon with a trailer both loaded to the hilt stuck fast in wet sand and white water lapping the tyres. It was going nowhere. We had one of those really powerful 2.2 litre diesel hilux's and an F20 Daihatsu. Old mate in the Val was getting quite excited by the time we got there but we told him we didnt hold much hope of getting him out. We did try of course but to no avail. He started getting cranky so we suggested he start getting the gear out of the car and trailer as by now the water was halfway up the rims. The fool started abusing us. I can see now that he was obviously simply upset and frustrated but at the time all I saw was some rude, stupid, ungrateful sod so we said...hooroo!

Friend at work (who now drives a 4WD) used to be a towie with a tilt tray.
One of thier favourite jobs was on the southside of Brisbane at a couple of creeks where novice (and sometimes not so novice) 4Wders used to get bogged trying out thier 4wds. Got good money for a distance call, sometimes at night.
They would ring up and ask for a heavy duty 4wd truck to get them out.
He usually turned up in his bog standard 2wd truck to pull them out.
He always got the story going in that he couldn't do it in a 2wd truck since the track has already bogged a 4wd.
Did it every time, no problems.
Couple of times it was easier to just drive the 4wd out, which he did.

Of course, doing it every couple of weeks, he got to know the tracks pretty well and just where to go and not to go.

Very embarrassing for those macho suburban 4wders.

Had a Keenan feed wagon years ago that had a real habit of getting everything bogged. The main reason was because it was beyond it's specified weight by about 50% in standard form and the tyres it was fitted with. Needed another 100hp in the tractor. Fortunately we have a loader that could lift it out of the bog from behind, but used three tractors on occasions, a grader, a truck but was a real time waster. They have a habit of getting others bogged too as they are a bit inclined to slip off a track and pull th etowing tractor with them..

Havea much lighter bit of kit now, that carries heaps more but have still had it bogged too. Broke a 10 tonne snatch pulling it with a six tonne tractor at one stage. I obviously tried hard. :D

I am glad Eric didn't rate recovery from the Robe shells as the biggest after being led there. ;-)

Our first visit to Palm Valley (Central Oz) a few years ago, and we were on our way out, at the eastern end of Cycad Gorge. This is the bit where, coming in, the ordinary track finishes at some substantial rock steps and a hundred metres or so of soft sand before you get to the solid flat rock of Cycad Gorge - this is usually when sensible owners of 'unsuitable' vehicles (camper vans, low-clearance soft-roaders, etc.) stop and begin walking.

Well the route back to the rock steps was well & truly blocked - by a 100series 'cruiser wagon that had been converted to a 6-wheel (lazy axle) dual-cab. Had an enormous Telstra-type steel canopy, with a large tinnie on top and outboard on a rear rack. And four very large passengers. GVM: > 5 tonnes?? Cost: 80-90K?? After having dug all four driving wheels down to the diffs, the driver accepted the offer of a snatch. Fortunately he had two new straps and rated shackles, so didn't need to get my gear full of sand. A 20% or so snatch got him moving and, in a huge cloud of sand and dust, 2nd low got him onto firmer ground. We moved on, not wanting to think about how this land yacht was going to get back through the sand and negotiate the rock steps on the way out.

Then, 15 minutes later, we're approaching the section where, inbound, the track drops off the bank into the sandy Finke River bed and goes through a wire fence. There was one of those white tape cattle 'grids' there at the time. We stopped off to the side before the grid to let several inbound vehicles come through. The first was an experienced looking couple in a well set-up Troopie - and the back axle went down to the diff, halfway to the grid. The driver, not wanting to hold up those behind, had tried to come through without stopping to lock his front hubs... This time a reverse snatch did the trick and a very embarrassed Troopie couple continued on their way. Got photos of the second episode but still kicking myself that I didn't get my good lady to take some snaps of the first.

So, not particularly unusual but quite satisfying - a total of 8.4 litres of Toyota rescued by a mere 2.5L of Land Rover Discovery in one day.

Was sitting by a creek in the Flinders ranges, with my yl and little tackers, just enjoying the scenery, when this falcon roars through throwing water everywhere.

Well, the water was about 3 inches deep, and a nice smooth, pebbly crossing, so, what do you expect...

The windows were open, beefy looking couple in front, the tats on the shoulders showing from under the blue singlet, (and that was the missus), kids in back.

The noise that we thought was their radio was in fact the continuous blue going on in the front seat, with the majority noisemaker being of (slightly) higher pitched voice.

Most of the "discussion" seemed to be around the "god-forsaken place' and the flies, and the heat, and the lack of a deli, etc, etc.

Well, 10 minutes later, just as the dust and waves were beginning to settle, the car returned.

Same speed, same noise, same result. No, a bit more noise - both from inside and now from the exhaust.

Water still about 3 inches, except in the wheel ruts left from the last time.

10 minutes later again, and we could hear a truck approaching. No, it was the same car, but this time I guess there was no exhaust. Internal noise level was even higher!

Well, this time as they hit the water the car just stopped.

After putting up with the noise - not engine noise - for about ten minutes while he tried to restart, then splashed around ankle deep trying to push the car out of the mud and wheel ruts he'd made, I wandered over.

I just shut my ears to the instructions from inside and tried discussing the most suitable technique for driving through 3 inches of water, but that wasn't going to get me anywhere, so I offered to help.

I was told (from inside the car) that we'd jhave to tow them to Hawker, and that HE'd make it worth our while (some hope, I thought!).

So anyway I moseyed back to the Pajero, slipped the tin of WD40 out of the recovery bag, sprayed his distributor and leads, and asked him politely to drive away slowly and not come back.

He was so surprised when the car started, that he told the woman "For Chr..t's sake, would you shut the F..K up" and that was the last we saw of them.

Ken

Me, I'm too embarrased to describe where I had to be recovered from in suburbia once.

Not really a recovery but once in the middle of a violent storm my car ran out of fuel right in the middle of an intersection . I got out and was trying to push it off the road when another car pulled right up beside me and he wound down his window and said hey mate which way to the gold coast from here .

Snatched a 40 seat tourist coach out of the sand, behind Inskip point a few years ago, before the road was sealed, with my SWB Pajero...... :-))

Cheers.......

Hi All,
For me it was a recovery that need'nt have happened,I just drove down Cape Hawke mtn..anyone who's been down there will know what its like..you come out of this track and onto the beach and here was this 4by stuck to axles..and the only place he was going was down,I sat and watched for a while and then I decided to approach to see if I could help,The first thing the driver said was I'm stuck...and do you have a snatch strap..which I replyed yes but would'nt you feel better if you drove out yourself..he looked at me a bit sus,but said yes,so all we did was let his tyres down a bit more and dug out the sand to form ramps as aposed to wheel chocks when down to his axles, I told him to power out slowly and he just drove out up and of the beach with a big smile on his face...the face of inexperience turned to jeez I done it..made me feel good as it was the first time I applied my 4by training to help someone else..and it wasn't me standing there wide eyed and bushy tailed being told how to progress forward.
JD4WDActivist

I took my Rocky into the storm water drain that runs under Wellington road, at the bottom of the hill near AFL park. Showing off for the missus at night on the slimey concrete causeway... Found out pretty quickly that there is a channel in the middle about 4' wide and 2' deep... With less that 0 traction on the slimey concrete, it was a long walk home... That was 8 years ago and the mates who came down the next day to save me still find it hilarious...

I've got two.

1 We were staying at a mates place at Wallaby Point (near Taree) and went for a look at the beach a bit south of there. Parked the car and walked down to the beach for a swim. There on the beach bogged to the door sills is a Landcruiser Wagon and just in front of it is the Lifesaver's Rodeo also bogged. The Lifesaver and the Cruiser owner are digging away with a cricket bat. I had a bit of a look and asked if they minded me having a go at the Rodeo. Please do was the reply. So I scraped a little sand from behind the wheels climbed in grabbed reverse and backed out. The cruiser was just about clear at this stage when the owner climbed in and gave it a bootfull, sprayed sand all over the place and returned to the seriously sad position I had first witnessed. I went for a swim. When I came back he was about to have another go so I suggested he put his right foot under the seat and just slowly let out the clutch. Out she came.

The second was down at another mates property near Goulburn the neighbour has bogged his tractor. One of the guys with us is a dairy farmer from NW Tassie. If anyone knows mud it's Neil. He climbs onto the tractor and does his best Tassie dairy farmer impersonation all to no avail. So I hook the snatch strap on to the Patrol engage both diff locks and dump the clutch. Second low and plenty of slack in the strap should get this thing out. It's a funny feeling having all four wheels spinning in 2 low and going backwards. It took about 6 really big hits but the tractor came out. That was New Years Eve 1999. We had a great party.

Duncs.

1 A bogged MG off a roundabout about 1am in suburban Perth. He'd come over a blind crest, seen the roundabout, locked up the anchors, up the kerb, knocked down the arrows and straight into the sand. Buggered two schmick wire wheels and the steering...

2 Used my '84 Subaru to pull a troopie out of a bog in Burrandana SF nr Wagga. Young lad had borrowed the boss's truck for a spot of 4WDing with the girlfriend. We were on mountain bikes when we found him. Said I had a snatch back in the Scoob but he said "forget it". "Mate it's 4pm Sunday arvo and your boss will have your goolies tomorrow!" Took half a dozen goes but it worked.

3 Dragged out a Kombi ute on a sidetrack off the Oodanadatta Track some years ago. They had been there a day and half waiting for someone...

Puncie-looking tosser with his paisley-faced chickie in a 3 series beemer.....they'd driven onto the river rocks off the track at Angle Crossing (Murrumbidgee River between Tharwa and Williamsdale, ACT).

Beemer was bellied out....it was near new.

Bloke had no idea about his new fancy car. I got a drag chain and shackles and suggested he pick the place on his car where to attach the chain as I wouldn't accept any responsibility for any damage. He couldn't find anywhere and asked for my suggestions. I'd always wondered why those expensive european jobbies have those little plastic bits in their bumpers (only on one side) and surmised that this could be a recovery point of some sort. Using a screwdriver I was able to get the little cover off, revealing a threaded hole. I asked him to pop his boot and looked in his tool kit to find that they have a screw-in lug for towing purposes. Screwed it in and gently got him back onto track.......$50- bucks was offered.....$50- bucks was accepted!!!!! (This was early 1990's and 50 clams bought about 3 cartons!!!).

Too easy.

many years ago when you could buy a gallon of petrol for 2bob (i was only a young fella)my uncle was broken down just out of victor harbor old ford consul his mate driving past in his rolls stopped to see if he could help old max said could he tow him to the garage and his mate said ok but you tie the rope on cause ive got a crook back max tied rope on both ends said ok. his mate took off making a hell of a roar literally
max had sat in his car left it in gear tied the rope around the rollers exhaust his mate took off consul stayed put and off came the exhaust system
still laugh when story is told around the family
old max was an eccentric used to be embarrising going into the garage for petroland he would ask for 1and11pencehalfpenny worth fortunately the people of victor new him and the family

steve

A hilux ute driven by 2 Victorians. Tried to drive from Moon Point on the western side of Fraser Is to Kingfisher. Problem is there is no direct track and no beach at all. Simpy no way to Kingfisher other than the long way round. So the 2 Victorians decided to try their luck at low tide. Anyone who knows the inside of Fraser, particularly boaties, would already be wetting themselves. Needless to say they only just made it off the beach when the car sunk to the side mirrors in the first gutter. All salt water too. Motor was dead. Best we could do was to help them unload their gear whilst the tide came in. we managed to get a compressor, to pump as much air as we could into all the tyres and between 5 blokes, we walked the car up with the tide as the water rose. Was a few hours of hard work, but we managed to spare it from total submersion. We lost valuable fishing time. Was all quite sureal now that I look back at it.

I just thought of another one...

The contents of several hard disk drives after catastrophic failures....

:o)

I'll go now...

Dave

Taking a shortcut home from a drive out west, After a sudden storm near Jimna Qld one Sunday afternoon we were climbing back up the range - As fate would have it we took a wrong turn off our normal route and we found a Paj complete with kiddie seats etc (road tyres at full pressure too I might add) 1/2 way down a very steep red mud hill, it had slid off the track and had been saved from a rollover down a 100m drop by a fallen log on the low side of the road, heaps of gear out on the ground but whatever had been trying to recover it, had nearly ended up off the edge as well. (Turned out to be a zook)
The owners turned up as we were leaving saying could we help, as they have been trying to get some help but RACQ and Landcruiser Parks recovery vehicles could not get to them till Monday. . My mate had to be on a Plane at 5.00 am next morning - we were hoping to have him home by 6.00pm - it was about 4.00pm. I thought we could do it as we have a couple of patrols Muddies and front lockers and plenty of rope chain and their dirty snatch straps.
The main worry was that as soon as the paj got off the log it would try to fall off the edge and as the track was so slippery the operation could well take all 3 vehicles down with it.

So after dropping all 8 muddies down to about 14psi, linking the 2 patrols together, rigging up safety ropes to trees on the up hill side to save my vehicle and the paj from a steep and quick descent, and commandeering all and sundry to help keep the paj from going over by hauling on the safety ropes (dangerous as it was, there were 3 young kids going to spend the night out there) WE SLOWLY GOT the paj out in one piece. Took a while to get to a place where the Paj could get any traction as we had clogged our mudguards as it was.

It became quite an experience but because of the planning and some body taking control it came off smoothly and safely - but any shortcuts or rushing could have been very dangerous in hindsight.

Miraculous as it was, to actually get him out, the guy got our addresses email address and promised copious amounts of beer to be delivered - and rightly so as My friend in the lead patrol scored his tyres pretty bad digging down to the rock underneath, my ropes were full of red mud (I have a white 20 metre x 32mm marine rope which needs plenty of room, water and time to clean up properly) and by the time we aired back up and got home it was close to 10pm both vehicles were covered in mud. My mate had to be up at 3 to get down to Briz Airport before 5.

The sad thing is - never heard from them again - no beer - no email no piccies - no thanks.

Sadly I’ve now started asking - how many beers they have, as it does cost you every time you lose a shackle or chain, My mate just spent a grand on a new clutch and who knows how many hard recoveries you can get out of a clutch or what else it costs.(Oh and Even though I am very safety conscious -- what if my wife or one of the kids lost a finger while helping haul on the rope that was saving the vehicle from the edge??)

I could never leave anybody in that situation but I think Ill need a better reward for that much work next time.

I got plenty of other funnier ones to tell but hopefully anybody reading this will realize that if they need to be recovered - no matter how easily dont take it for granted.

have fun

Nick

(Id rather tell the one about how 4 adults and 6 kids managed to get 2 hopellessly bogged patrols out of almost quicksand near Gladstone faster than a winch - yay for people power!!!)

Some good stories here... This was my most incredible recovery. I was a passenger in a mate's work Commodore wagon along with another mate and his girlfriend a few years back, going for a drive to the beaches north of Yeppoon. We pulled into the carpark, drove to the end and then CONTINUED OUT ALONG THE SAND parallel to the shore!!!! No stopping, no 4WD, no permit, no idea and I suspect no brain. I was amazed we didn't bog it straight away, and after I'd gotten over my amazement at the fact we were where no 2WD should be, I piped up and said "you might want to back it up here mate."

Well, what happened next amazes me to this day, without further ado he reefs the steering wheel around and attempts to execute a 180° turn seawards. This then did the trick, and he had the dunnydore sitting on various parts of its under carriage while one rear wheel turned lazily with the auto in drive and the engine idling.

We did end up getting it out by building compacted sand ramps , letting the rear tyres down and getting a push from a few likely lads who had drunk a couple of beers and recovered from lauging for long enough to give us a push.

It remains one of the most amazing recoveries in my mind, since he'd driven nearly 100m from the bitumen under his own steam. I just wish I'd had the presence of mind to bring a camera...

Cheers, Scott

Some interesting stories… takes me back to the late 70’s when 5 adult idiots and 2 innocents ( babies in nappies) drove in from Mansfield up onto Mt Speculation in the middle of winter. With fuel tank half empty, they drove on instead of driving back… result out of petrol on Mt Spec, 12 inches of snow and no idea where they were. 1 brave man stayed with the 2 women & 2 bubs & 2 set out for help at about lunch time in snowing conditions. They got to the Cobbler hut & 1 idiot stayed sandwiched between two old mattresses exhausted and the other made it down to the Rose River by about midnight or early am. Alarm was raised, because I had bushwalked this country I was called and able to work out where they were probably caught. 3 of us, all farmers from the local area set out. Anyway it took us 11 hours before we got back home, try driving through/ along deeply rutted tracks covered in snow. Eventually we found them in not a very good state, put some fuel in & drove them out. They were so grateful, they bought us a bottle of Stones Green ginger Wine to share between the 3 of us.(left at the Whitfield Pub) But for the babies we would have left them (I think)…. Nowadays we refer these idiots to DSE for extraction and all the costs that involves.