Could you winch out of this?

I posted about this little adventure last weekend. I got to looking at the pictures again and wondered if a winch would have even been of any use. There were no trees or really any other solid anchor points within at least 100 yards. I'm have minimal winch experience though. So I put the question to the group here.

Scenario: you have no traction boards, you're stuck in 2wd due to a broken front driveshaft, your truck is high centered in a mud hole, placing branches and logs under the tires isn't working, you can't phone a friend to help and you're hours from help anyways. You do have a winch.

Question: Can you winch out? If so, how do you anchor your winch line? Would something like a sand anchor work?

Picture for context. This is where we were stuck:

 

Land anchor or bury your spare tire with the winch line attached

 

Made in COLORADO!!
https://www.pullpal.com/

 

Did you try moose power?

 

Apply black paint to the truck, get in, full throttle out.

 

Good idea. How deep would I need to bury the tire? A couple feet?

Elk actually. They weren't particularly helpful though. They stood just out of range and bugled rude advice to us.

Nice try. Everyone knows a black truck would never build up enough momentum to get unstuck.

 

Broken front driveshaft. On a Dodge. Imagine that.

Looks like a fun weekend chasing elkses!

 

Shocker eh? LOL. We were actually just out zeroing my friend's bow, but when we were stuck and waiting for rescue I heard a few bugles off in the distance. Kind of surprising since we were only 20 minutes south of town in probably the most hunted area possible.

 

I’d take a jack-all and a sturdy pair of v-bar chains in that situation over a winch.

Or a Toyota, and just go places.

 

In every episode of Truck Night of America I've seen, it's always a Ford that loses the front driveshaft...

 

My oilfield experience has it actually about 50:50 Fords and Dodge that lose the driveshaft. Both are shit brands so it's to be expected.

 

I don’t think your scenario is the issue... it’s the vehicle.

 

I think the vehicle is perfect for getting stuck and breaking an axle. Mainly because it's not mine.

I'm gaming the scenario assuming I get my Tundra stuck (pffft, unlikely but still...) since I travel similar terrain in far more remote areas by myself. Being able to self recover is huge.

 

Based on the difference in weight between your 1st Gen and that Dodge, couldn't you just pick up your truck if it gets stuck?

 

Well duh. Why didn't I think of that? Besides, lifting my truck would totally count as reps and help me rack up my gainz bruh!

 

Perfect place to burn that pos Dodge down. Lol.

 

Well. That escalated quickly.

 

All you need is a shovel, and a log. Dead man anchor...

 

Aaron, why was placing logs and branches under the drive wheels not working? In similar “stucks”, I crawled into the mud and by combining the hilift jack to lift the frame and a bottle jack under the axle, built traction with branches stuff under the wheels and in front of them. I carry 1’ x 1’ square pieces of plywood for the jacks in mud and sand

 

The truck was high centered and the rear of the work deck hangs down and was also hung up. We didn't have a jack other than the one for changing tires and it wasn't working very well. The slick, greasy mud combined with the less aggressive tires meant we weren't able to get enough traction to grab on what quickly became slimey logs.

 

Definitely wasn't prepared at all. No Cheezies to munch on until rescuers showed up.....unsat

 

I was a little annoyed at the lack of Cheezies for sure.

 

Land anchors and burying tires sounds good but where I live the chances of digging any size hole in the hard pan rocky ground is zero. I have a winch and all the recovery toys but the best way to get unstuck is not to the get stuck in the first place. I see guys just barrel into mud, snow and water without ever taking a look. The only thing I’ve used my winch for is pulling them out

 

To the left of the truck there appear to be two giant beaver dam size piles of logs. Those logs can be used as leverage or to place under the tires of the vehicle to use as traction. Are you going to get dirty and tired? Yes. But you have enough wood there to build a Jeremiah Johnson cabin too if you fail at getting unstuck. Then just do what the Donner Party did if you have to.

 

We were using a log to try and lever the back end up to get stuff under the tires and even an attempt to bounce the truck enough to get it moving forward. No dice. A chainsaw, bow saw or even a hatchet would have helped too, but we didn't have any. My friend learned a lesson in prepardness that day.

 

https://youtu.be/0P-gvnpcRRg