What to carry
None of this makes a recovery safe by itself. A rated shackle on a truck with nowhere rated to hook it is still nowhere to hook it.
We are volunteers, not professionals.
Nobody here is a certified recovery operator, a mechanic or a medic unless they tell you they are, and we do not check. This is what the group has learned, offered freely. It is not training, not a standard, and not a substitute for hiring somebody who does this for a living.
Always in the truck
- A full-size spare that holds air, and the tools to actually change it — including a breaker bar if your lug nuts were put on by a shop.
- A tyre plug kit and a way to put air back in. Most trail punctures are sidewall-survivable and plug fine.
- Jumper cables or a jump pack.
- A jack that works on soft ground, and a flat board to stand it on. A bottle jack on mud is a jack in the mud.
- More water than you think. The person coming to get you will want some too.
- A torch that is not your phone, and spare batteries.
- A first aid kit you have opened before today.
Before you leave pavement
- A tyre deflator and a gauge. Airing down is the cheapest traction there is.
- A compressor, because airing down is a one-way trip without one.
- Traction boards. They get more vehicles out than winches do.
- Gloves. Every recovery involves picking up something you would rather not.
- A charger that runs off the truck, not a power bank you charged last week.
- A shovel. Often the whole recovery.
If you are the one doing the pulling
- A kinetic rope or recovery strap rated well above the weight of the heavier vehicle.
- Soft shackles, or rated bow shackles. Not hardware-store clevises.
- A damper for every line that goes under load — a purpose-made one, or a heavy wet blanket or jacket.
- A tree strap if you might anchor to a tree, so you do not ring-bark it and so the tree survives to be an anchor next time.
- A second person who knows what is about to happen.
Never pull from these
- A tow ball. It shears under a snatch load and becomes a projectile that goes through a windscreen. This is the one that kills people.
- A hitch pin through an empty receiver. Use a rated shackle mount.
- Chains with hooks. No stretch, and the hook goes somewhere when it lets go.
- Ratchet straps and cargo straps. They are for holding things still.
- The little tie-down loops used to strap a vehicle to a trailer. They are rated for holding a parked car, not for pulling a stuck one.
- Suspension arms, steering components, bumpers that are not bolted to the frame, or a tow hook that came with the truck unless you know what it is rated for.
If somebody is hurt, call 911 first.
Injury, a vehicle in moving water, or anything in a traffic lane is an emergency call, not a recovery request. We are volunteers with trucks. Nobody is on shift and nobody is obliged to come.