Rear recovery options?
 

While I don't intend on doing any serious off-roading (I'm not outfitting my truck with anything for it anyway), there's always a chance of getting stuck somewhere with the butt-end of my truck being the only option and can't use the front tow hooks when I inevitably call for help or maybe need to help a friend out of a jam. What are some good rear options? Are those hitch mounted hooks any good? I have a class IV hitch on my new 2018 SuperCrew 4x4. I've never been stuck before (fingers crossed, knock on wood, wish upon a star, etc..), but I am human and therefore prone to stupidity and will probably get myself into a sticky situation at some point. I subscribe to the ol' saying 'it's better to have it and not need than need it and not have it'.

Stay away from open hooks. A hitch mounted shackle or a big eye (like the trailer side of a pintle hitch) should work pretty well. Personally, on my Jeep I use a piece of 2"x2"x1/4" with a big eye bolt pressed & welded in. Works great and allows for pull in any direction without side loading the shackle. I need to cut it shorter so I can use it in my truck if needed.

Those open hooks freak me out. Looks like something hanging in a meat locker. My primary question is about using something in the hitch receiver like you talk about. Having only used it for towing, I didn't know what the true capabilities are for recovery. These companies will sell you anything, even if it doesn't work or isn't safe!

Smittybilt 29312B Receiver Hitch D-Ring with 3/4-Inch Shackle for 2-Inch Receivers, plus Smittybilt 13047B D-Ring Shackle 3/4" Threaded Pin 4.75 Ton Rating Black for the other end.​​​​​​​
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6.5 ton rating? Awesome. My hitch will buckle before that thing breaks. Thanks for the info!

I would be very impressed to see a hitch buckle...6.5 tons is only 13,000 lbs & some F150 hitches are rated for more that than. Of couse, who knows what kind of safety factor is built in to the ratings. What I do know is I've hooked my Jeep's winch to a full size truck twice, both times with no anchor points available. The 1st time was a mid 2000s GMC 1500 extended cab stuck in a field. Couldn't get close enough for a snatch strap, so we hooked two 9K winches to his trailer hitch to get him out. This was after an Ecoboost F150 on 35s broke the GMC's front tow hooks trying to snatch him out. The next I hooked an 8K Warn (that's known to pull well over 8K) to the hitch of a 2012 F150 crew cab & used a snatch block for 16K of pull power.

I would look for one that can be mounted with the d-ring either vertical or horizontal. That way you can minimize the side load.

My hitch states 11,600 max with a WD hitch. I have a feeling it can structurally handle more, but I'm not about to be the one to test that number.

The D-Ring shackle posted above will work great. I use them for that purpose and also have a 10K lb Warn winch that I put in my hitch receiver for self-recovery when I'm out off-roading solo.

Get a tow rope / snatch strap if you don't already have one, and a 2nd D-ring so you don't have to rely on other people to bring them. All you need is any truck passing by, and with the two D-rings (one for his hitch receiver, one for yours) and the snatch strap, you're good to go.

Any rope/strap in particular you'd recommend?

Bubba Rope, ASR, Opposite Lock, or ARB. Don't go cheap on those. You don't want a rope under that much stress to snap. Also make sure you get about a 25,000lb+ rating.

http://unsealed4x4.com.au/snatch-strap-comparison/

Also tow ropes are for towing (good to also have) and snatch straps/kinetic ropes are for getting unstuck.

^^^^^ Agreed. ARB has a good reputation.

I have a couple of Smittybilt recovery straps for light recovery. Something reputable in the 20K - 30K lb range should work since it sounds like you might just need the occasional light pull. They range in strength from 20K to 40K lbs. For anything more than a light pull, I'm using my winch anyway.

A good kinetic rope and soft shackles are very handy.
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Those are some great looking ropes, which some VERY similar looking ones will make it into my recovery gear soon enough ;)

LOL. I know they will serve you well! I love mine, to bad I don't get to off-road more to use them. I need to get some videos and pics for the website that went live last night.

that's some great looking recovery rope.....

Beginner question, can you actually tow from the 2 front rings? Anyone know the max capacity? Thanks

The beginner move is that you didn't put ALL your truck info into your signature, so we have no idea what truck you're talking about. Have you read the owner's manual? It's easier to search the free Ford PDF:
http://www.fleet.ford.com/partsandse...owner-manuals/

Thanks for your comment, am new to this site and how it works.
2021 F150 XLT 2.7 V6 EcoBoost
- what’s your opinion on a simple recovery pull? Cheers

What do you mean by tow? We need more clarification on what you mean by this.

Ford pulled 6G's on the tow hooks by swinging the F150 in a centrifuge in 2004, so...

I'm going to mount a Warn 93000 on a hitch mount, which will necessarily be a rear only option because there isn't a front hitch for turbo motors. My logic is that with a pulley I can get 6k lbs (or 9k if I do two) and run the thing off of the 240V rear receptacle. That results in no permanent changes to the truck and indefinite pulls. I'll post info and pictures in my build thread when I do it.

My question is, where can I find out the tow/ recovery lbs strength per ring, and what is the pulling strength if I link both first and then have a soft shackle or D-ring off that rope? Getting into the physics. Theoretically, if I link first my tow weight goes up.
Any thoughts?

**Basic diagram attached.

Truck: 2021 F150 XLT Ecoboost

it would be the sheer strength of the bolts, which I can’t remember their size and/or grade.

Not tow but to recovery pull out a vehicle from snow or mud.

Thanks, so now I need to find out the tow rating for an individual ring, but from what I’ve seen everyone is saying to just use the rear hitch and fit an adapter. Will make sure I have a great pin! What do you do regarding recovery? Equipment and method?

Just stick the loop of your strap/rope into the receiver and install the hitch pin. It's worked for decades for me and many others.

Any common 5/8" hitch pin is more than strong enough.Read the links on this page, and the owner's manual.

(click this text)
https://www.supermotors.net/getfile/...l/recovery.jpgDramatic, but it leaves me with too many questions.

Who built that centrifuge? Ford? Or the advertising company? Or someone else? Did they build it just for that one commercial? If not: what did it get used for the rest of that day, and the other 364 days that year (or at least the other 250 business days)? What's it being used for today? Because it looks curiously-specific to the size of that one truck and nothing else. Where is it? Did they ever test an open hook truck to see if any of them failed?

Or was that just CGI BS to illustrate the design specs for the front recovery eyes? Curb weight on that truck is probably in the 5Kip range, so at 6G, that's 30Kip, which is what most 3" nylon tow straps are rated for, or a 5/8" aircraft cable, or a single 5/8" Gr.8 bolt in single-pull. Right?

Epsoms salt bath

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OMG! I TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT THAT COMMERCIAL!!!!!!!

i laughed when i saw it.... good ol days

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Etrailer.com. Curt makes em too

Based on the weight of that SCab and the fact they pulled 6G, 15,000lb per ring minimum.

While they didn't state the ratings of any recovery hooks, for the same diameter, loops are stronger. Carabiners are a good example of this, they all have higher ratings when closed than when open.

As for the centrifuge, I would guess they just borrowed one. Here's a page on NASA performing rollover tests with one.

Wow. Hard to take that seriously when the writer keeps referring to "centripedal force", and thinks that inertia is based on an idea, and is like Saturday morning.

Yes you think an editor would have picked up on the misspelling of centripetal.

The article is 19 years old, not exactly the google era of today.

I see a LOT more misspellings today than I remember from before computers were common (LONG before the internet was available to the masses).

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Risky

...and not very effective. Do you know what happened just AFTER the pic was taken?

Sorry, Unfortunately I do not.

I run a receiver designed for a shackle. I've used it to pull cars around but never had to use it while stuck yet.

It jerked the 4WD 7.3L F250HD's back wheels off the ground a few times, but I got this stump out. It was strangled by the larger oak a foot away (visible in the last pic), so I had to wait over a year for it to rot enough to come out. But it was still VERY solid.
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