has anyone made a pull pal?

Got stuck by myself last night in the middle of a field while bow hunting,too far away from the tree line so my winch was useless.Spent two hours burying my spare but with all the rain we've had here lately it was a waste of time.I need a land anchor so I'm looking for ideas on fabbing one up.Anyone have any ideas?

Not sure but did you end up getting on out?

Wow, these sell for $500. I see why you want to make one now...

grab yourself a good chain, maybe 10 feet long at most, heavy duty too, by that I mean wide links.
get some rebar, 4 feet long maybe 4-8 of them depending on how soft the ground is. weld a nut flush with the tops, nuts wider than the link of the chains, weld another nut about a foot from the top, again wider than the chain.
have a sledge hammer with you
pound the rebar into the ground through
the chain links at angles towards where your pulling from. once the rebar is into the ground connect your winch to the chain end and you have yourself a tow point where ever you want it.
the top nut it to keep the rebar from flattining out too much, the lower one is so you have some bar sticking up from the ground, something to grab onto when you want to pull them out... if need be with your now unstuck vehicle doing the pulling as they sometimes get stuck rather well.

forgot the lower nuts on the pic... sorry

No, I bought one. In about 8 years of wheeling, it has saved me twice. However, with a different type of wheeling it has collected dust for years. Half price for it would work for me.
Garry

beakie said:

grab yourself a good chain, maybe 10 feet long at most, heavy duty too, by that I mean wide links.
get some rebar, 4 feet long maybe 4-8 of them depending on how soft the ground is. weld a nut flush with the tops, nuts wider than the link of the chains, weld another nut about a foot from the top, again wider than the chain.
have a sledge hammer with you
pound the rebar into the ground through
the chain links at angles towards where your pulling from. once the rebar is into the ground connect your winch to the chain end and you have yourself a tow point where ever you want it.
the top nut it to keep the rebar from flattining out too much, the lower one is so you have some bar sticking up from the ground, something to grab onto when you want to pull them out... if need be with your now unstuck vehicle doing the pulling as they sometimes get stuck rather well.

forgot the lower nuts on the pic... sorry

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I'm just picturing that chain giving while under tension (with re-bar in tow) and heading towards the cab. That doesn't look very safe.

johnlv6 said:

I'm just picturing that chain giving while under tension (with re-bar in tow) and heading towards the cab. That doesn't look very safe.

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If used properly, it should be pretty safe. I've seen it in Army recovery manuals over the years...

...Now I'm gonna have to find it...


John

well rebar is the only thing I can think of that people have laying around, or easily available.
it may sound BS but it will work... I got the idea from work (military) we have a length of metal fabbed for this purpose
and pound spikes 4' long into the ground to tether floating bridges (10X as heavy as any road vehicle, in currents)
When my father wanted something to use as an anchor when dropping big trees softly in peoples yards (he's an arborist) I showed him this idea and he has brought down more weight than the avg Jeep, and left less imprint on the ground than the truck that he drove in.

the only way this thing will let go is if you haven't driven it far enough into the ground, or the ground is so soft it won't hold. either way if your winch pulls so fast that you don't notice the anchor slowly pulling out instead of the vehicle moving forward... well I'd get my eyes checked.

I ended up calling up a buddy for some extra chain....barely made it to the trees but I winched myself out.I like the simplicity of the rebar idea.....Maybe weld handles to the tops of the rebar to aid in getting them unstuck from the ground.

(quote)beakie:
"the top nut is to keep the rebar from flattining out too much",
(end quote)

What do you mean by flatten out too much?

the only possible way the chain could snap is if you wer tugging on it really hard with your Jeep....and well....if your stuck...thats not gonna happen is it.........slow,gardual force,like with a winch or cumalong will be fine

Fairmonco said:

the only possible way the chain could snap is if you wer tugging on it really hard with your Jeep....and well....if your stuck...thats not gonna happen is it.........slow,gardual force,like with a winch or cumalong will be fine

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Only possible way??????

I call BS.

Only Likely way maybe, not only possible.

I think if the ground was soft enough to drive some rebar into it, the rebar would exit the ground before the chain failed. I would trust the chain over the nut welded on the rebar also. Either way, I agree that it doesn't look that safe...

well if it's good enough for the military,it's good enough for me......did you find it in the manual yet,GI John?

Other options:
I have considered a Danforth boat anchor in the past. They are "folding" so it takes up a small amount of space "relatively" and they are available relatively cheaply. In my opinion it is the best solution as similar as possible to the pull pal.

The rebar option is ok, as long as the rebar is long enough, the ground is hard enough, there is not too much rock, etc, etc, etc. For many recoverys I would not consider it practical or safe. Plus you have to carry heavy rebar around with you?

The other option is to dig a hole and bury something large (log, spare tire, etc) in the hole and winch off of that. Similar to the rebar, only you don't have to carry the rebar, and the object in the ground would "displace" more ground than the rebar. Disadvantage of course if you have to dig a hole instead of pound the rebar into the ground.

HTH,
Michael

One thing I will say against this, you have to keep the angle of the winch line to the rebar entering the ground at less than 90*. So you pull from a good distance to keep that line down, and you don't drive the spikes into the ground at any less than 60*

I appreciate all the skepticism in the chain idea, it sounds BS and it may look BS, however if you ever work up the courage to try it you fill find it works, it is safe and it won't have a catastrophic failure.

Yes the chain could fail, but than thats a weak chain problem.

Yes the rebar could pull out of the ground, but like I said it won't be coming out very fast unless your winch is abnormally fast.

The ground doesn't have to be that hard to first allow the rebar to be pounded in, yet hold it enough to be used as a tow point.

Its simple physics, your not pulling the chain alone, your pulling however many spikes you've used. Not only are you pulling the spikes but because they are at an angle they are being pulled into the ground. The nuts aren't there to keep the chain down, gravity and physics are keeping the chain down, the nut is there to kee you from driving the spike to far into the ground that you can't get it back.

I am sure you can find an anchor that will work, you can also dig holes however deep you need, depending on softness and content, to bury tires, anchors or what have you. I have dug my shares of holes and split enough wood to know pounding in a few spikes is much easier and less time consuming than buring something, and I know this idea will work, I've done it. Next time you have too much time on your hands dig a hole bury something and tug it out with your winch, than try this simple setup and do the same. You'll find that unless you bury something very big, very deep (depending on the ground of course) the chain will take less time, less energy and be stronger in the same ground as your burried anchor.

As for storage, this requires a length of chain (ammo can will fit chain and d-rings, straps etc) a few lengths of rebar (easily strapped in cargo box, rear cargo area, roof rack) and your existing winch.

I guess I have been trying to sell this idea to those who don't believe it, I'm done.

Bottom line its tried, its works and its shit simple (thats my favourite part).

Nothing at all is completely safe,everything has it`s "what ifs" ......but if uyour stuck,with nobody around...I bet you`d do whatever you can think of to get it out.

It would be great if someone who owns a pull-pal could post a dimensioned drawing of it.

Maybe this will help. http://www.webstile.ch/knoten/rigging/CH4.PDF

Go to Chapter 4 - Anchors and Guy Lines.

I just got this manual from a Vehicle Recovery course I just took, VERY useful stuff in there.

frankenfab said:

It would be great if someone who owns a pull-pal could post a dimensioned drawing of it.

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I don't own one but someone had me build something very similar a couple years ago. Wasn't the exact same thing but worked on the same principal. I built it using their CAD dimensions so I bet I still have the file around somewhere.

I think that rebar rig is a fantastic idea. And even if you can't get them out of the ground, you're not out a whole lot of $. To the hardware store!!!!!