frogslinger
Full Access Member
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2010
- Posts
- 1,072
- Reaction score
- 4
As was requested here I am trying to provide a little info on ground anchors.
FWIW I have never used one but I have talked to people who have in fairly austere conditions (Northern Iraq, Southern Afghanistan). I can speak fairly well about rigging as part of my job is operating wreckers, for which rigging is integral.
The de-facto standard for this peice of equipment is the pull pal. They are solidly built, well engineered and expensive. They can be used singly or in pairs or threes etc...
Setting one involves getting the tip to bite into the ground. This can be done either with a winch or by forcing the spade into the soil. Worst case a small lip can be dug so that the the spade part will start to bury itself.
There are a couple ways you can use one of these. The simplest is a single line pull. this is essentially the same as you would do when attaching to a tree or rock.
You can make this a little safer by using two pull palls facing in opposite directions... the first one is positioned as you would normally... the second is positioned about 1/3 of the way back towards the vehicle along the line of the pull facing in the opposite direction. The tow rope is attached through a pulley (to allow slight cable movement) and then attached rigidly to the second anchor. In this scenario if either anchor point fails the resulting line slippage is less and projectiles will not be flung as far.
You can position two pull palls so that they and the vehicles form a Y. This reduces by about 35-40% the load on either pull pal.
More complex riggings are possible and may prove useful.
Another use is for scenarios where you have a buddy and instead of winching yourself out of trouble, you start to pull him into it. Placing an anchor and attaching a tow strap to the back of the free vehicle prevents it from sliding in with the disabled vehicle when winch tension is applied.
Be safe... tread lightly...
FWIW I have never used one but I have talked to people who have in fairly austere conditions (Northern Iraq, Southern Afghanistan). I can speak fairly well about rigging as part of my job is operating wreckers, for which rigging is integral.
The de-facto standard for this peice of equipment is the pull pal. They are solidly built, well engineered and expensive. They can be used singly or in pairs or threes etc...
Setting one involves getting the tip to bite into the ground. This can be done either with a winch or by forcing the spade into the soil. Worst case a small lip can be dug so that the the spade part will start to bury itself.
There are a couple ways you can use one of these. The simplest is a single line pull. this is essentially the same as you would do when attaching to a tree or rock.
You can make this a little safer by using two pull palls facing in opposite directions... the first one is positioned as you would normally... the second is positioned about 1/3 of the way back towards the vehicle along the line of the pull facing in the opposite direction. The tow rope is attached through a pulley (to allow slight cable movement) and then attached rigidly to the second anchor. In this scenario if either anchor point fails the resulting line slippage is less and projectiles will not be flung as far.
You can position two pull palls so that they and the vehicles form a Y. This reduces by about 35-40% the load on either pull pal.
More complex riggings are possible and may prove useful.
Another use is for scenarios where you have a buddy and instead of winching yourself out of trouble, you start to pull him into it. Placing an anchor and attaching a tow strap to the back of the free vehicle prevents it from sliding in with the disabled vehicle when winch tension is applied.
Be safe... tread lightly...
