My Cybertruck finally got stuck. Self extracted with manual ratcheting winch (AKA come-along)

[HaulingAss]

I don’t know if I’m more pleased with the nice write-up or the fact that you have chosen to keep the CyberTrucks natural beauty..

Bravo on both accounts…

Right. I figure why cover up a good thing?

I feel like the "must wrap the Cybertruck" narrative has been pushed beyond any first principles logic. If you want a different color, and you have money to burn, and want to spend it, then sure, go ahead and wrap it with a fragile film of plastic, it's a workable option and it will change the color. But I actually like the bright metal aesthetic better than any wrap I've seen, so that's never going to happen.

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[Gaximus]

In the above situation, it would have been close. It might have required rigging it up with a pulley to double the pulling power. I considered getting one of those electric portable winches but I couldn't find one rated to 3 tons. Since it's for emergency use only, and a good come along can pull with more power when needed, I decided to replace my aging come-along with a better one (that costs more than the Warn electric winch).

You don't need 3 tons, unless you're pulling it up a cliff. Most of the time you just need a little boost, Thing of how a person pushing while stuck in snow can get it unstuck.

 

[HaulingAss]

Which come-a-long are you carrying now?

I used an inexpensive 3-ton made in China come-along I bought for firewood cutting and to carry in my F-150 15 years ago for emergency recovery. I think it's called "Allied Industries" or such and I can't recommend it. I've never like steel cable and it only has around 10 feet of cable, which means you can only get around a 4-foot pull when using with a pully to reach it's 3-ton rating. It's very cheaply made, like many come-alongs, the different modes don't engage securely so you have to use excessive baby-sitting to make it work how you want, I can't recommend it.

I've ordered the last come-along I'll ever need. It does weigh about 7 more lbs. than my cheap one, but I'll never need to buy another one. It's the best one available on the market and it uses synthetic winch line that is nicer to use:

Wyeth-Scott 3 Ton x 35 ft Rope Puller - #3-35-A-SLT

This one has 35 feet of line, giving about a 16 foot pull in double mode, but Wyeth-Scott also offers it with 20 feet of line for $50 less. That has the advantage of being a bit easier to manage (with less line on the drum). I think the extra pull is worth dealing with the extra line. Unless you are hulk-Hogan you will want to buy the handle extender too.

This hand winch has had only minor improvements since it went into production in 1934 so it's really an old-fashioned design, overkill, with a frame made of cast iron. I would like to see them make the same quality winch with a lighter high-strength steel frame but that would require investing in new production machinery, engineering and testing, and the volume might not be there to make it pay off. They have made minor improvements over the years whenever an issue showed up. They are fully serviceable, with spare parts available. Keep it greased and dry and it will last the rest of your life. It does have the nice safety feature of a handle that bends before you exceed the safety factor of the winch. People of average strength will need the handle extender (cheater bar) to risk bending the handle. You can either carry an inexpensive backup handle, or a way to cut the bent end off so you can simply use a slightly shortened handle.

There is a cheaper knock-off on the market, and I'm not sure how closely it mimics the real deal, so buyer beware. If it says "Wyeth Scott" it's probably not the cheaper knock-off (which is also American made). Any patents are long expired. I don't buy knock-offs if I can help it, they are almost always inferior in some way.

It weighs 24 lbs. with synthetic line, so it's not something everyone will want to carry around but, if you need it, it's golden. And it only weighs 7 lbs. more than my cheap one. I've been eyeing these for decades but I don't use a come-along often enough to justify the high price. I should have bought one when they were only $125, years ago.

The best solution is to not get stuck, and that's pretty easy to do if you never take a chance, and a viable option. I like to push the limits, if the consequences of being wrong are not too severe.

 

[Alto]

After over a year of putting the Cybertruck up to difficult challenges, I finally got the Cybertruck stuck last Thursday! I can't say I'm surprised it got stuck since I was driving through snowpack that not even very high ground clearance off-road trucks normally venture. There was 2-3 feet of melting snowpack, slushy on top, firm and slippery underneath. I'm actually surprised I haven't got it stuck sooner, considering that I have been pushing the limits of driving through increasingly more difficult snowpack over the last two springs.

It was doing admirably with both the front and rear lockers engaged and Very High ride height in Overland Mode until I found a spot where the bottom of the snowpack was not harder than the top. Basically, all four wheel fell in a hole and the vehicle was high and dry, laying on top of the snowpack on it's belly, with it's wheels spinning so freely, like a fish out of water. I wasn't even sure I was in gear until I looked in my side mirrors and could see the wheels silently turning with zero traction. I don't carry chains, but even I did, they would have done nothing. I put it into Extract Mode and could hear the suspension rising, but this just locked the front A-arms deeper into the snowpack, without actually lifting the truck up (since the tires were in holes formed by water running under the snowpack) and the truck was sitting on it's belly. All of these photos were taken in full Extract Mode and the wheels didn't even make the slightest buzzing or scratching noise as all four spun.

Fortunately, I was prepared to self-rescue with a manual ratcheting winch (AKA come-along). After inspecting the situation I determined that no reasonable amount of digging would fix the problem so I rigged up the winch to a distant tree (to get a pull as straight as possible to my existing ruts) and, after half an hour of huffing and puffing, I had winched the Cybertruck backwards 4 feet at which point the tires made contact with the snowpack and it was an easy back-down through the same tracks I had made on the way up, until I found a patch where sun exposure had thinned the snowpack down to 1 foot and I was able to turn around without worrying about getting stuck again.

The winching was more work than it needed to be because I didn't think to lower it to "High" from "Extract" in order to flatten the angle of the A-arms so they didn't anchor themselves into the firmer snowpack down below. As I winched, the a-arms had to shave the snowpack. In this particular situation I shouldn't have been in Extract Mode (for the winching).

This is why deep snowpack is a no-no. You are doing fine until all of a sudden, you are not.

That looks like a clean and shiny truck. You must wash it all the time.

 

[Bill Carlson]

In the above situation, it would have been close. It might have required rigging it up with a pulley to double the pulling power. I considered getting one of those electric portable winches but I couldn't find one rated to 3 tons. Since it's for emergency use only, and a good come along can pull with more power when needed, I decided to replace my aging come-along with a better one (that costs more than the Warn electric winch).

I would pack one of those with a single or double sheave machine to maximize pulling power and back it up with your come-along . The hand winches are just too much work for too little movement. But OK if that's all you have.
NEIKO 02256A Come Along Winch, 5-Ton (10,000 Lbs) Pulling Capacity, 10Ft, 3 Hook, Heavy Duty Power Cable Come Along Tool with Dual Gears, Hand Winch Cable, Automotive Hoist Winch Puller, Recovery Gear: Come A Long Winch Neiko: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

 

[Ken in Miami]

Perfect temp!

 

[HaulingAss]

You don't need 3 tons, unless you're pulling it up a cliff. Most of the time you just need a little boost, Thing of how a person pushing while stuck in snow can get it unstuck.

Somewhat true. But if your tires drop into a hole, pulling the truck can require a short pull that moves the truck nearly vertically. That's why some people carry a high-lift jack, so they can lift the truck and fill in underneath with rocks. The Cybertruck, with it's dual locking differentials and massive ground clearance, is really hard to get stuck. So, if you are actually stuck, it's a lot harder to get unstuck. This is the first rule of off-roading: the harder a rig is to get stuck, the harder it is to get it unstuck.

A winch with a 1000 lb. rating will work in a marginally stuck situation but isn't going to work in a rock situation in which all tires dropped into holes with spacing that matches your wheelbase. Or, if you are stuck because it's so steep, and the only clear path is uphill. Not even close. Even rigged with a doubler, a 1000 lb. winch has serious limitations when extracting 7,000 lbs. The need to pull uphill can easily happen if you slide sideways while climbing a steep hill.

If I'm marginally stuck, I can generally get out without a winch to begin with. The above example is a off-case in which I could have dug all night, and still been stuck, there were no rocks available to fill in the holes, but a 1000 lb. winch could get me out by sliding the underbelly on the slippery snowpack, slightly downhill. Yes, it will work in many easy situations. It will also fail to have enough pulling power in many situations.

 

[HaulingAss]

That looks like a clean and shiny truck. You must wash it all the time.

That's pretty funny!

It's actually very dirty and mud spattered, it just doesn't show up very well because the metal reflects light through the dust and mud. The snow reflects a lot of light too. It hadn't been washed for two weeks (except I clean the windshield whenever it's dirty with a long-handled tool), and the bodywork had three days of off-roading on it by the time I got stuck. It does get cleaned up by the rain because I park it outside 24/7. Here's a photo taken three or four hours before I got stuck. Even here, it's a lot dirtier than it appears, the metal just wants to shine through! I love it!

Also, driving through sloppy old snowpack is one of the best ways to clean the mud on the tire sidewalls off. And I had been driving through a lot of old snowpack, even before this photo was taken.

I've been saying how easy it is to keep the Cybertruck reasonably good looking since a few months after I took delivery. I just wash it with a bucket of soap and water and a long-handled brush once a month or so. Way easier than my F-150.

 

[DfibRL8R]

Wyeth-Scott 3 Ton x 35 ft Rope Puller - #3-35-A-SLT

Here's the same one for $399 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00455VCTY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A1JSOEMV5SDRUN&psc=1

 

[HaulingAss]

I would pack one of those with a single or double sheave machine to maximize pulling power and back it up with your come-along . The hand winches are just too much work for too little movement. But OK if that's all you have.
NEIKO 02256A Come Along Winch, 5-Ton (10,000 Lbs) Pulling Capacity, 10Ft, 3 Hook, Heavy Duty Power Cable Come Along Tool with Dual Gears, Hand Winch Cable, Automotive Hoist Winch Puller, Recovery Gear: Come A Long Winch Neiko: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

I would trust the Wyeth-Scott unit rated to 3-tons to handle a 5-ton shock load far before that unit that's actually rated to 5-tons. It's got cheap gears in a cheap frame and not enough safety margin built into it's 5-ton rating to trust it.

Also, all come-alongs are rated with the idea there is a single sheave doubler in use (and they all come with one). But you cannot increase their capacity beyond that in any practical manner by using a double sheave to get 4X the capacity, it just becomes unwieldy and unusable.

Your comment confuses me. One hand hand you say hand winches are too much work for too little movement. But then you recommend a double sheave setup (presumably with a 120V electric hand winch with a 1000 lb. rating) and "backing it up" with a hand winch. Remember, the hand winch is the backup, in case you get stuck.

Now you have an electric winch, a come-along and a double sheave block and tackle setup that is even more cumbersome and reduces your pulling speed by a factor of four (keeping in mind that the electric winch already is very slow and prone to over-heating on long pulls). With a double sheave setup, every pull becomes a long pull. That's also very bulky setup to maintain and store. I don't recommend it.

 

[HaulingAss]

Here's the same one for $399 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00455VCTY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A1JSOEMV5SDRUN&psc=1

That's probably the best price you're going to find (and it comes with free shipping). I don't know how they do it, so make sure they don't ship the knock-off and hope you don't know the difference.

 

[ZillaVilla]

A snow melting extract mode would be pretty cool....or hot!

 

[Bill Carlson]

I would trust the Wyeth-Scott unit rated to 3-tons to handle a 5-ton shock load far before that unit that's actually rated to 5-tons. It's got cheap gears in a cheap frame and not enough safety margin built into it's 5-ton rating to trust it.

Also, all come-alongs are rated with the idea there is a single sheave doubler in use (and they all come with one). But you cannot increase their capacity beyond that in any practical manner by using a double sheave to get 4X the capacity, it just becomes unwieldy and unusable.

Your comment confuses me. One hand hand you say hand winches are too much work for too little movement. But then you recommend a double sheave setup (presumably with a 120V electric hand winch with a 1000 lb. rating) and "backing it up" with a hand winch. Remember, the hand winch is the backup, in case you get stuck.

Now you have an electric winch, a come-along and a double sheave block and tackle setup that is even more cumbersome and reduces your pulling speed by a factor of four (keeping in mind that the electric winch already is very slow and prone to over-heating on long pulls). With a double sheave setup, every pull becomes a long pull. That's also very bulky setup to maintain and store. I don't recommend it.

Noted, HA, I'm just proposing options whether it is single or dual pulley on the winch that is 1/2 the weight capacity of the truck (you might need more pull and more options better when you are stuck).
Not worth debating - just wanted to throw my 2 cents in. interested in hearing other experiences in stuckville with the CT.

 

[Adele L]

After over a year of putting the Cybertruck up to difficult challenges, I finally got the Cybertruck stuck last Thursday! I can't say I'm surprised it got stuck since I was driving through snowpack that not even very high ground clearance off-road trucks normally venture. There was 2-3 feet of melting snowpack, slushy on top, firm and slippery underneath. I'm actually surprised I haven't got it stuck sooner, considering that I have been pushing the limits of driving through increasingly more difficult snowpack over the last two springs.

It was doing admirably with both the front and rear lockers engaged and Very High ride height in Overland Mode until I found a spot where the bottom of the snowpack was not harder than the top. Basically, all four wheel fell in a hole and the vehicle was high and dry, laying on top of the snowpack on it's belly, with it's wheels spinning so freely, like a fish out of water. I wasn't even sure I was in gear until I looked in my side mirrors and could see the wheels silently turning with zero traction. I don't carry chains, but even I did, they would have done nothing. I put it into Extract Mode and could hear the suspension rising, but this just locked the front A-arms deeper into the snowpack, without actually lifting the truck up (since the tires were in holes formed by water running under the snowpack) and the truck was sitting on it's belly. All of these photos were taken in full Extract Mode and the wheels didn't even make the slightest buzzing or scratching noise as all four spun.

Fortunately, I was prepared to self-rescue with a manual ratcheting winch (AKA come-along). After inspecting the situation I determined that no reasonable amount of digging would fix the problem so I rigged up the winch to a distant tree (to get a pull as straight as possible to my existing ruts) and, after half an hour of huffing and puffing, I had winched the Cybertruck backwards 4 feet at which point the tires made contact with the snowpack and it was an easy back-down through the same tracks I had made on the way up, until I found a patch where sun exposure had thinned the snowpack down to 1 foot and I was able to turn around without worrying about getting stuck again.

The winching was more work than it needed to be because I didn't think to lower it to "High" from "Extract" in order to flatten the angle of the A-arms so they didn't anchor themselves into the firmer snowpack down below. As I winched, the a-arms had to shave the snowpack. In this particular situation I shouldn't have been in Extract Mode (for the winching).

This is why deep snowpack is a no-no. You are doing fine until all of a sudden, you are not.

Thanks for the detailed story. That’s a good amount to learn. Keep posting!

 

[pricedm]

@HaulingAss Fun adventure! Good to have self-rescue gear.

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