Yesterday a deuce and a half showed up where me and 2 other jeeps were playing around. I didn't get stuck, but our 2 jeeps did and we were able to easily pull them out. The 2.5 went through fine, but on the way back he got stuck.

2.5 weights 13,500 lbs. He had a shaft driven winch, but for whatever reason, it wasn't working.

Then decided to use pull strap to give it some pull from behind and hopefully that would put wieght on the rear and he'd be able to back out.

First attempt failed. My strap broke. I've had a strap fail on me before, so I didn't think anything of it. Used a newer strap from my buddy and was able to pull the 2.5 out.

After celebrating our victory over mud, I saw the damage of that 1st strap. It had came back and hit the tailgate right next to the key hole. You can see the rectangular impact shape that matches the shape of the strap. It hit it so hard, it dented the tailgate, and popped out the lock. The handle is a little loose too.

I'll be taking it to a body shop to see if they'd be able to fix it, or if I'll have to get a replacement.

 

Here's a pic. I was able to keep the lock from falling out using some electrical tape. I popped the cover off from inside and couldn't see if a retaining ring had fallen off or fell down inside the gate somewhere.

 

Took a better picture.



I think I'll switch to bubba rope from now on.

 

If the dent isn't too deep then they may be able to stretch it back out and flatten it. Tinman (member here) was a body shop manager for forever and a day- he may have a better answer for you.


Did you have any kind of dampener on the line? I'm looking for how this could have been prevented (aside from pulling a huge truck with a jeep). The bubba rope still has potential to break with pulling a large load out.

Sent from my Droid4 and Jkfreaks.com

 

Damn, good thing that's all that was damaged, and it didn't fly through the back a bit higher.

I've seen chains break and embed themselves in the back if a seat. You got lucky with that strap.

 

doesnt help that the JK has paper thin sheet metal

 

Yeah no dampener. Brain fart on that one. I always use one on my winch line.

I was higher than the deuce (since it was down in a hole) so the angle was what caused it to come up higher. if we'd been level, it would have dropped down.

Regardless, i was lucky it was just the tailgate.

I might just get some armor and put over it and call it a day. Not sure how that would work with the TF tire carrier.


Before it got stuck, it was on the way back that it dug in on the front end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_JUEi9ksTQ