Just to prove that no good deed goes unpunished; in the course of the storm cleanup the community association asked me if I could remove the remains of a 1930' Chevrolet from the woods. The car was abandoned there some 50 years ago and has since collapsed and parts were salvaged extensively. The headlights disappeared only last year.
Access to within winching range is via a small path. Lola navigated that without issues...but....the operator decided to turn the front end towards the winching target to reduce angle. That caused the front end to go onto soft, sandy ground. I winched the car out of its grave and close to the truck but, alas, Lola would not move.
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This is actually an incline, the truck's rear end facing uphill. The collapsed remains of the Chevy are to the right, in front of my truck. The remains are the relatively intact frame and folded-in body structure.
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This is an incline leading downhill to the truck. The truck's rear end is pointing uphill.
The only way out was downhill (wreck in the way). She would not go backwards (uphill). I dug the wheels out. Still would not go. So, I made "the call" and a fellow firefighter showed up with our F-550 Brush Truck and a broad grin on his face.
That grin disappeared quickly when he buried the brush truck in the sand (but it was on an incline so we got it out quickly). With the WARN 9500 electric winch of the BT and a snatch block, Lola came out of her predicament.
Of course, that was also when the "spool in" solenoid of the WARN winch decided to give it up. We had a few tough winch recoveries lately, so I am sure that there was lingering "fried-ness" already. This pull to get Lola out was relatively benign. Electric winches are great - but also finicky (in my personal opinion). They have a tendency to quit when you really need them.
Got Lola out of the way and the BT pulled the car wreck out to the road. I got my truck turned around and out of the woods as well without any damage, just slightly dented pride.
The inability to easily thread the winch cable out through the back is a severe design flaw of the M35. I had a perfect anchor point behind the truck and could have winched myself backwards in minutes. The newer trucks, with a mid-mounted winch between the frame rails, do have a decisive advantage in these situations!
I know...in dire straits one can run the winch cable down around the bumper and out the back....likely damaging the wire rope and/or truck components in the process, but this was not a life or death recovery situation. So, I did hold my horses on this.
Not sure if lockers would have helped; maybe, maybe not. The ground was simply softer than expected and 6 tons badly distributed (most weight on the front axle) is not a great start.
All of this to show that Murphy was alive and well on this one.
Any activity imagined to unfold in a simple, easy manner, when commencing, will immediately become complicated to the maximum extent possible.
