top of page

Jeep Wrangler Rescue Mission: 4 Runner Edition

A Jeeper never hits the trails without the appropriate recovery gear. The destination may designate what gear is "appropriate", but the point is the same: a good Jeeper should think ahead about any potential situation that may arise and be prepared. Sure, you'll hit hundreds, maybe even thousands of trails without having to ever crack the lid of your recovery gear box, but that sure beats the alternative if you've ever been caught somewhere without the right gear.

(If you're still lacking some recovery gear, get what you need now! Better to have it an not use it than to need it and not have it!)

Having the right recovery gear will not only get you out of some sticky situations, but also allows you to be of assistance to other people who were not so wise. Which leads us to the main point of this blog post!

We joined up with B.O.A.R. Offroad, a local Utah off-roading club, for a land clean up and trail run. B.O.A.R. had obtained permission from the owners of some private land in Tooele county to bring a group onto the land and clean up some old trash that had been there for years. The property was located near an old dumping site, and lots of trash had inevitably spilled over onto the private land. We joined about thirty other drivers on a sunny Saturday morning and had a great time cleaning up the old trash.

Following the clean up, we headed up the Jacob City trail, which follows some switchbacks past old Utah mines, and ends at the top of a peak that allows you to look over the beautiful valley below. I'll follow up this post with another post reviewing the trail.

Upon reaching the top peak, a man approached us from one of the connecting trails. He told us that his Toyota 4 Runner was stuck about a quarter mile down a snowy trail, and he'd been trying for three hours to free the vehicle with no luck. He reported that he'd called 911 already, and they recommended he should hike out. Had they been able to see the entirety of the situation, they'd have realized how ridiculous that idea was.

This man was stuck about ten miles up a trail, the nearest town being Stockton, UT, population 647. The man was with his wife and baby and their dog. Hiking out of here was not an option. The authorities were on their way with a recovery team, but it would have taken hours for them to arrive. By that time it would be dark, cold, and this family would be dealing with a nightmare.

Lucky for them, B.O.A.R. Offroad is full of Jeepers who know

how to prepare with the appropriate gear. Although we didn't have any need for recovery on our trail run, being prepared allowed us to step in and help someone less prepared than we were.

We walked down to the 4 Runner to scout the area and make sure we would be safe sending one of our own rigs down there. As much as we wanted to help, the last thing we wanted was to have TWO vehicles to recover. We determined that we could only send a vehicle with a winch so that, worst case scenario, we could at least get that vehicle back out. Luckily, we had three vehicles with winches. (We personally don't have a winch, and after this ordeal, it's very high on our list of things to buy this year. Probably something like this.) The 4 Runner was stuck in about two feet of snow, so the first step of the recovery was to get it out of the hole and turned around. We hooked up the winch and were able to pull the vehicle backwards, and then, using a pulley block and a tree, were able to get the vehicle facing forward up the trail again.

Then came the next challenge: getting the recovery rig out. We had the get the recovery rig turned around on the trail too, which took a lot of pushing, pulling, jumping, and winching. We finally got both vehicles facing the right way, and it was time to blast out of there.

As capable as Jeeps are, sometimes they let us down. You can't blame the minivan engine for its lack of torque, but at the same time you wonder what they were thinking putting a minivan engine in a Jeep in the first place! This was one of those times. We stepped on the pedal and got pretty far up the hill, but eventually gravity won, and the 3.8 L Pentastar couldn't crank those 35s anymore. Lucky for us, we had two other winch-equipped vehicles. We were finally (using waaaaaaayyyy too many tow straps) able to pull our recovery vehicle back onto the main trail. Nobody would blame the driver for cruising straight down the trail and never looking back. He gave his Jeep hell that day rescuing the 4 Runner.

At this point, all that was left to do was put the pedal to the metal in the 4 Runner and hopefully avoid winching them the rest of the way as well. The extra torque from the V8 gave us all something to believe in. The driver put his foot to the pedal and never looked back. He blasted out of that snowy trail like Elon Musk's Roadster launching to Mars. Legend has it that he still hasn't touched the brakes, and he's still driving around somewhere, full throttle, never to get stuck in the snow again.

The 4 Runner got stuck in the first place because he broke the first commandment of offroading: Thou shalt not offroad alone. Not only did he break that commandment,

he also broke my amendment to the commandment, being: When thou dost offroad alone, thou shalt not do anything stupid. Don't offroad alone, simple as that. But when you do, (because we Jeepers are rebellious and we will inevitably break the rules) DON'T DO ANYTHING STUPID.

I've included our video of the whole recovery, which we posted to our YouTube channel. If you're not already, please subscribe to our channel by clicking below:

And don't forget to like the video to help us grow our channel!

Single post: Blog_Single_Post_Widget
bottom of page