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u/addsomethingepic 1d ago
All those people standing in snapping distance of that chain
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u/Pale_Adeptness 1d ago
In instances like these, when trying to pull another stuck vehicle, if at all possible, it's best to put a heavy blanket over the towing line so that if it snaps it has less of a chance to whip around and really hurt someone.
There are towing straps that have some stretch for this but if using chains or a rope with zero stretch, best to grab a heavy blanket of sorts and drape it over the chain/rope.
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u/Acalyus 1d ago
My uncle had a chain snap while his friend was trying to tow a truck out of the mud.
The chain grazed the side of his head, knocked him unconscious and cracked his skull.
The doctor said had the chain been even a centimeter over to the right he would of been killed instantly, he now has a permanent goose egg where the chain hit on the left side of his temple.
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u/Jer_Cough 14h ago
I once was watching a neighbor trying to pull down a big oak stump, probably 20 feet high. They had a 1" steel cable wrapped around the top of the stump and connected to a pickup. After several hard jerks, the cable snapped, whipped around and sliced the truck's bed sidewalls horizontally almost to the cab. I learned what a lot of stored energy can do very quickly that afternoon. Thankfully I was a few hundred feet away and no one on the job was injured.
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u/elpiotre 1d ago
There wasn't even one brain functioning well enough to understand this wasn't the good way to do it? Damn
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u/Pale_Adeptness 1d ago
I thought the people trying to push the beetle were gonna get crushed by it if it rolled back.
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u/Playful-Dragon 1d ago
Doing it a piece at a time.... Also love the fact a truck drives up that could have done it lol
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u/CarbideLeaf 1d ago
Honestly. That car weighs like 900 lbs. those 17 people could push it up the hill with human power.
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u/Unknowingly-Joined 1d ago
Do that a couple more times and the whole car will be out of the ditch and ready to be put back together.
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u/bartread 1d ago
Honestly, that's about the least worst outcome. I'd imagined both cars going over the edge and crushing the people pushing on the Beetle, so merely ripping off the front axle and wheels seems like a relatively positive result.
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u/Bjorn1233 1d ago
What did he expect when you give it a sudden pull like that starting from a rope that is not tight
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u/trev1976UK 1d ago
I thought the tow rope was going to snap and the car roll back down the verge and over the people behind.
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u/BostonSucksatHockey 18h ago
I thought car #1's transmission was gonna fall out and car #2 would fall backwards.
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u/Ascension_Crossbows 13h ago
Shouldnt you always get rid of slack first when doing something like this? Unless you want something to snap. Either the chain or part of your car(s)
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u/SpookyStrike 1d ago
There’s so much stupidity happening here I’m glad it went so badly so hopefully more people learned a lesson.
But probably not.
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u/Malibucat48 1d ago
These guys weren’t too bright in the first place, otherwise the VW wouldn’t have gone over the side.
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u/Russell_Jimmy 1d ago
In case anyone is wondering, I once got a car out a similar situation with a front wheel drive car.
What you do is start towing parallel to the road, not perpendicular (up the steepest part). You start moving, and the person in the towed vehicle then gradually turns toward the road. That way, you only have to pull a gradual slope.
You want a long tow cable, of course.