Here Rob how about a nice civil responce
the "body damage notwithstanding" part cant be ignored.
take a look at this pic.
(thanks Green perfect shot)
See how far back the sill is from the outer edge of the door. There is really no way to reach all the way under and get the rolled up lip of the nose of the highlift past the back side of the sill. This would then leave the highlift only in contact at the rolled lip and that will cause a slip for sure.
See once again there is internet advice being given on something that really I doubt has been done. Using the high lift like that would destroy the doors. Destroying the doors for a single recovery would just not be worth while IMHO.
which is why i had the door open when the jack was hooked up to the sill. which, on my RR, was pretty flat. see, if you're stuck out on the trail all alone, because your slider+winch friends are at work and you played hookey to go wheel (like I used to do every couple of weeks or so) and all you have is a hi-lift and a highcentered range rover, you learn to be creative.
For the sake of your cries for safety Thom, I'll agree with you here and retract the statement about relying on the sills. It's probably a bad idea. A really bad idea, actually. It's also probably a bad idea to use the receiver as a jack point, or jate rings on the front with the stock bumper. You can go ahead and critique my unsafe redneck ways with plywood some more so that others are well warned. they will also not have to come back and embarass themselves with bad technique to be called out by folks of your ilk and knowing ways. I tried to find some pics of the sills on my old trucks but the only that turned up was some video of me swinging the plastic sill around like a sword after it done fell off the truck during a wheeling trip.
also bad news is using plywood for a skid plate.
In fact, now that I think about it, there are a whole ton of things I do that should not be repeated here. I won't discuss the dozens of times we recovered 1/2 ton pickups in muddy fields using come alongs. or the joy of spreading the frame rails with your hi-lift to let a busted t-case to free-fall to the floor. or using a support in the back of your rickety garage as a winch point to drag a dead rig nosed in to the garage. i shouldn't mention using the "W" of my warn jeep bumper as a jack point and then driving over the jack to clear the earth-mover skidplate. all kinds of great stories I can think up that look and sound real questionable. I'm sure you have none to share.
So, from here on out, Thom, I promise for you that I'll keep my recovery tips to myself, to spare the others. You can critique all you want but it's not going to change the memories, the challenges, or the fun I've had out on the trail without you or your criticism, nor will it in the future.
happy trails,
-ike
