Whilst your 4WD might be one of the most capable on the tracks, one bad decision with your chosen line can make the difference between making it through easily and getting your 4WD seriously stuck. If you find yourself with the less desirable alternative to driving a sick line through tough sections of tracks (we’re talking about when you bollocks up the line and get seriously stuck) you will almost certainly need to pull out your recovery kit and get yourself dirty for a little recovery action, WOO HOO!

It really isn’t a big problem if you manage to head out with all the right recovery gear, the task of getting your 4WD recovered can seem straight forward enough and hassle free, but after a little bit of mucking around the struggle of getting your 4WD free your recovery gear will be filthy dirty and over time without proper maintenance, prematurely it definitely will wear out!

When you have smashed the tracks and are finally home, it is time to clean everything, starting with washing your 4WD, this will prevent rust, and corrosion of your clear coat, bunging on a bit of wax to shine never hurt anyone and additionally you’ll make your 4WD look a million bucks!

After that is done you will need to wash all of your recovery gear off too, this is often overlooked and next time you pull your gear out it will be crusted in dry mud and the bag will probably be moldy, there are some very important reasons for this. But firstly mud and dirt are made up of tiny abrasive particles, these are so tiny they can work their way in to impregnate the woven fibers of both webbing and winch lines, being abrasive means these particles are small shards, if you can imagine a miniature version of a smashed glass bottle. As you can imagine, all these tiny little sharp surfaces working their way inside your straps and ropes are essentially waiting to slowly cut through the fibers from within, this gradually reduces the overall strength of the recovery gear without you even knowing, additionally because of the slow degradation you will find your gear can fail with little to no warning, which adds stress and danger to your 4WD recoveries and removes an element of reliability.

As safety on the tracks is essential, it is a critical factor to ensure that your recovery gear doesn’t fail you when you need it most, firstly the amount of energy in a 4WD recovery is enormous considering the loaded weights of your 4WD can exceed 30-40 times that of a grown adult man and when you are asking your old dirty recovery gear to dynamically pull your rig free from trouble, danger cam strike.

With dirt particles embedded in the straps, a massive recovery load not only compresses the fibers tight against one another but sandwiches the sharp edges internally, this causes a lot of internal friction and can result in snapped recovery gear, resulting in not only a stuck 4WD and potential injuries for any spectators, but no way of getting your 4WD free from trouble to boot!

Cleaning your gear the right way!

To clean your recovery gear is extremely simple and should be done every time you come back from a trip where it was used, your gear may not look dirty but dust can be fine and not easily visible on the surface. Firstly, you need to unroll /unspool the entire length of the strap or line, this will let you both visually inspect the strap for any damage encountered on the strap as well as checking where the most troublesome spots of dirt and mud might be (usually somewhere in the middle).

Just like when you wash your car, or the dishes you should rinse your recovery gear in fresh water before washing with soap, this will loosen up all the excess dirt and debris on the surface and dislodge any loose particles buried deep in the fibres.

This step will make the soap washing process much easier and quicker.

The job is simplified if you take a large basin vessel like a large plastic crate or a bucket and fill it with warm water, we recommend not using any harsh detergents, but rather plenty of water, and gradually massaging the line/strap as you go, the idea being to open up the weave and rinse the dirt out, if your gear is particularly dirty a drop or two of ordinary dish soap can help a LOT as it will dissolve the dirt and make getting your straps and lines clean.

After this initial warm water rinse, you may have to rinse your gear a handful of times until the water is no longer dirty/soapy this will ensure that absolutely any of the loose dirt particles have been flushed washed and rinsed out of the fibers, resulting in your gear lasting much, much longer.

Drying properly and storing your recovery kit!

Once your recovery gear has been thoroughly cleaned and rinsed, you now need to dry it off, whilst it may seem like a great idea to hang it in the hot sunshine on the line, you should if possible avoid prolonged periods of time in direct sunlight, as UV light degrades most synthetic materials extremely quickly. So hang your recovery straps and winch rope in a well ventilated shady place and when they are dry, roll them like normal and store them in a cool dry place to avoid mould and mildew from deteriorating your gear and enjoy many more years of use!

When you buy a recovery kit like the Hercules Complete Recovery Kit, or a Hercules Essential Recovery Kit you will have some of the best value for money recovery gear in the country, however, if you maintain the gear, you will get so much more life out of it, making it that much better value for money!

To find out more about the Adventure Kings recovery gear range give us a call on 1800 88 39 64 or visit us online at www.4WDSupacentre.com.au or even drop into one of our dealers or company stores!