heard that its bad for your drivetrain to pull someone out of the mud in reverse. any input on this?

 

I haven’t read that if it’s harmful or not, but I know I have pulled out more vehicles in reverse gear than I have using forward gears. I’m sure you already know the situation will usually dictate how you pull someone out of mud, but I would also assume using forward gears would be less strain on the drivetrain.

 

Trying to call BS on my friend who told me this haha

 

Well I think that may depend.
Who's in reverse? The recovery vehicle or the stuck vehicle?

Stuck vehicle, no problem being recovered in reverse.
Recovery vehicle, I can't think of any immediate effect doing so in reverse except that you will be really high RPM's pushing the reverse gear to the max, depending how bad you're stuck.

 

My .02

Ring and pinion gears are not designed to operate in reverse very much. Hence the annoying whining from tiny cars when in reverse. I would say the strength of the ring and pinion is not that of when it's operating in the drive gears. BUT I'd tell the guy he's wrong just because that sorta thing just doesn't happen.

 

hahahaha....

I read the title of the thread and saw that Kirby was the last to reply and actually expected to see "use a shoe string and rubber band in 3rd gear high range for best results. You'll get 19mpg" bwahahahahah!



No, there is nothing wrong with pulling a truck out (either you or the truck being pulled) in reverse. Actually on 90% of vehicles reverse in the tranny is a lower ratio gear than 1st, hence more pulling potential and easier on the tranny itself. Thats why the thing whines! hold first for any decent rate of speed and you'll hear the same whine.

If there were any common, or even once in a blue moon, issue with pulling a truck in reverse Im sure I would have found it by now. Also, every truck that bogs down at the mud drags I go to are pulled in reverse through up to 200' of nasty mud. Im certain I wouldve seen something break by now except for a bumper or POS trailer hitch.

 

Personally I prefer not to pull in reverse if I don't have to, usually it's much easier to maintain traction in a forward gear due to not having so much reduction multiplying the torque, and if it's stuck to the point where you really have to yank it, you don't have to rev the crap out of the engine to get some good speed happening. This especially applies in mud where you don't have a whole pile of traction to start with and you're going to need wheel speed to keep your own tires clean and your rig moving.
That said, pulling in reverse isn't going to hurt anything.

If it's just an easy stuck and you just need a little pull, reverse will work just fine. When you have 8000 lbs of diesel on 35's hooked to the end of a 30 foot recovery strap and a stuck Toyota on the other and the Toyota doesn't move on the first couple tugs, reverse just isn't going to work.

 

As for the gears in the axles, they really don't care what direction they are going. a low pinion front axle, (like a Chevy D60) is runninng on the "coast" side of the ring gear when in a forward gear... I always try to pull another vehicle out with the rear of my vehicles. Usually when I have to hook my pickup up, the other rig is very stuck, and I like to be able to grab gears as I'm pulling them out..

 

I agree pulling in reverse is better when the pull truck is on better ground but that wasnt really the question.


Thanks for agreeing Kirby.

 

Really?

I would rather pull from the rear when there is a good traction situation.. My thinking, is, that when you pull, more wt is put on the axle closest to the pull point, as pull form rear rear axle will have more wt/traction, for as had as I am on front axle parts, I try to keep as much stress off it as possable...

 

yeah, if I can pull straight up to someone and bump them out I would rather do that. If its a situation where I need to ****** or its not an easy pull Ill usually back up to the person.

I guess it all depends on the situation and each are different.



Regardless you arent going to tear your truck up pulling in reverse.

 

True true, some times you only have one choise..

holy crap i cant spell today..

 

pulling someone out with reverse does put a strain on the ring and pinion! there is a reason that the front gear sets went to a reverse cut spiral bevel or as some squids call it a high pinion... the reason for that is the coast side of the gear set is weeker then the power side. most of you guys likely havent experienced this because your all running d60 fronts and 70 or 10.25 rears, take an 8.8 and a dana 44 and you'll have problems.

 

I never had trouble with the gears in my 44 either. It was the axle shafts/ujoints/hubs that caught hell. I cant remember breaking any of those specifically in reverse either.

 

My Dad, and I both broke our front ring gears using the motor to hold back the rigs going down some steep hills..... That was running on the coast side of the gears... But who knows if that was the reason..