Monday, June 17th, 2024, at 7:14 a.m. (CT), we received a request for help with an offroad recovery in Alabama. The requester, Thomas Larry Tucker, submitted the following information: “I stepped out of my truck with it in drive, and my truck took off towards the river, and the front tires dropped off the other side of the sea wall. / I’m with the vehicle.”
David Mrak organized the request, contacted the requester, and verified his GPS location and situation before sending it to local volunteers within an 80-mile radius.
From the group of volunteers contacted, we got Kurt Burge, who was about 50 miles away, to take over the recovery.
Later, we received a note with more details from Kurt and some photos.
Kurt’s note
Got a text from Offroad Portal around 8 a.m. A Ford F150 duel cab stuck on a seawall in Spanish Fort, AL. I contacted the owner and gave him an ETA of 9 a.m. Arrived and found the F150 perched on a seawall with both tires and engine hanging over the water. I got permission from the landowner to proceed with the recovery. I rigged up a 2-1 winch setup and moved the truck backward to move the center of gravity of the truck to a more stable location. The owner jacked up the truck so that the tire would roll onto the seawall bulkhead. I repeated this process on the other side. Had to use scotch blocks to prevent the Jeep from sliding on sand and grass. The only thing I could have done better was to anchor the rear of the jeep. I have a land anchor (homemade pull pal ) that I should have deployed, but I was concerned the property owner would be upset about the trench it would have dug. Total time of recovery: 1.5 hours.
We want to thank Kurt for his rapid response and amazing job. This was awesome.
We are always looking for more volunteers, If you would like to receive a text message when we get a request near you, create your account here: offroadportal.org/signup