Land anchor

[Curious Hound]

Have any of you built or used a land anchor for recovery?

I'm going on an overlanding trip to the Outer Banks of NC in March. Although I will be with a group of other capable offroaders, I thought it might be wise to have a land anchor for use in the sand. We will be traveling and camping on the beach. Any of you who have shopped for a land anchor know they are expensive. I may already have most of the materials to build one. My biggest question is; how thick should the material for the "shovel" portion be? I have a nice sized piece of 3/16" plate. But I'm wondering if that is adequate.

The design I hope to emulate is the "Pull Pal" brand or the anchor the Trailmater carries.

 

[Snoranger]

You already have one.

 

[Robert Mangrum]

I was fixing to say. I saw some guys use a tire on the beach in Florida one time. I was pretty impressed. They just buried it and pulled their Jeep out.

 

[Curious Hound]

You already have one.

View attachment 105682

I've seen that done, too.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

The moldboards on my plow are like 1/4" thick and its been rolling dirt over longer than you have been alive.

The share is probably 1/2" but you won't be trying to cut dirt/sod like a regular plow.

 

[Shran]

A couple of my friends built one. IIRC they used 3/16 plate. The hard part is getting the angles right so that it digs in as you pull instead of sort of skimming across the top layer of ground.

 

[Curious Hound]

A couple of my friends built one. IIRC they used 3/16 plate. The hard part is getting the angles right so that it digs in as you pull instead of sort of skimming across the top layer of ground.

I think I can estimate that close enough.

 

[superj]

that tire and jack combo is pretty dang intelligent. i would have never thought of that but now i don't need an anchor (not that i need one anyways, i don't go offroad, but if i ever do..)

 

[Curious Hound]

that tire and jack combo is pretty dang intelligent. i would have never thought of that but now i don't need an anchor (not that i need one anyways, i don't go offroad, but if i ever do..)

It can be done by burying a log, also. But, if you have a log handy, you probably have trees to winch from.

I feel that removing the spare tire and maybe the Hi-Lift jack from its bracket and digging the hole seems a lot less handy than pulling out the anchor and letting it bury itself. On the other hand, I already carry a spare tire and Hi-Lift jack. So, the extra weight and storage space for the anchor isn’t necessary.

I’ll most likely build one just because I want to.

 

[sgtsandman]

It can be done by burying a log, also. But, if you have a log handy, you probably have trees to winch from.

I feel that removing the spare tire and maybe the Hi-Lift jack from its bracket and digging the hole seems a lot less handy than pulling out the anchor and letting it bury itself. On the other hand, I already carry a spare tire and Hi-Lift jack. So, the extra weight and storage space for the anchor isn’t necessary.

I’ll most likely build one just because I want to.

Ronny Dahl did a video on earth anchors a while back. I don't remember any or them working well. You might want to check out that video and see which worked best. There has to be other videos out there too. That way you can maybe copy or improve on the designs tested.

 

[Curious Hound]

Ronny Dahl did a video on earth anchors a while back. I don't remember any or them working well. You might want to check out that video and see which worked best. There has to be other videos out there too. That way you can maybe copy or improve on the designs tested.

A couple months ago, there was a video, I believe by Trailmater, where Rory actually used his with very good results. If I recall, Matt’s Off-road Recovery was involved and several other YouTubers out there. It definitely depends on a few basic design criteria, mainly having the pulling “tongue” at the right angle from the blade so the blade naturally tries to bite deeper. Also, the surface area of the blade and strength of overall construction. I think I can engineer something suitable from pictures and videos.

 

[superj]

you would have to do the hole here because sand lets those anchors come out to easy, i bet. the trouble with living on the beach, i suppose

 

[Bgunner]

Rory from Trailmater made his own so maybe an Email could get you the answers. FabRats just built one to copy Rory's/Trailmater a month or so ago but has yet to use it that I know of.

Trailmater wasn't build for sand and that is why Rory has one where as Matts Off Road Recovery built his rigs for the sand in his area.

 

[Curious Hound]

you would have to do the hole here because sand lets those anchors come out to easy, i bet. the trouble with living on the beach, i suppose

If properly designed, they work great in sand, just keep biting deeper until they hold. Scroll forward to about the 12 minute mark if you dont Want to watch the whole thing. But the rest of the video helps give context regarding the loose sand in that hill.

 

[Curious Hound]

Started this last Friday. Hope to finish it tomorrow or Monday, but preferably tomorrow. Still have a few pieces to make.

Mocked up with C-clamps and a temporary diagonal piece. Have a couple measurements to work out.