Pull Pal Ground Anchor: Test in Uganda

by Mick Farmer
Training Director - On Course Uganda

First impressions were "why the hell would anyone want this monstrosity in the back of their vehicle?" Just unpacking it from the box was an ordeal in itself!! Only joking, although it does take up a lot of room in the back of your 4x4.

When you start to use the beast, then you can see why they are so popular. We had the use of an 11,000 lb pull pal. There is a smaller 9,000 lb version available.

We put it through it's paces by first getting our Land Rover stuck in our mud strip. A difficult thing to do normally but we have had some heavy rain lately.

The ground after the mud strip was also wet and fairly loose but that didn't stop the anchor digging in really well. The more you pull on the pull pal the more it digs in. We did a straight 1:1 pull and out the Landie came. No problem.

The next test involved simulating the Landie being stuck climbing a fairly steep incline of about 30 degrees. We worked out the total pull required to recover the vehicle to be 2 tons. Having checked that all our equipment was within that safe working load we then laid out the recovery gear. We decided on a 2:1 pull using a snatch block to reduce the load on the winch.

This is where we discovered the Achilles Heel to the device. It doesn't like being pulled at from below. Because the anchor relies on a horizontal pull to dig it into the ground, pulling from below with the anchor over the crest of the hill you can, and we did, pull it out of the ground.

After the second attempt we had pulled ourselves far enough up the hill to be able to get a, near enough, horizontal pull and recover the vehicle.

All said and done I would certainly advise individuals and organisations to look in to buying pull pals if they are working in remote/insecure areas as they do provide a quick anchor and therefore a quick recovery. The last thing you want is to be stuck in an insecure area with no available ground anchor and having to resort to burying your spare tyre!!!

One last piece of advise to any one who has or is getting a pull pal is to remember to attach a strap to it to ease pulling it out of the ground when finished. Especially if you are using it in very soft ground.

www.pullpal.com

About The Author Mick Farmer is the training Director for On Course Uganda Limited, the leading off-road driving school in East Africa. He has worked in East Africa and Southern Sudan for over 10 years. His experiences include running food relief convoys into Southern Sudan through the Congo and managing workshops in Sudan, Northern Uganda, and Kampala. To read more about On Course Driving Courses please visit: www.oncourse4wd.com