A topic that often upsets many seasoned four-wheel drivers because we don’t have rated recovery points so how do you recover an Adventra in a time of need?
Let me start with a disclaimer and that is any information here is my opinion only and in no circumstances am I a certified person in this topic, rather I offer my experience and common sense. If you are injured and become at loss by taking any of our advice in anything on this website All Terrain Action and the poster of this article cannot be held responsible in any format. You take this information as is with no warranties or guarantees.
Now with that out of the way… no matter what with any recovery where the Adventra is the one to recover or be recovered do not perform snatch recoveries in any of the methods we use below – for the simple fact is, none of the methods below are rated for snatch recoveries, as the force created in a snatch strap during recovery will and does create a pulling force that will most likely exceed the points in which you are recovering from.
Front Recovery Options
We use a J hook which attaches to the K-frame of the vehicle, there are pre-existing slots which these will fit into and hook giving an even left and right pulling point for a static recovery, that is for a 4wd to winch you forward or for a hand winch recovery.
These cutouts in the k-frame already exist for easy attachment and they will not come off in a pull.
Here is us using this in a recovery we did in the Adventra once it was in the ground, excuse the cable tie as it has no relevance to usage, it was used to hook the shackle on the front before any dune attempts so that we already had the hooks in place ready for recovery. (it was a temporary method, we used in the future this will hook into our nudge bar so it can be attached pre attempt in high risk of setting).
Here is a recovery taking place using this method from Will’s 90 series winching the Adventra up.
We purchased these J hooks from All Lifting.
Don’t forget your safety gloves as well and as usual, all other standard recovery rules should apply, don’t stand in the danger zone of recoveries, and do not snatch using these recovery items, they are not designed and may not withstand the elastic return pull force snatch straps create.
Rear Recovery Options
Like for what some four-wheel drivers opt for is a recovery hitch block similar to the one seen below in the Adventra. As with the front recovery option, this is also not intended for snatch recovery use simply because the tow cradle at the rear of any vehicle was designed for static pulling of a trailer, not a sudden forceful pull.
It is also important to note that the tow pin holding the recovery block in, will not line up with the Adventra for whatever reason Holden did not use the standard hole position and it has a vertical offset of around 3mm, it is very annoying and I don’t know why this happened for that reason you will need to have your block drilled slightly wider to make this fit – I do not know how this may impact the rated use of the block but we have used this for 4 years to no issues with static recoveries.
Recovery Tips
Applying the hand brake can forcefully drive front wheels if you need drive to the front wheels for traction and you aren’t getting it, has helped us MANY times out of a position where standard crosstrac engagement has not helped. The hand brake been on does not cancel out CrossTrac unlike when you use the brake pedal which will.
Always clear whatever creating resistance before performing a recovery this will give less strain on the recovery tools and give an easier recovery process, this means if you’re bogged down in sand clear sand behind, under, and in front of the wheels to make sure the vehicle, etc. In case you want to see the full video to the above-pictured watch it on YouTube here now.
Sometimes it is always better to go BACK than FORWARD when you get stuck in an Adventra remember you are in a designed soft-roader, not a four-wheel drive. So, at some point, you will face a scenario that is probably beyond what the Adventra is capable of pushing past these limits will result in something breaking – we have never followed that rule and look at what happened now we have many Adventra and all this content for you guys on YouTube hehe.
Driving an Adventra off-road is an addiction, do so at your own risk and always remember to bring first aid as you can never know what might happen. Being prepared for the unexpected, isn’t that what recovery gear is for?
Closing Notes
These are obvious to many but I note them anyway for anyone new.
- Nudge bar’s cannot be used for recovery in anyway, they are attached via weak points to the Adventra even genuine bars.
- Do not recover off a tow ball there is a risk of life danger, google why and you will see. HUMANS have died from this.
- Never preform snatch recoveries from any point on a vehicle unless it is rated to do so, I am not known to any Adventra that has rated recovery points other than some rally made purpose Adventra vehicles even then I have never seen any certification myself.
- The factory recovery point Holden installed on models pre 2005 on the front passenger side has reports of it braking, so on our advice do not use.
- If you do not have J hooks for the front and you are left with no more options you can loop a recovery strap around the k-frame for forward recovery, we did this for many years however it does sometimes damage the strap. J hooks gives you damage free recovery off the k-frame.
- Enjoy yourself half the fun is getting stuck, just don’t hurt yourself or others because of recovery.
