ROLLOVER || 4x4 OFF ROAD RECOVERY - I didn't get everything right!

In my experience the last person in a convoy has to drive the fastest to keep up, so i think an inexpirent driver should be in the middle.

Matt, you have earned a new level of respect from me. Most of us downplay mistakes, blame the terrain, and generally hide any emotions we feel. There are so many lessons to learn. Thanks for talking about the human side of accidents. Thank your son and Robert too. Arizona Desert, USA

First off, good on your son for wearing a seatbelt, which is one of my biggest bugbears in off road driving. And secondly, good on you for accessing the situation on arrival before heading in to assist you boy. Coming from years of rescue and recovery work we occasionally see the rescuer or first on scene become part of the casualty list. So assessment is one of the first things we are taught. Your boys reassurance on the radio that he was okay was a good call. Thanks for the walk-though. We learn form EVERY rescue and recovery by debriefing and running through it when things calm down. Love your emotional honesty.

Probably the best recovery instructional video on YouTube right now. Real world experience, working with environmental conditions, using the tools available and good decision making in real time...that's the best teacher you'll ever have. Thanks for sharing this. Very glad everyone is ok !

Great video Matt! Addressing the “helper” situation is so important. This is not only for recovery, also when people offer help for spotting. Two situations that stick in my memory are one where I was driving over the rocks at cable beach which needed some 100% wheel placement, it didn’t take long to attract a crowd. All I needed was a 2nd pair of eyes outside to tell me where my wheels are. Everyone there was trying to tell me how to drive. Saying “no, thank you” was really difficult. The other situation was at Lorella Springs where some unexpected rain had turned a track out to the ocean into a muddy nightmare. Everyone on it had turned around to go back to the homestead and I came across a group being unable to get back up a hill. Given the setup, experience and training I have I knew I can just drive around this group.i walked up to the lead vehicle and offered my assistance, what I realised there was they had no one in charge. At that point I just told them what I will do, which was - I drive around you, go about 10m straight into the scrub and pull you up one by one with my rear winch. Plan established & executed. By then it was dark and we had about 40km of under water muddy track to negotiate to get back to the homestead. Whilst I knew there’s no real challenge ahead anymore I looked at the group (4 families with kids) and knew water over the track is going to cause mental difficulties on the way back. By now we knew each others names and had the radios on the same channel, it was a no brainer to just guide them back with calm advice over the radio. We all camped together that night and the wifes were telling me that they’ve never seen their hubbies just following a strangers “orders” without any resistance before, asking me how I did that. The thing is I’d really like to know for myself, I have no idea. All I knew at the time was that I know how to get them out and they don’t, the rest was kind of auto pilot. There’s a lot of technical howto do xyz out there, but the mental situation and group dynamics is so important. Like you had someone drive to town get burgers, it’s so important. Have someone telling you to have a break. Someone entertains the kids 200m away, etc…. There’s a lot more than winch power and rigging to a recovery.

No need to be embarrassed. The most experienced folks get into precarious situations and accidents happen. That's why they call them accidents. Heads up to him rebuilding this one or building another. We love your videos and so glad he came out unhurt.

Matt, I have worked for a few tow truck companies in the past both here in Vic and QLD and from what I have seen so far in this video at 27mins you were quite challenged with only one vehicle having a winch but you did what you could and did quite a good job of it. Now at the end of the video, it is a great learning video for others to see what you did, how you did it, and the methods and also options you show how it could have been changed or done differently. I'm glad your son was not hurt and that you both decided to show this as this could help others in the future to learn from this. Not everyone would say when things go wrong and even show what they did to fix or resolve the issue, most YT channels just show the good stuff and I commend you for this, and validates why I watch and follow your channel and have done so for quite a while now. I am interested to see what you find out later as you do a body swap what happened to the Trans oil.. very weird indeed. The only thing I would have done differently is trying to pull the vehicle up on an angle giving your vehicle with the winch more of a rear or front pull on a slighter less aggressive angle against a straight upward pull and also giving you more area to use and work with. Otherwise, I think you did quite well with what you had to use.

Matt, first off & most importantly is that your son is ok! 👍 All recoveries make you think about various options & when it’s Your own son this naturally will add in unwanted stress to the situation no matter how experienced you are. I recovered a Patrol, that had rolled over in the Vic high country near Dargo too & the memories came flooding back. At the end of the day, you did recover the 80 & got it back on its wheels & back on the road, I’m not commenting on the procedure at all. The only thing that I will add is that in my kit to recover the Patrol, I was lucky to be able to use a Turfor to right the vehicle, I couldn’t get an electric winch near it - (long story) just my 2 bobs worth is take as much recovery gear as you can & all your 4wd party with you, you just never know when you need it, anyway Matt huge respect from me to you! So glad everyone is ok, including the 80! Love & respect, keep on wheeling Matt & family, great learnings, great discussion!

A smart man learns from his experience. A TRULY smart man learns from other people's experience. Thanks for the opportunity to be truly smart.

Your son took responsibility most kids nowadays would blame it on the road or something else Good ON the young Chap for Taking responsibility and good on you Matt for keeping from yelling at him mate

Glad your son is Okay Matt Always a way to learn from Mistakes we are all human we all make mistakes

I'm glad the boy was safe and you done extremely well in this situation I found this video informative and constructive

Thanks for introducing Robert pepper as a 4wdriver for over 25 years there is always something to learn from you guys I rather learn how not to break a cv than how to break a cv like some other 4WD shows

“The rest of it is stuffed” 🤣🤣 love the banter with the boys! Shows a great relationship. Well done, given the availability of gear and the mental stress I don’t think anyone would’ve done any better. In fact I think you were very level headed. Well done! And Jessie, we’ve all made mistakes, some simple with big consequences and some big with little consequences, that’s wheeling! Proud of you for allowing it to be shared and I look forward to the next build! 👍

It must be a huge relief when you heard your son was OKAY, but then all the questions come into the head, and sometimes we forget that the other person doesn’t have all our knowledge. When you lean to ride a bike you fall off, skin your knees etc, same as when you learn to drive, only the mistakes are bigger, but hey the school of hard knocks is a tough teacher but a lesson learnt will never be forgotten. I slide off a gravel road in a corner just after I got my licence, not much damage but taught me to be a lot more careful with the right foot and to also look at the surface of the road as well. I guess now your son will be reading the road surface and being more attentive to all the conditions around him. Any experience you can walk away from is positive and you and your son have just made this experience very positive indeed for the whole of the 4WD community. Just be thankful that it was not in N.Z. As over there they sometimes (not always) use small river rocks on the road and its just like driving on marbles! I wondered why the hire car was going straight no matter what i did irrespective of the speed 😳. You made a bad situation into a very positive one, well done 👍 Nobody knows everything, we can all learn something. Thanks for sharing

Here I talk about what I did right and wrong in the 4x4 recovery and talk through the complete recovery process with Robert Pepper. One comment that has been brought up a lot and valid is re: position in convoy. Most of the time I had Rod, my mate with vast experience, at the tail of the convoy. I thought I would give my son some experience there and it also put a winch at the back of the convoy. I take the comment on the chin as maybe that was not a wise decision , in hind sight! Subscribe to Robert's Channel here www.youtube.com/channel/UCMszYFGrHDh4myHOnYentew

Valuable episode in several ways, cheers

Matt I just want to thankyou and commend you for not bashing young drivers. Age DOES NOT make knowledge and experience. We all make bad choice's even experienced people, but it's only a mistake if you do it twice. My hat goes off to your lad for owning it and hopefully learning from it plus helping to make some great content🤠👍👍

Mat, I have been watching your channel a long time and you are always about safety. When everything goes right you sometimes don't remember much of the trip.Sometimes things go wrong

Thanks for sharing Matt, glad everyone is ok and I learnt a few important-tips, unfortunately from your misfortune, but appreciated you making this available. Looking forward to another build series. Cheers. .