Twenty-four hours on a timber road, in the rain, with a truck and a loaded trailer both buried. That is where this episode starts. Six straight days of rain up there, and as Rick puts it when he steps out of the cab, there is no bottom to anything.
Which is the real test for any best off road recovery kit: not what it looks like in a photo, but whether the four or five things in the bag can get a rig like that moving. This is a buying-criteria guide, not a brand ranking. What each piece does, why it is in there, and how to size it to your own truck.
- The working kit is small: one rope, two slings, two soft shackles, one bag. That is what Rick carries, and he names it on camera.
- The slings matter more than people expect. Rig one as an equalizer and the rope finds centre by itself.
- Size the kit to the truck doing the pulling. The rope sets the size, the shackles follow the rope.
- You are not done until the truck has a rated recovery point to hook to. A tow ball is not one.
- Add a winch and the kit grows: a block or ring to redirect the line, plus shackles to rig it.
- Store it in one bag, ready to go. Kit you have to dig for is kit you will not use.
1. What "best" means in a recovery kit
Nobody gets stuck in a catalogue. So the only useful definition of best is a kit where every piece has a job, the pieces are rated for your truck, and you can rig the whole thing lying in mud with cold hands.
Three questions sort the good kits from the expensive ones. Does the rope match the weight of the vehicle doing the pulling? Can you connect to the stuck rig without needing a factory hook to exist? And is there something rated on your own truck to hook the other end to? Get those three right and you have a kit. Miss the third and you have a bag of gear.
2. The minimum before you head out alone
Short list, and every item earns its place.
- A kinetic recovery rope. It stretches under load and gives the energy back, so the pull is a shove rather than a jolt. BFGoodrich puts the stretch at up to 30 percent, which it credits for taking shock out of both vehicles' recovery points.[1]
- Two recovery slings. These are what you wrap around an axle, a control arm or a frame rail when there is no hook to use. Two gives you a second point and a way to balance the pull.
- Two soft shackles. Synthetic, light, one piece, nothing to drop in the mud, and nothing heavy to fly if something lets go.
- A rated recovery point on your truck. BFGoodrich is flat about the alternative: "DO NOT attach a strap to a tow ball or bumper hitch. These are not rated for recovery and can break off under load."[1]
- Gloves and a dampener. A heavy blanket counts. Lay it over the middle of the line before it comes tight.[1]
3. What is in the kit Rick carries
He inventories it himself, standing at the back of the truck with the rig still hooked from the last job.
"And what's cool, folks, is this is a complete Wrecker Rick rope kit right here. You got your two slings and your Wrecker Rick rope and two soft shackles. I have a full-on Wrecker Rick rope kit right on the back of my truck. It's handier than shirt pockets."Wrecker Rick, rigging the stuck rig, "He Disconnected His Trailer And It Almost Cost Him His Life!"
One rope, two slings, two soft shackles. That is the whole thing, and it is the same list as the kit in the store. Watch what he does with the slings, though, because that is the part most people skip:
"And see, I'm using my sling like an equalizer sling on the back of here, so my rope will find center. See that? Look at that. Pretty slick, huh? Bet you didn't know that the slings did that. I know I didn't."Wrecker Rick, setting up the pull
That is two attachment points sharing one load, and a rope that self-centres instead of dragging the rig sideways. Nothing exotic. Just a second sling and thirty seconds of thought.
One 1" x 30' kinetic recovery rope, two 7/16" heavy duty recovery slings, two 7/16" soft shackles and a medium roll-top bag. Built for Murphy's by Yankum, made in the USA.
4. Sizing the kit to your truck
The rope sets the size of everything else, and the rope is sized to your truck. Yankum prints the rule on its rope pages: pair the recovery rope with the recovery vehicle, not the stuck vehicle.[2]
The 1-inch rope in this kit is rated for recovery vehicles from 7,200 to 10,249 lbs, with a 33,500 lb breaking strength.[2] That is 3/4-ton and 1-ton pickups and heavy SUVs. The 7/16" soft shackles that ship with it are the size Yankum pairs with 7/8" and 1" rope, so the kit is already matched. If your truck sits well outside that band, change the rope first and let the rigging follow it.
Rick says the same thing about who these kits are for, right after the pull: they are made for 2500 and 3500 trucks.
5. What you add once you run a winch
A winch changes the maths. Now you can work alone, pull slow, and pull from an angle no truck could line up on. What you need is a way to redirect that line and share the load.
Zips AW Direct, the supplier behind the snatch blocks Rick runs, describes the gain plainly: "By running winch lines back through snatch blocks, operators can also increase the capacity of their winch lines. Oftentimes this doubles the pulling force."[3] They also call the block "a critical pivot point to change the angle and direction of a pull," and recommend a daily inspection before use.[3]
Murphy's does not stock a steel snatch block. What it does stock is a machined aluminium winch ring that does the same job on synthetic line, and it comes with hard limits: HMPE synthetic line up to 7/16" only, never steel cable, and electric bumper-mounted winches rated 12,000 lbs or less. Read those before you rig it.
1" x 30', 33,500 lbs breaking strength. The right start if you already own slings and shackles.
Rope, two slings, two soft shackles, roll-top bag. The list Rick reads off the back of his own truck.
WLL 13,200 lbs at a 5:1 factor of safety. Takes soft shackles up to 7/16" without chafing. Pull in line, never sideways.
Synthetic HMPE line up to 7/16" only, never steel. Electric bumper-mounted winches rated 12,000 lbs or less.
6. Storing it so it is still usable
One bag, water-resistant, in reach. The kit in the store ships in a medium roll-top bag for exactly that reason, and the reason is not tidiness. Grit chews synthetic fibre. Loose gear rolling around a bed goes missing, or ends up at the bottom under a spare and a toolbox on the day you need it in a hurry.
Rick's version of storage is that the rig lives on the back of the truck, still hooked up from the last recovery. Handier than shirt pockets, as he says. You do not have to go that far. You do have to be able to reach it without unloading the truck first.
7. Rig it safe
Quoted from a recovery-safety source that sells no competing gear.
- Rated points at both ends. "DO NOT attach a strap to a tow ball or bumper hitch. These are not rated for recovery and can break off under load."[1]
- Never join two ropes with a shackle. "If the shackle breaks, it can fly like a bullet and cause serious injury."[1]
- Dampener over the line before it takes tension, every time.[1]
- Nobody steps over a connected rope.[1]
- Deeply bogged in mud is a winch job. "Use a winch or alternative recovery approach."[1]
- Check ratings match before you put two pieces of gear in the same system.[3]
Sources: [1] BFGoodrich, Recovery Techniques · [3] Zips AW Direct
One driver, one mile of bad road, twenty-four hours. The kit that got him out fits in a bag you can carry in one hand. That is the whole argument.
Sources
- BFGoodrich, "4x4 Driving Guide: Recovery Techniques." Kinetic rope stretch of up to 30 percent, the tow ball warning, the shackle warning, dampener placement and the deeply-bogged rule are all verbatim from this page. bfgoodrichtires.com/auto/learn/4x4-driving-guide/recovery-techniques
- Yankum Ropes, 1" kinetic recovery rope product page. "Recommended for recovery vehicles that weigh 7,200 - 10,249 pounds. Breaking Strength: 33,500 lbs." and "Remember to pair the recovery rope with the recovery vehicle, NOT the stuck vehicle." yankum.com/products/rattler-kinetic-recovery-rope
- Zips AW Direct, "Get To Know Snatch Blocks: Their Uses, Parts, and Care." Doubling the pulling force, the pivot-point quote, daily inspection and matching working load limits. zips.com/blog/get-to-know-snatch-blocks-their-uses-parts-and-care
- Murphys Diesel Recovery Kit and Offset Winch Snatch Ring product pages, fetched live 2026-09-19. murphysdiesel.com/products/murphys-diesel-recovery-kit