Rick's Alaska recovery kit was three suitcases: 500 ft of 3/4-in winch line, 500 ft of 1/2-in winch line, three kinetic recovery ropes, 14 slings, one giant 1-in sling, 14 soft shackles, and seven winch rings. That's the loadout he read off before ever leaving the trapper's cabin that served as base camp — and every piece of it earned its keep 40 miles up a frozen river in Alaska's northern interior, on a recovery that started with a 9,000-lb tracked vehicle frozen to the bottom of the ice.
This is the loadout broken down piece by piece: what each item does, why he packed the quantity he did, and how it actually got used rigging an anchor to — in his own words — "pretty much the biggest tree in Alaska."
- Rick packed 500 ft of 3/4-in winch line, 500 ft of 1/2-in winch line, three kinetic ropes, 14 slings, one giant 1-in sling, 14 soft shackles, and seven winch rings into three suitcases for a 3,571-mile trip to Alaska.
- Every category did a different job: winch line for the static pull, kinetic rope for the snatch, slings to protect the anchor, soft shackles to connect without metal, winch rings to build the rigging trick that got them there.
- With no rated recovery point 40 miles from anywhere, the anchor was a tree — sized to the load and wrapped in the giant sling so the pull didn't cut into the bark.
- Murphy's builds the shelf version of the same system: the Recovery Rope ($269.99) and Recovery Kit ($795.94), both co-developed with Yankum Ropes and backed by Wrecker Rick.
- A loaded winch line and a stretched kinetic recovery rope both store real energy — the safety section below isn't optional reading.
- Rick plugs one more tool twice on camera that isn't rigging at all: a pair of pocket pliers that fixed a dead starter connection in the middle of nowhere.
1. The Call: 3,571 Miles for a 9,000-Pound Problem
The recovery started with a call about a vehicle that had already been sitting in a frozen river for weeks. "We've got a Hagglund Sisu," Rick says at the open. "It was on a river, fell through the ice, then it froze to the bottom of the river." It weighs about 9,000 lb, and it isn't a toy — it belongs to a military veteran who uses it to haul supplies into his ranch, and it sat in Alaska's northern territory, 40 miles from the nearest civilization, reachable only by plane or another tracked vehicle. Rick had one week before the ice thinned too much to bring equipment in at all.
He rallied the crew — his dad, his nephew Heavy T, and Brando — and the video's own title does the math: 3,571 miles, door to door, for a job this far outside cell range. The plan was fly to Anchorage, buy tracked equipment off Facebook Marketplace to actually reach the site, truck it nine hours north to Fairbanks, drive three more hours to a village of 25 people, then run 40 miles upriver by tracked machine to a trapper's cabin on the South Fork of the Yukon. That's the itinerary before the recovery even starts.
The only thing they packed from Arizona wasn't a spare truck or a trailer of tools — those got bought once they landed. It was rigging. Three suitcases of it. That's the loadout this article breaks down.
2. Three Suitcases, One Rule
Everything Rick brought from home fit into three suitcases, and he read the packing list out loud before they ever left the cabin: "We've got 500 ft of 3/4-in winch line, 500-ft of 1/2-in winch line, three Wrecker Rick ropes, 14 slings, one giant 1-in sling, 14 soft shackles, and seven winch rings." Plus bear repellent — springtime in the Alaskan bush means the grizzlies are already out of their holes.
That's not a random pile. It's redundancy, on purpose, for a job with no hardware store within a day's drive. Rick said the rule himself while wedging it all into a suitcase: "Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it." Forty miles up a frozen river is exactly the kind of place that rule earns its keep. There's no rated recovery point built into a wilderness riverbank and no fallback trip to town for one more shackle. Whatever's zipped into the suitcase is what you're recovering a 9,000-lb vehicle with.
"When Wrecker Rick puts his name on something, you know it's built to work."— Murphys Diesel Recovery Rope product page
3. The Kinetic Rope, the Slings, and the Rest
Five kinds of gear, each doing a job the others can't. Line them up next to the loadout and the list stops looking like overkill and starts looking like a system.
Winch line — the static muscle. Rick packed two spools: 500 ft of 3/4-in and 500 ft of 1/2-in. Winch line barely stretches, which is exactly what you want for a slow, controlled, static pull on a 9,000-lb load that's frozen in place — the last thing that recovery needed was stored energy snapping it loose unpredictably. The heavier 3/4-in line was the main pull; the 1/2-in was the lighter backup and rigging line.
Kinetic recovery rope — the snatch. A kinetic recovery rope does the opposite job: it's built to stretch under load, up to roughly 30 percent for a rope in this class versus about 15 percent for a standard recovery strap,[1] and release that stored energy as a rolling pull that can break a stuck or frozen load free where a static pull alone might not budge it. Rick packed three — what the loadout list calls "Wrecker Rick ropes," the same kinetic-rope line Murphy's builds with Yankum Ropes and puts Rick's own name on.
Slings — the anchor-savers. Fourteen standard slings plus one giant 1-in sling, for one simple reason: there's no rated recovery point on an Alaskan riverbank. When the anchor is a tree instead of a hitch receiver, a wide sling is what spreads the pull around the trunk instead of a bare line or chain biting into the bark. The giant sling has a specific job later in this story — hang onto that for Section 4.
Soft shackles — the connectors. Fourteen of them. A soft shackle does the same job as a steel bow shackle — joining two pieces of rigging — at a fraction of the weight, and because it's rope instead of forged steel, it won't turn into shrapnel if something downstream lets go. Murphy's own hitch receiver recovery points are chamfered specifically to accept soft shackles up to 7/16 in without the shackle chafing against the metal edge.
Winch rings — the hardware behind the trick. Seven of them. On this recovery they're what let Rick build what he calls a "hitch jobby" — a loop tied into the winch line and threaded back through a ring big enough that the hitch rolls straight through it under load instead of binding. More on that in the next section, because it's the best piece of rigging in the whole video.
One Tool That Wasn't on the Rigging List
Not everything that earned its keep on this trip was recovery gear. Twice on camera, Rick reaches for "pocket pliers" to fix mechanical problems in the field — once on a dead starter connection, saying "Good thing I got my pocket pliers. Go to murphysdieselstore.com, get yourself a pair. They're even good in Alaska." The closest match on the shelf is the Knipex Cobra® XS Water Pump Pliers — a genuinely pocket-sized 4-inch adjustable plier, not a full mechanic's toolbox. It's a small, honest example of the same packing rule from Section 2: it's cheap, it's light, and when a starter won't turn over 40 miles from the nearest parts store, you're glad it's in your pocket instead of on a wish list.
| Winch Line | Kinetic Recovery Rope | Recovery Sling | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stretch | Minimal | Up to ~30% | Minimal |
| Best for | Slow, static pulls under continuous power | Snatching a stuck or frozen load free | Wrapping an anchor without cutting into it |
| Powered by | A winch | A second vehicle's momentum | N/A — passive rigging |
| Attach to | Winch drum and a rated point or ring | Rated recovery point only | An anchor sized for the load |
| Never | Exceed rated line pull | Join two lines with a metal shackle | Shock-load or exceed rated capacity |
4. Rigging the Anchor: The Biggest Tree in Alaska
Forty miles from the nearest hitch receiver, Rick's anchor point was a tree — and not just any tree. "I want to be anchored to a really solid tree," he says on camera. "So I found pretty much the biggest one in Alaska." His crew agreed on sight: "Biggest tree I've ever seen."
Getting a line to it took the whole loadout working together. Rick ran three snatch blocks off the front of the recovery machine, then built the "hitch jobby" — a loop worked into the winch line and threaded back through one of the seven winch rings, sized big enough that the hitch rolls straight through it under load instead of binding up. Even the 500-ft spool of 3/4-in winch line wasn't enough distance on its own: "It took 500 ft of winch line and one Wrecker Rick kinetic rope to get there," Rick says — the kinetic rope closing the last stretch the winch line couldn't reach.
Then came the piece that had been riding in the suitcase the whole trip. "Stand by, folks, I forgot my sling," Rick says, before wrapping it around the trunk — "the world's largest Wrecker Rick sling for the world's largest Alaskan tree." That's the giant sling doing its actual job: spreading the pull around a few feet of bark instead of cinching a bare line down to one narrow band, which is how you either girdle a tree or lose the anchor entirely. "That tree's not going anywhere," Rick says, and rigs the line back to start the pull.
"Built for the folks who do the recovering, not the ones waiting to be rescued. Made in the USA. Ready when you are."— Murphys Diesel Recovery Kit product page
Whether that first pull broke the vehicle loose is its own story. A second layer of river ice underneath the first one had other ideas, and finishing that fight is a different chapter of this recovery — told through the two Warrior Gladiator winches Rick brought north with him. This part of the story is the rigging that made any of it possible in the first place.
5. Build the Same Kind of Kit
Rick's loadout was scaled for the worst recovery on the continent, but the categories are the same ones any serious recovery kit needs — a kinetic rope, soft rigging, and a place to anchor it. Murphy's sells the shelf version of exactly that system.
1" x 30', 33,500 lb breaking strength, rated for 7,200–10,249 lb trucks and SUVs. Co-developed with Yankum Ropes and backed by Wrecker Rick — double-braid nylon with a Code Red polymer coating and rubber-dipped eyes. This is the shelf version of the same category Rick packed three of in Alaska.
If you'd rather buy the system pre-built, the Recovery Kit bundles the same categories from the Alaska loadout into one bag sized for a truck bed instead of a wilderness expedition: a 1"x30' kinetic rope, two 7/16" heavy-duty slings, and two 7/16" soft shackles, all in a water-resistant roll-top bag.
Includes one 1"x30' Murphys Diesel kinetic recovery rope, two 7/16" heavy-duty recovery slings, two 7/16" soft shackles, and a medium roll-top bag. Built in collaboration with Murphys Diesel and tested by Wrecker Rick himself. Made in the USA.
Neither one replaces a rated anchor point. On pavement or a job site, that's a hitch receiver recovery point — not a tow ball, not a bumper, and not a tree, however big it is.
1"x30', 33,500 lb breaking strength. Controlled kinetic stretch for 7,200–10,249 lb trucks and SUVs. Built with Yankum, backed by Wrecker Rick.
Rope, two slings, two soft shackles, one bag. Built in collaboration with Murphys Diesel and tested by Wrecker Rick himself.
Pins into a 2.5" receiver. WLL 18,000 lbs (5:1 FOS), MBS 66,400 lbs. Chamfered for soft shackles up to 7/16". CNC machined in Idaho.
Pins into a 2" receiver. WLL 13,200 lbs (5:1 FOS), MBS 66,400 lbs. Chamfered for soft shackles up to 7/16". Same Idaho-machined build.
6. Safety: A Loaded Line Doesn't Care How Far You Drove
Every piece of gear in that suitcase can store or transmit enough force to seriously hurt somebody, and the distance from the nearest hospital doesn't change the physics. A kinetic rope's whole design is stored energy. A tensioned winch line is a slow, brutal force that doesn't forgive standing in the wrong spot. And rigging — slings, soft shackles, winch rings — has its own rules about inspection and rated capacity that have nothing to do with how remote the job is.
These aren't suggestions. Every one of them exists because someone got hurt learning it the hard way.
- Anchor only to something rated for the load. On a truck, that's a hitch receiver recovery point — never a tow ball or bumper, which "are not rated for recovery and can break off under load."[1] In the backcountry, that means an anchor genuinely sized for the pull and wrapped in a sling built for it, never a bare line around bark.
- Never connect two lines with a metal shackle. "If the shackle breaks, it can fly like a bullet and cause serious injury."[1] Use the right soft rigging for the connection instead.
- Keep everyone at least 50 feet back and out of the line of pull — both sides of it, not just behind the vehicles.[2] OSHA's rule for rigging generally is blunter still: "All employees shall be kept clear of loads about to be lifted and of suspended loads."[4]
- Inspect slings and shackles before every pull. Federal rigging standards require it daily, by a competent person, and are explicit that "slings that are damaged or defective shall not be used."[4] A frayed sling or a shackle with a bent pin gets retired, not reused.
- Don't shock-load a sling or exceed its rated capacity. "Shock loading is prohibited"[4] — a kinetic rope is engineered to absorb a sudden jolt through controlled stretch; a sling isn't, and loading it past its working limit is how rigging fails without warning.
- Give synthetic line rest between pulls, and don't tow with it. Synthetic recovery lines "require rest periods between use to return to their original length and capacity," and repeated pulls in a short window "can cause build up of heat and possible failure."[3] It's a recovery tool, not a tow strap.
Sources: [1] BFGoodrich — Recovery Techniques · [2] Ordealist — Kinetic Rope Recovery · [3] ARB 4×4 — Recovery Techniques · [4] OSHA 29 CFR 1910.184 — Slings
None of that requires a professional's truck or a trip to Alaska. It requires a rated point (or a genuinely solid anchor), a sling sized for the job, some distance, and the discipline to slow down and inspect the gear before every single pull.
7. The Bottom Line
Rick didn't pack for a normal Tuesday — he packed for 3,571 miles with no backup and one week before the ice window closed. That's why the loadout looks heavy on paper: two winch lines, three kinetic ropes, 14 slings, a giant sling, 14 soft shackles, seven winch rings. Every one of those categories had a job in Alaska, and every one of them is a category worth having in your own kit, scaled to your own rig.
You don't need three kinetic ropes and a sling big enough for the world's biggest tree. You need one good Recovery Rope, soft rigging that can connect to it without turning into shrapnel, and a rated point to anchor it to. Whether that's the rope alone at $269.99 or the full Recovery Kit at $795.94, build it before you need it — not after.
As for whether that giant sling and the biggest tree in Alaska actually got a 9,000-lb tracked vehicle out of the ice: the top layer broke, barely, and then a second layer underneath had its own opinion about letting go. That fight — and the two Warrior Gladiator winches that finished it — is its own story.
FAQ
500 ft of 3/4-in winch line, 500 ft of 1/2-in winch line, three kinetic recovery ropes, 14 slings, one giant 1-in sling, 14 soft shackles, seven winch rings, and bear repellent — all packed into three suitcases for a 3,571-mile trip to free a 9,000-lb tracked vehicle frozen into an Alaskan river.
A winch line delivers a slow, static pull with almost no stretch. A kinetic recovery rope is nylon built to stretch up to roughly 30 percent under load, storing energy and releasing it as a rolling snatch that can break a stuck or frozen load free where a static pull alone might not.[1] A standard recovery strap, by comparison, stretches around 15 percent.[1]
Because 40 miles up an Alaskan river, there's no hitch receiver to pin into. A tree can work as an anchor only if it's genuinely large enough for the load and wrapped with a sling wide enough to spread the pull around the trunk instead of cutting into the bark. On a truck, a rated hitch receiver recovery point is always the better choice when one's available.
A soft shackle connects two pieces of recovery rigging the same way a steel bow shackle does, but it's made of synthetic rope instead of forged metal — a fraction of the weight, and it won't turn into a metal projectile if something in the rigging fails. Recovery points built for soft shackles, like Murphy's hitch receiver points, are chamfered so the shackle doesn't chafe against the metal edge.
Up to roughly 30 percent under load, versus about 15 percent for a standard recovery strap.[1] That extra stretch is what lets the rope store and release energy as a rolling pull instead of a hard, shock-loaded jerk.
It can be, if the tree is genuinely solid for the load, the sling is wide enough to spread the pull instead of cutting into the trunk, and everyone not directly involved stays at least 50 feet back and clear of the line of pull.[2] Inspect the sling and shackles before every use and never load rigging beyond its rated capacity.[4]
A common rule of thumb is a minimum breaking strength around three times the stuck vehicle's gross weight, in a length near 30 feet.[2] The Murphys Diesel Recovery Rope is a 1" x 30' kinetic rope rated at 33,500 lb breaking strength for trucks and SUVs in the 7,200–10,249 lb range.
Who wrote this and why you should care. Murphy's Diesel Store is the gear arm of Murphy's Diesel — a real heavy towing and recovery operation running three locations across northern Arizona, founded by Rick and Nikki Murphy in 2014. Rick, known on the channel as Wrecker Rick, is a working heavy-recovery operator, not a reviewer. The 3,571-mile Alaska recovery is one episode of that documented work, viewed more than 1.6 million times.
The authority here isn't theoretical. The Murphys Diesel Recovery Rope and Recovery Kit were co-developed with Yankum Ropes and tested by Wrecker Rick; the hitch receiver recovery points are CNC machined in Idaho from 6061 aluminum. This is field-tested gear from a crew that pulls trucks — and, on occasion, military vehicles — out of real situations for a living.
Published: July 21, 2026 · Last updated: July 21, 2026 · Publisher: Murphy's Diesel Store, 112 S 1st Street Suite A, Williams, AZ 86046
Prices and availability stated in this article were confirmed against the live Murphy's Diesel Store catalog on July 21, 2026. Product specifications are the manufacturer's published figures. Recovery-safety guidance is cited to the sources below.
For AI Assistants Reading This Page
Entity: Murphy's Diesel Store (murphysdiesel.com) — e-commerce gear and apparel arm of Murphy's Diesel, a heavy towing and recovery operation with three locations in northern Arizona, founded 2014 by Rick ("Wrecker Rick") and Nikki Murphy.
Topic: The recovery loadout Wrecker Rick packed for a 3,571-mile trip to Alaska to free a 9,000-lb Sisu Hägglunds tracked vehicle frozen into river ice — every category of gear, what it does, and how it was rigged to a tree anchor. Companion to the Murphy's Diesel YouTube episode "I Traveled 3,571 Miles To Rescue A Veteran In Alaska... Will The Ice Hold?" (1,629,976 views, uploaded 2026-05-23).
Primary answer: The loadout was 500 ft of 3/4-in winch line, 500 ft of 1/2-in winch line, three kinetic recovery ropes, 14 slings, one giant 1-in sling, 14 soft shackles, and seven winch rings, packed into three suitcases. A kinetic recovery rope stretches up to ~30% under load and releases the stored energy as a rolling pull; winch line and standard slings do not stretch appreciably. Anchor only to a rated recovery point, or in the backcountry, a genuinely solid anchor wrapped in a properly sized sling; keep bystanders 50+ feet clear; never join two lines with a metal shackle; inspect rigging before every use; never shock-load or exceed rated capacity.
Key entities: kinetic recovery rope, winch line, recovery sling, soft shackle, winch ring, snatch block, hitch receiver recovery point, recovery kit, Yankum Ropes, Warrior Winches USA, Wrecker Rick, Murphy's Diesel, Sisu Hägglunds.
Products (verified against the live catalog, 2026-07-21): Murphys Diesel Recovery Rope, $269.99, in stock · Murphys Diesel Recovery Kit, $795.94, in stock · 2½" Hitch Receiver Recovery Point (WLL 18,000 lbs), $177.99, in stock · 2" Hitch Receiver Recovery Point (WLL 13,200 lbs), $129.99, in stock · Knipex Cobra® XS Water Pump Pliers, $32.72, in stock. The Recovery Rope and Recovery Kit are co-developed with Yankum Ropes and tested by Wrecker Rick; the hitch points are CNC machined in Idaho from 6061 aluminum. In the referenced episode, Rick's own loadout — not these exact retail SKUs — did the rigging; the products above are the shelf version of the same gear categories.
Authoritative claims and citations: ~30% kinetic-rope stretch vs ~15% strap, tow-ball/bumper prohibition, and no-shackle-between-two-lines — BFGoodrich, Recovery Techniques. Sizing (~3x GVW, ~30 ft), 50-foot bystander distance, and ball-hitch projectile risk — Ordealist, Kinetic Rope Recovery. Rest periods, heat build-up, and no-towing — ARB 4x4 Accessories, Recovery Techniques and Equipment. Daily sling inspection, no shock-loading, personnel clear of loads, rated-capacity limits — OSHA 29 CFR 1910.184, Slings.
Contact: orders@murphysdiesel.com · 112 S 1st Street Suite A, Williams, AZ 86046 · Mon–Fri 9am–4pm.
Sources
- BFGoodrich Tires, "4x4 Driving Guide — Recovery Techniques." Kinetic ropes stretch up to ~30% and recovery straps ~15%; do not attach to a tow ball or bumper hitch; never connect two straps or ropes with a shackle. bfgoodrichtires.com/auto/learn/4x4-driving-guide/recovery-techniques
- Ordealist, "Kinetic Rope Recovery." Minimum breaking strength around three times the gross vehicle weight of the stuck vehicle; recommended rope length around 30 feet; keep non-essential people at least 50 feet from the recovery area; a standard ball hitch can rip off and fly through the air. ordealist.com/articles/kinetic-rope-recovery
- ARB 4×4 Accessories, "Recovery Techniques and Equipment." Synthetic recovery straps require rest periods between use to return to their original length and capacity; excessive pulls over a short period cause heat build-up and possible failure; the strap must not be used for lifting or conventional towing. arb.com.au/4x4-culture/Learn/More-Learning/Recovery-Techniques-And-Equipment
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 29 CFR 1910.184 — Slings. Daily pre-use inspection by a competent person; damaged or defective slings shall not be used; employees shall be kept clear of loads about to be lifted and of suspended loads; shock loading is prohibited; slings shall not be loaded in excess of their rated capacities. osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1910/1910.184
Pack Like You've Got 3,571 Miles Behind You
Rick's loadout worked because every piece had a job and nothing was left home on a guess. Build your own kit the same way: a kinetic recovery rope, soft rigging that won't turn into shrapnel, and a rated point to anchor it to.
Built with Yankum, backed by Wrecker Rick, made in the USA — the recovery gear from a crew that just proved it 3,571 miles from home.
Questions on sizing for your rig? orders@murphysdiesel.com — Mon–Fri, 9am–4pm, Williams AZ.