I thought you guys might want to see this winch "Ground anchor" that I made from Home Depot items. I got the idea from an Australian 4WD forum.

The Superwinch "Winch2go" portable winch is pretty cool, you can move it to any car that you think you might get stuck in. 4,000 pound pull (single line), and comes with the pulley block for 8,000 pounds of pull, and a couple of straps to attach the winch to the vehicle. I got the Amsteel rope version. The straps, wiring, pulley block, and remote all fit in the box with the winch (the winch is mounted permanently inside the box).
Evidently not too many people here know about the "ground anchors", or I would have just bought one instead of making it from scratch. In the video linked below I was only using one side of the "ground anchor" since I wasn't really stuck yet and I wanted to see if just 3 stakes would hold. The "ground anchor" thing just rolls up in a towel and goes behind the seat in the Tracker. It is made from 3 foot, 3/4" metal stakes with washers welded close to the top and 2 pieces of 2"x3/16"x3 foot flat steel from Home Depot also. I live in the desert, and there is never anything to winch from except sage brush, and they pull out of the ground like nothing. Link to photos and short video below.

https://goo.gl/photos/YCo6rXMjPEzaQpdM9

Thanks,
Leelorr

Interesting.  Have you ever experienced a problem pulling them back out of the ground?

The only time that have been hard to pull out of the ground is when I tried using only two stakes in soft sand and they bent underground. I was still able to pull them out by hand, just not easily. You hammer them in leaned away from the vehicle about 30 degrees, so you could actually pull them out with the tow strap or winch from the other direction after getting unstuck if you needed to. Also, the washers on top let you use a lever and fulcrum to lift them out easily (I saw that on a video where a guy had hammered them into rock hard ground).

Google "three stake winch anchor" - three lengths of 2" x 2" steel angle, as long as the vehicle is wide (for convenient storage), sharpened at one end and some rope.

The first place I saw this was in an old US Army manual on vehicle recovery.

What I have is a yard sale repurposed Yachtman's anchor I picked up for $15.00
The style with the big flat plates (pointed) and a center swinging attaching bar.
I did modify the opening of the swing a little for more of a grip/resistance.
In sand, dig a hole to get the plates in pointed down, in Muskeet (Loon Shit), pound into
a good place, hopefully with some roots to help, winch away.

I store it either flat on cargo area floor, or vertical against body side strapped to roll bar if I need the flat floor. In the vertical position, it has started some interesting comments at the Rendezvous Start area, "Is that thing so little, it floats away at water crossings?"

Well I have found the correct name(s) for this Marine Style Anchor.
Its called a Danforth LWT, or a Wedge LWT.
What's in a name?.....It works great, quick to use, stores flat

That looks like a great idea fine example of redneck engineering

I was shopping for a new soft top for the Timber Cruiser
and saw this on Lowrange's site.
Smitty Built WASP for $149.95
I think I saved a "Boat Load" of $$$$ on my
Yard Sale Find / Adaptation
http://lghttp.14077.nexcesscdn.net/806AE0/Magento/media/catalog/product/cache/1/small_image/225x/05a249b7d55c2098e2220425d2b35600/a/n/anchor.jpg