Recovery kit

A recovery kit is a bundle of gear, typically including a recovery strap or tow strap, shackles or soft shackles to connect it, and traction boards, assembled to free a vehicle that has become stuck in sand, mud, snow, or loose dirt. Some kits add a shovel or a portable air compressor for adjusting tire pressure.

Traction boards work by giving tires something to grip against instead of spinning through loose ground, while a recovery strap lets another vehicle pull yours free if boards alone are not enough. Using the wrong type of strap, such as a static strap with no stretch for a dynamic kinetic recovery, can be dangerous under load.

When buying, match the strap's rated capacity to your vehicle's weight with a safety margin, and check that shackles are rated for off-road recovery use rather than generic hardware-store hooks. A common mistake is carrying a recovery kit without practicing how to use it, then fumbling with unfamiliar gear in the actual stressful moment of being stuck.