Recovering This Destroyed Ram TRX That Fell Off Moab Cliff Took Creativity
As if getting to the Hellcat-powered truck wasn’t tricky enough, the recovery team had to go through the BLM first.
Any four-wheeler will tell you that breaking stuff on the trail is pretty much a given. Some days you get lucky and it's just a taillight or a mirror; other days, it borders on catastrophic. This brand-spankin' new Ram TRX is essentially in its own category because it tumbled off a cliff in Utah, hitting every rock ledge on the way down. Amazingly, no one was hurt in the crash—the truck gave up its life instead—and recovering the rig was a mighty job for the Moab Motorsports crew.
Rory Irish, best known as the owner of Trail Mater, took a group of guys with him to drag the Hellcat-powered pickup out of the bottom. And I do mean drag. Just getting to the TRX was tricky because they didn't want to block the trail it rolled off of for safety reasons. Irish and Co. instead chose to clear everything with the Bureau of Land Management as well as SITLA, both of which own and maintain the surrounding land. They were able to legally go off-trail as a result, so the Ram didn't take up permanent residence in the ravine.
The truck was a total loss with body panels smashed, airbags deployed, and chassis and suspension components completely twisted. That meant the recovery team didn't have to worry about keeping it in one piece. Still, it was nowhere near an easy job because there were a ton of obstacles between the crash site and the wide-open desert.
Irish's crew had to get creative with straps, pulleys, and nearby rocks to get the TRX out. They used a purpose-built buggy to scale the terrain and pull the pickup by its nose. Thankfully, the Ram's driveline snapped so the wheels could turn freely, though several of the tires were popped off the bead completely.
Once the super truck was extracted from the far back, Irish hooked it up to Tow Mater and finished off the job with some wheelies for good measure. Not only did they get it done, but they did it for free. Irish makes it clear the effort wasn't for clicks, but rather to undercut another unnamed YouTuber who apparently tried taking the job.
"I guess they do recoveries, is what you wanna call it," Irish said in a video documenting the retrieval. "I don’t condone their type of recoveries for the way they act, the way they treat the land, and the way they treat everything involving the situation. That’s just my opinion."
Irish also pointed out the land closures that have been snatching much of Moab away from off-roaders. That's the dominating storyline as of late. In turn, all eyes are on enthusiasts to do the right thing. Companies like Moab Motorsports depend on the local 4x4 scene to stay in business, and unlike a lot of folks who make a pilgrimage to Utah, these guys are residents. That makes them the face of the hobby, in a way.
It'll take a lot more than mindful recoveries alone to save the future of off-roading in Moab, but they have to be a part of it. Let this job serve as an example of how it should be done. And if you see someone acting out on the trails, make sure to let them know what's at stake.
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