A RECOVERY KIT WITH STYLE & SUBSTANCE

Warn Epic Recovery Kit gets the job done in style

There are many different types of off-roaders in this country. There are those who take pride in having the most wrinkled and filthy rig on the trail. Then there are those who demand quality over quantity, take pride in having high quality (and usually expensive) gear, and do their best to keep all the shiny bits looking… well… shiny.

However, both these groups share a common issue, which is that sooner or later they’re going to get stuck, and when they get stuck, they’re going to need to dig into the back for the all-important recovery kit.

For both groups, the recovery kit is a pretty standard piece of kit. Usually a mangled old tool kit with all manner of shackles, snatch blocks and tow ropes tossed in; it’s a worn and abused kit to do a dirty job. The only difference being the cleanliness and organization between the two stereotypes.

We don’t take sides on the class levels of

our lifestyle, usually, but we do understand the desire for highly-engineered products that were made with pride. The recovery kit usually has no business being associated as such, until we came across the Warn Epic Recovery Kit last year at SEMA.

Featuring the standard issue bits one needs to extract themselves from Mother Nature’s grasp, each of the forged steel components has been treated to a multi-layered E-coat (or electrocoating) that protects from both corrosion and abrasion. Effectively, it’s like powder coating, without the thick shiny paint. Each part has been specifically designed to handle the rigours of vehicle extraction, while also acting as a nice bit of wheeler jewellery. Personally, with no bling factor associated with the Epic series, just the sense of a high-quality tool, I got in touch with Warn to have a look at the kit and have one of the heavy-duty versions onboard the Nissan Titan XD during our Arctic Expedition.

OUR KIT INCLUDED: • Two forged 3/4” Epic Shackles (for 18,000 lb. winches and under) Epic Tree Trunk Protector, including forged end loops (4”x8’; rated to 30,000 lbs.) Epic Snatch Block (for winch capacities of up to 18,000 lbs.) Premium Recovery Strap (3” x 30’; rated to 21,600 lbs.) Winching Gloves with Kevlar reinforcement and synthetic leather Backpack carrying case

In the case of the hardware, this is actually Warn's second generation of the Epic series, as the first series had some flaws in the coating. However, so far, we can report that they got it right with this batch as the coating has stood up well to some decent abuse. Another well-thought out idea is the construction of the tree saver. This has a premium nylon strap with encased red warning marker to indicate damaged webbing.

While the hardware is attractive, it’s the bag itself that attracted me to the kit. Made

Some of the flashiest looking shackles on the market, they will also stand up to 18,000lb and are E-coated for wear and tear. The 18,000lb capacity Snatch Block accepts both wire and synthetic winch line.

The kit includes everything you see here.