After reading every post I think that I have come up with some conclusions. First, necessity is the mother of all inventions. (I know duh). Second, Greg you had stated that you went through some deep water crossings where there was a potential for getting stuck. If this is true, and, you have your loaded rig (FJ-80 I presume) and your family (wife, dog, kids maybe) then the one time, and only one time you need to use something as simple as the pull pal then it has more than paid for itself. Being stuck in a river could be life threatening. The $500 for the pull pal seems like a cheap insurance policy for your rig. Remember the videos of the JK that was left in the flash flood in Moab? This is something that came on suddenly. Things could go from worse to much worse way to quickly. You also stated that you go out by yourself. Although this is not something I would recommend I suppose if you are well enough equiped it may not be the worse thing. But, you need to be totaly self sufficent. A pull pal may not be used often but, I would bet the one time you do use it would all be worth it.
LT.
