Stuck in a ditch puzzler

I heard the answer to the Stuck in a Ditch puzzler and I can’t believe you suggested that sulution. I would think surely clamping the brake hose closed with vice grips would damage it and perhaps create a safety issue once freed from ditch. Having to repair front wheel drive parts I have often put a screw driver into the cooling fins of a rotor, locking that side against the caliper so the the other side could be engaged. Once out of the ditch our wayward husband could simply pull out the screw driver with no damage being done.

I don’t know-- I think that’d be a bit of a toss up as to which one was more dangerous. The car might just break the screwdriver. Clamping the brake hoses isn’t by itself dangerous, since you have to do that when doing brakes on some cars with ABS to prevent forcing air back into the ABS unit. But using a set of vice grips might not be the best tool for that.

When I heard of the vice-grip pliers, I thought that they would be used to clamp the brake fluid pressure to the brake hose of the free (airborne) wheel. The brake pedal would, then, be released. The trapped brake pressure on the free wheel, to the extended brake caliper pistons, would (hopefully) prevent the free wheel from turning, and let the wheel on the ground propel the car.

I think I would have clamped the vice grips to the axle, lightly, to keep it from spinning. When that wheel hit pavement, the vice grips could slip off or at least not completely lock the wheel.

Someone could do the experiments to see which theory works. A ditch is not really necessary. Raise one wheel (use a jack, or brute strength, whichever). Put the pliers, or screwdriver, in the proffered place. Start engine, put into gear, and watch what happens. Your results?