I just finished watching it. I get a laugh out of the intro of them. Gary, Survivalist, who's killed people with his bare hands. Bill, once clicked 'Like' on FB...
This is the exact reason I would have chosen to have open-diffs then a locker. You could tell they broke the shaft well before getting to the rocks. I'm not sure if it was rigged but somewhere Bill bumped the throttle where he shouldn't have. He was also incorrect with his description. It had nothing to do with a 75lbs tire and all to do with too much throttle at the wrong time. Fluke? He should maybe do a little research on Jeeps, maybe. If he did, I'm sure he would be yanking out the locker for the next episode.
As for the fix, I guess that's one way to do it. I think I'd prefer to have it roll then to drag it. Luckily the road was dirt though. They had an ax handle as well as the hi-lift handle. I'm sure they could have roped that tire in.
OH and how many seatbelts dones this Jeep have? They've cut the rear seat belts out in both episodes. (There was ROPE in the back!) I also noticed the rear seat is in there still... why? They must not be carrying much food or supplies. Speaking of rope, why did he cut the rope up. Looks like he used just as much rope making those loops then if he would have just knotted the whole thing and wrapped the tire in rope.
Oh and having to ride the brakes with the clutch in seems a bit dubious. Let the engine and gears do their thing and ride the brake if you have to. No reason to ride the brake and clutch.