Supreme Recovery Strap and stuffs - Review and Impressions W/ PICS!

TL;DR - Honestly decent products, seems like a fair value. I'd be ok with spending money on it.

Hey all, I don't know if anyone cares, but I thought I'd share anyway.

The last 2 weeks of December, my family and I were camping out in Anza area and then over to Glamis to meet some friends. While we were out there we were checking out the vendors and saw the guys from Supreme Suspensions. They were doing some "social distance" games at their booth, and long story short, I won a few goodies. One of their 30' recovery straps, and one of their hitch shackle receiver insert things, and I thought that a little over a month later (and actually quite a few uses) I'd share my opinion and some pics.

Even though I don't have a winch, I seem to always be the guy to pull everyone else out of their situations. Probably because my little Sandy has the capability to actually do it. Anyway, it's pretty common for me to pull people out of problems. We spend a lot of time in the desert and rockhounding where friends (and strangers) are getting stuck in sand, and we spend a lot of time up at our friend's cabin where I'm pulling 3-4 cars per day on weekends out of snow berms. I haven't really decided if it's because it's the right thing to do, or because they're blocking my way. Ok, as a scouter I'll say because it's the right thing to do. Lol.

Anyway, since getting these bits, I've used them exclusively over the other strap(s) I have just to see how decent they are, and I've got to say that I'm pretty impressed. I'd say it's pretty obvious that since Supreme is primarily in machining and fabricating, they're probably not physically making these themselves, but whoever it is that got their contract is providing them with what I'd consider to be a quality product.

While still in Glamis, I used the setup to pull 6 different vehicles out of deepsand (yes I kept count). 2 of them were class-c motorhomes with no attachment points, and the straps had to go around shitty sharp bumper brackets. 2 of them were 3/4 ton 4wd bro-dozers (super duty belonging to a friend of ours, and a chevy/gmc. One fellow taco (2wd), and a vendor van from one of the food guys.

Since getting back, we've been up in mountains at the cabin every weekend that there's been snow. I honestly can't count how many trucks, cars, and vans I've recovered over this time. I'm not kidding when I say that every day is at least 3-4 (they tend to pile up right in front of the intersection for the street which the cabin is on. It's a decent grade, mid turn.)

It's also been used by a buddy as a tree strap, and to help clear 2 high-centers off some larger rocks down in the houser geode bed area.

I have NOT been taking care of this thing, and definitely abusing it more than I would one that I paid my own money for. Mostly because I want to see what's up with them.

For reference, I also own a warn "premium" strap which is kept in the taco, and an ARB strap that hangs out in the wife's 4r, as well a a cheapy chinesium strap that I got dirt cheap, but we won't talk about that one (it's in 2 pieces now. "quick disconnect" I think...)

Anyway, TO THE PRODUCT!
There are some minor frays now. You can see them in the 2 pics below. This is entirely because of the times it's been used strapped around sharp components when there's honestly nothing else to grab from. Both the campers in the sand were sunk to the frame, and didn't have even the little steel loops on the front end of the frame. One old-ass chevy van, and an older ram, I had the same issue with up in the snow. My warn strap looks about the same, and I don't think I've used it nearly as often. I can't say the same for the ARB just because it's only been used like twice, and it was babied.

The frays aren't horrible, and realistically you have to be aware that recovery straps are a consumable over time. It's still working fine (the warn is too with it's frays in fairness).

The sleeves with the branding are pretty beat up, but again these have been looped over things they shouldn't have been looped on, aaaand I might have forgot to tuck it all the way back into the bed once and dragged it a few miles over ice and asphalt, so one is worse than the other. It'll be fine.

The end loops are in solid condition. One side is pretty grimy and greasy, but still solid. Used at times as a loop onto the strap itself, with ring shackles, hooked to a winch hook, hooked to a hitch pin, hitch ball, and I think that's about it. On my warn strap, one end is fine, the other is actually in pretty bad condition.

Overall I'd say the strap is pretty solid. I'm happy with it, and it's going to become my regular carry in the truck while the warn hand-me-downs to my old fozzy.

The hitch shackle receiver thing is what it is, but I like it. I mean, there's not an excessive amount of stuff you can do here to make a product like this shine. But, I like that it's steel (some are aluminum), and it's a solid block, nut ptr tube like a few of the cheaper one's I've seen. The coating seems legit. I dig the cross-bore on it so that you can orient the shackle in whatever way is best for the situation. I've never had one of these before, so I can't compare it to anything else, but since acquiring it, I definitely like having it in my recovery bag. I've always used the hitch pin through the receiver (don't have fancy bumpers to hang shackles off of, yet). This is much better. I'm actually considering picking up another to have on hand for pulling people without a decent attachment point, but have a receiver. Also, you'll see in one of the pics what happens when you are stupid and try to use the safety chain spot to hook up to. (happened before I got this doohickey)

Shackle - again sort of like the receiver thing. Not exactly fancy tech, but it so far seems to be of good quality. There are two between these pics. The black one came in the box with the receiver. I later on ordered a red one off their website. 1, because I realized that having 2 is better than one (actually bought the 2 pack of red, so I have 3 total now), and 2 because the damn black one was always impossible to find in my bag in the dark. The shackles do have a WLL stamp on them, which brings me a little bit of comfort compared to a lot of the foreign ones you see online. Also nice that the shackle (and the one with the receiver thing) include poly isolator washers, and the whatever-you-wanna-call-it semicircle protector deal.

When I purchased the red shackle set, I talked to one of their guys on the phone for a bit, and told him that I lurk around the tacoworld. I don't know if anyone cares, but he told me that if I was able to get some people interested, I could set up a group buy and they'd set us up with a decent discount on this stuff. Anyone care enough for me to try?

 

What's the rating on the strap? Is it a silk blend? I got one of those Rhino USA straps with a lifetime warranty. Looks similar.

 

From what the guy had told me (we spent a lot of time talking about product. I myself am involved in industrial design and mfg), and what the packaging says, it's a polyester blend, and the material breaking strength is 31,510 lbs, with a slight reduction in stitching locations. I don't see that reduction mentioned on the Rhino site, so I'll take it as these guys just being honest. I mean it makes sense. Where two pieces are stitched together you can't really expect the stitching to hold as much load as the actual weave would. I also noticed that these guys (supreme) mention an actual safe working load number. I was looking at the Rhino site after you mentioned it (they do look kinda similar, but it's not unlike companies nowadays to emulate each other) and don't see a safe working load mentioned. I don't know if they just don't have it listed because WL numbers never look very impressive, or if it's because they're just not formally tested/rated that way. Not really a big deal if they just aren't mentioning it, but I personally prefer the "up-front" info. Too much info makes me feel less like I'm not being told the whole story. Lol.

I personally like the polyester/poly blend over a few of my old nylon straps that were more of snatch straps. The polyester feels a lot more predictable. My warn one is like this too.

I don't see anything on their actual product page about warranty, but when I was talking to the guys at the booth, it was expressed to me that it IS a lifetime warranty, for materials, workmanship, and defect. So, the way I'm slowly shredding the things with people's bumper brackets, probably not gonna be covered, lol. But I bet Rhino wouldn't either. Like I mentioned though, I think people need to be realistic and know that these types of products should be treated as consumables. Getting the most service you can out of one is great, but it should always be expected that some day you're going to buy another. I'd rather but a new strap every few years than a new set of tires, lol, or the damn synthetic oil and cartridge filter for the truck.

 

Also, I don't know if this is the right place, or even the safe place (mods?) to express this, but in regards to the group buy thing, they told me we can get 20% if we get 20 people, and 30% if we get 30 peeps. I think it would be pretty cool, and a pretty good deal. I'd probably jump on it too just to have an extra at that price.

 

Kinetic ropes are also pretty good and puts a less stress on the recovery points of your rigs. I keep both straps and Kinetic ropes in my recovery bag.

 

I love that hitch shackle.

I don't do any mudding or rock crawling so I doubt I'll ever have to tow anyone out of the mud/ditch. But it still looks cool as hell.

 

Thanks for the detailed write up. They look like decent products. USA-based, appear to be USA-made. I'd be interested in a group buy.

 

Here you go - running to the end of this month!
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...straps-shackles-hitch-receiver-mounts.708827/

 

My front bumper is stock (2016).

What would I need to do to install the D-Ring Anchor Shackles correctly?

 

There are a couple of options out there to do this. I'd say the most robust ( but also way overpriced) is the ARB brand one, seen here
https://arbusa.com/toyota-tacoma-2016-on/bumpers-protection-equipment/recovery-points/

Then there's the SOS concepts one which looks pretty decent, seen here,
http://sosoffroadconcepts.com/factory-recovery-mount-replacement/

And then there's these from this company called ami styling. They are part of the same group that owns rough country. Seen here,
https://amistyling.com/demon-brackets-toyota-9-19-tacoma

ARB ties into the vehicle best, I think. But it's really pricey. The SOS one looks pretty legit, but I've never seen one in person. That single bend it questionable to me, but if the material is right, and the geometry is planned out correctly, then it could be totally fine. The demon bracket ones seem cool, although I have seen these in person and while I'm sure they'd get the job done, I'm not a huge fan of the plate construction. I would have preferred a solid eyelet instead of stacked/welded plates.

Funny you mentioned this. When I was talking to the Supreme guys about their recovery stuff, they mentioned in passing that they're in the process of developing some bolt on solutions for trucks to add recovery points, but I don't know how far out that stuff it.

Edit: I'm sure there are probably other brands out there as well, but those are the 3 I know of.