Recovery Straps - Proper Usage

I was at my local mud hole the other day and a guy tried to pull another truck out of the mud with a chain. That night I learned a very valuble lesson at his expense. The chain snapped at the stuck vehicle, flew up in the air and because it was still connected to the pulling truck it came all the way around and shattered his front windshield. I got lucky. I was sitting in the back of my truck and he was pulling in my direction. if that chain hadn't stayed connected to his truck It would have taken me out.

 

Great Post

 

Over the years I have seen more things busted up by using chains in place of a strap and it's usually not because the chain failed, it is simply due to the no give shock load that occurs.
gears and axle splines don't like that crap.

Have also seen a few windshields destroyed when using straps were hooked to parts not intended to be used for recovery purposes

 

how can you put one end of the strap through the other ends loop? You can only do this once, what about the other side? Geese people...

 

D-rings are your friends. I carry atleast 4 of these.
And don't forget about TREE SAVER straps!

 

I saw on the Dakar yesterday they used that same bungee strap that the Icelanders used on Top Gear. Same idea I guess on sand!

 

You can buy the stretchy kind. They're called "Stretch-n-Snatch" and they're made by KEEPER.

I have a couple of 'em. They're nicer to work with than regular straps for tugging. Not as harsh on the vehicle. YOu can get a run at it and not worry about the jolt (cuz there isn't one).

(sorry if this was already mentioned earlier, haven't read the whole thread)

 

Don't go cheap on shackles either folks, I run a crane and we have been seeing lots of rigging failures due the China crap that is being dumped on the market lately.

And an old riggers trick when dealing with shackles like pictured above, turn the thumb bolt all the way in and then back it off 1/8 of a turn, it stops them from binding when the shaft gets tugged on.

 

What do you mean by weighing down your recovery line?

 

put something over it (floor mats, jackets, something that will stay on the strap and won't hurt you) because IF the strap breaks, there's at least 5000#s that is being unleashed and you don't know where it's going, and depending on where it breaks, it could be coming right for you or your truck. If you have something over it, it will absorb some of the force and will fall to the ground harmlessly...at least thats what I think is the point of weighing it down. Someone that actually knows will be here shortly

 

I think what they mean is you have 1 loop on each end. You take the loop on one end stick your hand through the loop and grab the strap emediately below that same loop and pull it back through the loop. You can do this on each end regardless of weather one end is attached to a vehicle.

 

so i have a tow strap with hooks and one of those large (2 in diameter) tow ropes with hooks. are those bad for recovery?
And say if i was pulling someone out with a true recovery strap, it can be jerked and not break? and is it the best thing to have? should 1 or 2 be used? And how many times can a recovery strap be used?
I'm just trying to get things straight in my head about all this...

 

sounds good, thanks
is there a certain amount of times you can use the recovery strap with it being stretchy?

 

alright thanks a lot
ive used that rope with hooks a couple times and i guess i got lucky
what kind of strap is in the ARB group buy? website?

 

thanks man