Help me build my recovery kit!

What I have now:
-Badlands Apex 12k winch w/80’ line
-Badlands forged snatch block
-ARB tree limb saver
-Several CM USA made D shackles (26mm 10Ton, 2x 7/8” 6.5 Ton, 2x 3/4” 7Ton[on the bumper])


What addition do you guys think would complete the kit and why? I’m on the east cost in the mid Atlantic/Appalachia area. If you’ve been out here you know the trails tend to be wooded-rocky terrain in the mountains. I avoid mud like it’s the plague so I’m not even worried about that kind of recovery.

Long version:

I had a Chinese made 30,000lb 3”x30’ snatch strap that got pretty banged up over the years so I ultimately decided to throw it away in the name of safety. Long story short I’ve learned that I was a dumbass. Aside from the 30k lb snatch strap not being sized correctly for my Toyota Tacoma, I was often using it as a winch extension line.

Seems likes kinetic ropes are much better than snatch straps, but they are a bit out of my budget for now. I’m looking to spend around $150. Since I was using my old strap primarily as a winch extension I’m thinking I should just get a tow strap/winch extension strap. I’ll probably shed out the money for Matt’s kinetic rope around Christmas since I believe if I or someone in the group were to need one, it would be a life/time saver. But I really do think this will be an extremely rare occasion just purely based on how I tend to wheel the days and who I go out with.

 

I'd get some soft shackles and another snatch block that works with synthetic line

 

+1 on the soft shackles

The badland snatch block will work fine for synthetic as long as it’s never been used with steel cable. The downside is that those suckers are heavy compared to a yankum aluminum snatch ring or similar, but those can cost ya a pretty penny

A static tow strap can be handy as you mention, for more rigging options. You could also get replacement badland winch line and add a loop to turn it into a budget extension

 

Id like to get one or two eventually. The biggest draw back for me is I’ve seen guys with nice products like that, but in the fog of war when there’s intense recovery happening these things 1. Just disappear, or 2. Get abused by someone who doesn’t know and it’s hard for the owner to keep track of these things. Hence I’ve traditionally stuck to d-shackles and their ability to take some abuse. I even have a 20T shackle that I occasionally bring out for laughs. But anywho, it sounds like I should skip the kinetic stuff and focus on streamlining what I have with better/lighter support components.

 

Not knowing the proper ways is the biggest risk. This video, made with the permission of the widow of the victim tells much:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/kingman-az-man-died-in-offroad-recovery.774094/

While I am not an expert (hell .. have not had to recover before) I have read much in TW and I THINK that following this advice will save me ...

"Snatch" or "kinetic" can go sideways faster than you can blink. The stress calculations for snatch can result in a maximum of about 5 MPH on the pulling vehicle because of the kinetic release after stretching. If you trust "just anybody passing, with the gear in a box" you can suffer. And kinetic ropes need time to rest and completely contract before being used again for maximum use.

Getting into a local class run by experienced recovery people gives you the knowledge to be safe.

Or people can pick my post apart and call me an idiot. I will wait for their input so I can learn more.

 

I think you're actually pretty well covered as is. You've got enough to get by in most situations and im assuming the people you wheel with also carry at least some recover stuff. But if you were add anything to your cache I would echo some things that have already been mention: Soft shackle, and replace the static tow strap.

Soft shackles are just so fast and versatile. I find myself tugging people out of ditches and snow banks often in the winter and having a soft shack to attach to a vehicle that doesn't have a readily available recover point helps. I can easily wrap the soft shackle around a frame piece or a control arm or something along those lines that I couldn't do with a D shackle.

The static tow strap gives you a couple other rigging options, including as a winch extension like you already mentioned. Obviously it can be used to tow someone off the trail who has a disabled vehicle. That's one situation you aren't currently covered to help with your set of gear.

 

I use the ARB snatch strap (with the lowest of the 3 weight ratings). It's not as stretchy as a rope, but a lot of the ropes I looked at were 20 feet with 30% stretch, while this was 30 feet with 20% stretch, making them both stretch approximately 6 feet. I've used it several times now and it's worked well for me. MUCH less shock to the system then with a similar length tow strap!! Way cheaper, too.

https://store.arbusa.com/snatch-strap-17-500lb-arb705lb/