We did a side pull on a rock to clear a trail this weekend. It kind of screwed up the tree save we used on the rock. I was thinking that one those cheap lifting straps from Harbor Freight would come in handy for stuff like that.
Lifting strap
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- #5
Actually I was thinking the HF straps were cheap enough to be disposable so you wouldn't worry if they got damaged by a rough rock. Otherwise why not just screw up your tree saver.
well, yes, cheap enough, but it is still an application where you don't want things to fly so the rating is still important. You can generate large forces in a strap holding a block, rock etc. I would not have too much trust in HF's quality control and rating department. And I have also seen some straps at HF where they were quoting the breaking strength and not the work rating so there is room for confusion. IOW be careful.
(on a funkier note, I do wear jeans a lot -old hippie- so I have a collection of used ones. Mostly the butt worn out from sitting reading MUD...
So I cut off the legs which make great sleeves for cables and straps when rubbing is a concern. Yea for Recycling!) 
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Be careful with your assumptions about recovery gear - especially cheap recovery gear. Extreme loads still occur which lead to breakage which can lead to injury. Be careful.
Try to get your hands on a used bit of fire hose and use that as a protection.
Or simply get a chain to move rocks and stuff.
This...
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- #14
First, I always over kill. IOW if the rock looked to weigh 200# I'd use a 500# strap. I'd probably get the 1000# straps, any rock bigger than 500# and I doubt I'd try to winch it off the trail anyway, dragging that much dead weight with a winch would be difficult.
Second, unlike a recovery strap that is intended to stretch and recover the cables and straps used in winching really don't flay around all that much when stuff breaks or slips. Specially when it is a relatively light object ie not a truck. BTDT.
Second, unlike a recovery strap that is intended to stretch and recover the cables and straps used in winching really don't flay around all that much when stuff breaks or slips. Specially when it is a relatively light object ie not a truck. BTDT.
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- #15
That's a good idea, I have friends that are fire fighters so it would be doable.
Not a big fan of chain on rock, I use a chain to pull shrubs and it works great for that. Thinking about it I've probably used my winch more for landscaping than recovery.
I don't think it's correct to say that a wire rope cable would not flay around much if something lets go suddenly, unlike recovery straps. It may not appear "stretchy" but it will store energy that has to go someplace, likely into kinetic energy. The more tension the more energy of course.
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- #17
How is that kinetic energy distributed?
half the mass of every bit of rope times that bit's velocity squared, just before it sproings through your windshield? You'll need a high-speed camera to figure out the velocity, a la Mythbusters...
You are talking about safety factors here. If your strap is rated for 20,000 lbs and you are pulling 5,000 lbs of resistance then you have a 4:1 safety factor. In the lifting industry a 4:1 or 6:1 safety factor is not uncommon. I'd go more than the 2:1 you state for a 200 lb rock.
Steel cables do stretch and do recoil - violently. That is why many use synthetic winch line.
When you mention recovery straps versus straps used in winching you might be thinking about nylon versus polyester straps. Nylon typically stretches more than polyester. Snatch straps are nylon, tree straps (proper tree straps) are often polyester. Winching should be done in a static environment with as little stretch as possible.
It "looks" like a decent strap. It is rated with a break strength (probably average) of 27,000 lbs at 3" one ply which = about 9,000 lb per inch width which is about the norm. The problem with buying some imported recovery products is you can't see the issues. With cheap imports issues can (but not always) occur with the bulk manufacture of the webbing, or in the assembly. Your standard deviation of break will also probably be wider than a higher quality strap, which means the spread of straps breaking will be wider than nicer straps.
This strap is also polyester, and probably lower stretch, so it would not be wise to use for a snatch strap.
I've used straps like this before - and they worked - BUT - when dealing with load bearing recovery gear I suggest running quality equipment and deploying that equipment correctly.
And now I digress... Re: correct deployment - I had a customer come in the shop recently and talk about their 2 ply 6" strap they use to snatch people out of holes. a 2 ply 6" strap is effectively a 12" 1 ply strap. 12" x 9,000 lbs/in = an assumed break strength of 108,000 lbs. If the strap were nylon, and had an elongation at break of 8%, and you could only load it to 20,000 lbs during a snatch that would = an elongation of around 1.5% which = a bone jarring snatch. While the strap probably won't break, you are gonna feel that impact and that is not the correct use of recovery gear.
