MZS recovery pulley (1 Viewer)

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kcjaz

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I was told recovery rings fail real world testing because in periods of brief loss of tension the line can slip off the side and then you have synthetic on synthetic which quickly cuts through.

As a result, I only run AEV snatch blocks now. Not cheap, but recovery isn't an area to cut corners.
 
I wonder if the Factor55 ring that has silicone grippers suffers the same sliding off? anyone have first hand experience?
 
Rumor has it they failed the same test. Good gimmick, just not pragmatic and predictable.
 
I have the F55 pulley. Never used it. Probably should play with it before I actually need it.

Those AEV snatch blocks are nice but are price and really heavy. Any thoughts on Gear America ultra? A little cheaper, 40k MBS vs 50k of AEV but 3.5 lbs vs 7 lbs.

 
FWIW, I was watching videos on reverse winching and found this on which it pretty good on that topic and noticed he used 2 F55 rings. The vid shows the line slacking as he pulls himself out at 18:20. Doesn’t mean the rope can’t come off the pulley but thought it was interesting he was using 2 of the pulleys.
 
The guy I learned recovery techniques from has forgotten more than I will ever know about recovery. It convinced me to sell two never used f55 recovery rings for a pair of aev snatch blocks. YMMV.
 
I built power lines for a long time and that involves lots of running lines through blocks. This is something that would not last 5 minutes on my job site. Keeping the line in the block would be, literally, a full time job. If you were alone there would be no way to use this system because the line would never stay in the block without tension on the line. A self fairleading snatch block would be far more usable. And I’m not crazy about the lack of bearings that a real block would have. This is only my opinion based on what I could glean online.
 
I built power lines for a long time and that involves lots of running lines through blocks. This is something that would not last 5 minutes on my job site. Keeping the line in the block would be, literally, a full time job. If you were alone there would be no way to use this system because the line would never stay in the block without tension on the line. A self fairleading snatch block would be far more usable. And I’m not crazy about the lack of bearings that a real block would have. This is only my opinion based on what I could glean online.
Agree that any of these aluminum pulley rings would fail rapidly in any kind of frequent or industrial use but that's not what they are made for. You have a great point about being solo. I think these things can take some de-tensioning but certainly not total slacking of the line. If you couldn't see the pulley from the drivers seat, bad could happen real fast if the line came off the pulley. You could break/damage your synthetic line and be screwed.

The more I think about these things, the more I think the benefits are marginal compared to more traditional snatch blocks. The only real advantage is size and weight. It all adds up but in the end we are talking 20 lbs more for 3 or so good quality steel snatch blocks on loaded rigs weighing in at 7500 lbs. Cost may be another perceived advantage, like these MZS pulleys but you can also get cheap snatch blocks too. In the end, it is probably like anything else, you get what you pay for, and as @CharlieS recovery gear is probably not where you should cut corners.

I am curious about how well the F55 pulley (that I have already bought) actually works. I may have some time to play with it over Thanksgiving and see how easily it comes off the line.
 
I played around yesterday with my F55 pulley to see how well it really worked. I just set it up for a double pull (winch to a tree and back to front recovery point). I repeatedly pulled my rig toward the tree and then purposely let it slack to the point of letting the line totally fall to the ground including the pulley. I only used the winch to re-tension the rigging. The pulley never came off the line. Overall, it worked like a charm. It felt like there was a lot of friction involved though. It would be interesting to directly compare with a conventional snatch block. I suspect that the pulley/soft shackle eat up some of the power, though I didn’t notice any heat from the pulley.

I did not try a shallow angle type pull where there would be less line in the pulley. That might be where slacking may be a problem. I’ll try that next time.
 

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