Quality soft shackle brands recommendation

[1world1love]

What I am trying to achieve when I add my winch is that the winch itself will be the "fuse" or limiting component, then nothing will fail or break in the rigging or attachments if the truck gets hung up.

This is a good post in general but this seems the salient point. If everything in my kit is in good condition yet something fails before my winch gives up, something has gone terribly wrong.

 

[1world1love]

Safer, lighter, easier to mount, just as strong as a bow shackle, prevents damaging the vehicle or bumper.

I've had good luck with Bubba rope soft shackles for a few years now. I still have my d shackles but barely use them anymore beyond decoration on my rear bumper

I would not use soft shackles on any recovery point on my, or anyone else's, vehicle. The edges are just not rounded enough.

 

[CharlieS]

Some recovery points like the Trail Tailor can be ordered rounded over to be soft shackle friendly. The Factor 55 HitchLink recovery points are also designed for both bow shackles and soft shackles. I know some folks here have rounded over the edges on their ARB recovery points to make them more soft shackle friendly.

 

[1world1love]

Some recovery points like the Trail Tailor can be ordered rounded over to be soft shackles friendly. The Factor 55 HitchLink recovery points are also designed for both bow shackles and soft shackles. I know some folks here have rounded over the edges on their ARB recovery points to make them more soft shackle friendly.

Yes, you can get recovery points that are suitable, but for TT, they are not by default. You have to request that. I only say that to reiterate to people that NOT ALL TT recovery points are OK for soft shackles.

Also, it is not just about having a softened edge, but having a consistent and wide radius for the load, otherwise you diminish the capacity of the rope.

You may be fine for one recovery with a rounded over recovery point, but I would not use that shackle again because at those forces, it will 100% damage the shackle.

 

[1world1love]

First off, I will say that I am not a materials scientist, but just using normal logic and basic physics here. I could be completely wrong but not sure that I am. I would be interested in other's thoughts one way or another.

I'm sitting at my desk working so don't have much to demonstrate this visually, but this might do it. There is a cord wrapped over an iPhone, which is a small radius, but still probably as think as many standard recovery points:

Imagine its a rope and there is 8000 lbs of force pulling it over hardened steel. Obviously the fibers will stretch, but they won't stretch evenly (more on the fibers on the outer edge) and they won't compress evenly (more on the fibers on the inner edge). Think about this picture, but with a 1/2" rope rather than a tiny cord and hardened steel rather than a phone. Lots of stretching and compressing, and most importantly, friction.

on the other hand:

With a larger radius, the compression and stretching forces are more evenly distributed through the rope and there is less friction at load.

Again, I may be thinking all wrong about this, but look at these two products. The first is a MaxTrax hitch point made specifically for soft shackles. Look how large the radius is:

And here is the TT recover point rounded over, in theory to support soft shackles:

Just my opinion, but I would always use bow shackles on vehicle recovery points and save the soft shackles for connecting to tree savers or snatch straps and the like. A $12 dollar bow shackle will do that job all day every day for years and years. A soft shackle....not so much and probably not more than once.

 

[CharlieS]

The TT front recovery points are much thicker and those designed for soft shackles have a large radius bend.

 

[kcjaz]

That is an atypical viewpoint, when winches are so often talked about in "bigger is better" terms, but the above makes a ton of sense.

A bit off topic but... In January this year I went to one of our major construction project sites to help with root cause analysis on a safety incident we had. An air hoist had been used to pull a very large piece of equipment of the dunnage it was erected on to the permanent foundation slab. By large I mean about the size of a small house weighing about 300 tons. The crew had installed a temporary anchor point into the concrete slab and rigged a wire rope to it, the air hoist and then to the piece of equipment. The expected friction load needed to move the piece of equipment was 15 tons and the anchor was good for 35 tons. All the rigging components were rated higher and the air hoist was rated for 25 tons. We're all good right? No. The equipment initially slid on its rollers as planned until it hit the edge of the concrete foundation and became an anchor point causing the hoist to quickly max out. The hoist rating of 25 tons was based on an air supply of 87 psi but the compressor regulator was set at 150 psi. At 150 psi, the air hoist pulled with 47 tons of force. The anchor bolts sheared and launched the air hoist and everything attached to it flying toward the piece of equipment they were trying to move. There were 5 guys next to the rigging. The 2000 lb air hoist flew through the air and just missed one of them. Luckily, no one was hurt. Someone very easily could have been killed. So no, more is not always better.

 

[borfoo3]

I would not use soft shackles on any recovery point on my, or anyone else's, vehicle. The edges are just not rounded enough.

Bubba’s website has the shackle picture mounted on a stock recovery point. You can also get a chafe guard for it if your worried on abrasion or cutting but so far I never felt it was necessary. They are really tough.

Just like a recovery rope, they will wear down eventually from repeated use and abuse and would be replacing them at some point. In 4 years, I only broke one of these shackles pulling a stuck RV (way too heavy for my shackles) and they’ve lived a tough life in the Middle East heat, sun and sand dunes

 

[linuxgod]

I would not use soft shackles on any recovery point on my, or anyone else's, vehicle. The edges are just not rounded enough.

You can use them on the Toyota factory recovery points. The factory Toyota recovery points, while not sexy, are perfectly fine for them as they are round and will handle the load. The LC ones are very strong. If you want beefier you can swap in the even larger Tundra hooks, though they hang down a bit further.

My TT bumper has recovery points built in. I removed the tie downs but I kept my factory recovery points as well. Yes they stick forward a little bit, but I know they are strong and honestly if I have to winch myself with a snatch block I'd rather split the total load of the winch and recovery point between the bumper mount and the recovery point bolts in the frame than have both the winch and the recovery point basically attached to the same part of the frame.

 

[1world1love]

Bubba’s website has the shackle picture mounted on a stock recovery point. You can also get a chafe guard for it if your worried on abrasion or cutting but so far I never felt it was necessary. They are really tough.

Just like a recovery rope, they will wear down eventually from repeated use and abuse and would be replacing them at some point. In 4 years, I only broke one of these shackles pulling a stuck RV (way too heavy for my shackles) and they’ve lived a tough life in the Middle East heat, sun and sand dunes

Yeah, maybe I’m just being irrational about soft shackles. I do carry a couple and I have used them but I’m still suspect of them for some reason.

 

[CharlieS]

Yeah, maybe I’m just being irrational about soft shackles. I do carry a couple and I have used them but I’m still suspect of them for some reason.

I think it is easy to feel that way. I felt the same way at first - how can a piece of rope work nearly as well as a hunk of steel - but I've become a convert. I still use bow shackles (I used some last week to pull a subaru out of a ditch), but where appropriate, I prefer a soft shackle.

 

[BlueYetiJeep]

We got us a pair of the K72 Rope 1/2'' soft shackles, these are beefy.
They also add some hard coating to the end of the shackles for extra strength. I have used them mostly to recover
other people we see on the off-road trails. They work as expected.

Store - Guardian of Bravery

MADE IN THE USA K72 Rope by Guardian of Bravery 1/2'' Soft Shackle Incredibly strong for its weight. Made in USA Dyneema SK-75 fiber 12 Strand single braid Average break strength: 34,300 lbs 8,575 lbs Working Load Limit (WLL) UV Resistant For static recovery use only Less weight than traditional...

guardianofbravery.com

 

[BlueYetiJeep]

I think it is easy to feel that way. I felt the same way at first - how can a piece of rope work nearly as well as a hunk of steel - but I've become a convert. I still use bow shackles (I used some last week to pull a subaru out of a ditch), but where appropriate, I prefer a soft shackle.

Soft shackles are so light and easy to use. I prefer them too

 

[blatant]

Bit of a thread resurrection but this is recent, and while somewhat way too long, has lessons to take away

 

[Artie]

Bit of a thread resurrection but this is recent, and while somewhat way too long, has lessons to take away

Time stamp 8:30: he grabs a soft shackle he bought from Amazon to use on the rescue vehicle.

Good Gawd!

I wonder if the rescue vehicle had the beveled radius attachment points like the Dissent bumper has

I’m no seasoned vet here, at all… but I know better than to use a soft shackle from Amazon. There are things I try to buy direct from the manufacturer and rescue gear is on that list. Even the name brand stuff on Amazon can be fake.

Dude is lucky.

Dude could have made that video less than 10 min long as well.

 

[bloc]

The recovery ripped his anchor point out of the frame too, so it was a whole lot of energy. Amazon or not I’m not sure a soft shackle will deal with that well.

Also agree on the potential lack of radius for the jeep-side recovery point.

 

[ga12r1]

I haven't had time to watch that entire video, just kinda sped though it. Does he mention if they let the kinetic rope recover long enough after the first pulls? Was it wet or wet/frozen during the recovery? Was the rope rating too much for the jeep, more suited for 3/4 ton trucks? All those things would definitely matter.

 

[Artie]

I haven't had time to watch that entire video, just kinda sped though it. Does he mention if they let the kinetic rope recover long enough after the first pulls? Was it wet or wet/frozen during the recovery? Was the rope rating too much for the jeep, more suited for 3/4 ton trucks? All those things would definitely matter.

The rope rating is a good point I didn’t consider. Too heavy a rating wouldn’t allow for the elastic kinetic component to work. He did mention that the next to last pull was very violent… you may be on to something here. Wet/frozen, too much weight rating, or both.

 

[kcjaz]

The recovery ripped his anchor point out of the frame too, so it was a whole lot of energy. Amazon or not I’m not sure a soft shackle will deal with that well.

Also agree on the potential lack of radius for the jeep-side recovery point.

I watched this the other day. Yes, he used an amazon soft shackle and he put of through the clevis holes, which was a bad choice, but the first hard pull ripped his anchor point out of the Bronco. IMO, it wasn't the Amazon shackle that caused this. It actually performed pretty well given what it was asked to do. His real issue was more not understanding how stuck we really was combined with the guy pulling him out really sending it with a kinetic rope (that was also too high of a rating). After the first really hard pull, he should have stopped and assessed his situation and he says this in the video. This really could have been Bronco parts flying into the recovery vehicle.

The part that really makes me pause is that there was enough energy/momentum to send a soft shackle through a windshield. I have always thought about a soft shackle failure sending my Factor55 flat link back at me and wondered if deleting the flat link and just using the loop on the end of the winch line directly with a soft shackle might be better.

 

[bloc]

and wondered if deleting the flat link and just using the loop on the end of the winch line directly with a soft shackle might be better.

Yes.