Snatch straps and D-Shackles

[Mark W]

This was just covered in a article in TT but I'm sure the idea has been around awhile.

I'm sure that I'm not the first to have thought about it, but it just brewed up in my head one day while I was putting together a receiver mount for a pintle hook. I tend to overbuild stuff like that and I realized that the pin had potential to be a major weak point.

Mark...

 

[canyoneer]

Where do you get a D-shackle that you can count on? Marine supply stores? Is there a rating on them (like six-line bolts) that I haven't noticed? Is galvanized OK?

 

[polarweasel]

The rating is cast right into the curve of the shackle: "WLL 3T" or whatever the working load limit is. They are rated for overhead lifting, so that limit is somewhere between 1/3 and 1/5 the breaking strength of the shackle -- large margins of safety are important when there are 6 tons hanging over your head from a crane...

So the limit is very conservative for recovery applications, but shackles are cheap -- buy the biggest ones that will fit! I like Rockstomper...he's local and has quality stuff.

 

[e9999]

good hardware store will have them.
OSH has a bunch.

 

[bigndn]

yup, my favorite. Use it all the time.

was taught this by a sailor friend of mine. He in turn was taught to do this with one hand, while hanging on for dear life with the other on a lifeline thrown from a boat!

I'd bet not too many people know how to do this..............but I do.

 

[e9999]

I'd bet not too many people know how to do this..............but I do.

could you tell us the one handed thing, please, I don't remember that part...

 

[rusty_tlc]

could you tell us the one handed thing, please, I don't remember that part...

It's the only way I know how to tie a bowline but it's hard to explain.
You are holding the standing part of the rope in your left hand and the rope around your waist. Grab the other end so the tip is between you thumb and fore finger with the robe crossing your palm. loop your right hand on top of the rope between your left arm and the rope then back up by your waist, the standing end is making a half hitch around your wrist and the loose end of the rope. Pass the loose end under the standing end from the right hand side, you do this by grabbing both parts then shifting you thumb and forefinger around the standing end. pull the loose end back through the half hitch. It's way easier to do than explain.

 

[Jake94]

I'd bet not too many people know how to do this..............but I do.

Me too. the 'ol man was a steevador in the SeaBee's and tought me this when I was knee high to a puddle duck.

'Nother trick he tought me, that I've use several times during vehicle recovery, is a bowline can be tied in chain, Holds fast and doesn't jam.

 

[calamaridog]

I recommend not ever using chain in combination with a strap for a snatch type of recovery. Chain stretches more than most realize and stores a good bit of energy all by itself. It can also bind and twist if you are not careful rigging it and break at a much lower load level because of this. If you have it attached to a highly elastic snatch strap this can be a very very bad thing.

If you do have to use a chain (it's still better than running a strap over a sharp edge which is almost certain to cut it), make sure you pay attention to how you rig it and do not get it twisted.

Attaching the strap to the hitch pin in a receiver works. But only for a perfectly straight pull. If you are pulling at an angle there is a high chance of cutting the strap on the mouth of the receiver.


Mark...

Mark,

Great advice. I worked for a rigging company for a year and you would be surprised at the stupid stuff I've seen people do My family also built cranes for the last 50 years and I saw some real dumb stuff done in the shop. Most accidents are caused by unsafe or unwise practices. It should be called "stupid" not "accident" most of the time.

Off road recovery, conducted by the average wheeler, is safest when done with straps. Everyone I wheel with is required to have solid front and rear recovery points and their own serviceable tow straps. If you don't have a solid recovery point, figure something out folks, it's not that hard, especially with all the resources on this forum.

Of course, it is funny when people lacking recovery points destroy their bumpers or tear their springs or axles out. I watch from a distance of course