Soft Shackles - Educate me

[Josie'sLandCruiser]

All of my recovery gear is old school steel stuff. Keep hearing about (and seeing for sale) "soft shackles." Interested in adding 1 or 2 to my recovery gear bag.

Looking for feedback on the various brands/models of soft shackles available on the US retail market. Please include the approximate cost of the shackle if you remember.

Thanks in advance.

 

[gnob]

Tons of options.
High end is Factor55 or Masterpull. Yankum, voodoo. Also alot of china stuff out there.
Buy from a reputable dealer look for usa made.
I currently own a few voodoo rope shackles ~$30 ea.
Weight saving is >. 5lb vs 2+lb

Consider the rope pulley if that's in your wheelhouse too. 1.5lb vs 5lb snatch block

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

I have approx 3 old school snatch blocks in my bag and tons of metal shackles. Don't think they will go back in a truck. We just recently loaded my non running FJ62 on a trailer with a few soft shackles, alum soft shackle snatch block (ebay) and synthetic winch rope on the 8274.. Times they are a changing. Way easier to use, lighter, not difficult to rig like wire rope etc. I have two of these from Custom Splice (they are local ish to me and i went by the owners house to purchase) 1/2" size. Soft Shackles for 4x4, Hammocks & More | Custom Splice - https://customsplice.com/collections/soft-shackles?variant=34592448479384
and a few of the china ones from ebay..
The custom splice soft shackles are great. Nice area for the alum block to roll on. China ones work also but you get what you pay for. I imagine the rope used all comes from China unless you specify amsteel or something similar from the vendor.
One tip when using the alum pulley, watch any winch rope protection sleeve. Mine got bound trying to go into the pully under load and almost stalled the 8274. I ended up cutting most of it off.
We also did some hard trails in Colorado recently and i was the designated cable puller, WAY easier to grab a tree strap, wear it like a bandolier, grab a couple soft shackles and hike than it is to sling metal cable, a metal snatch block, metal shackle, etc..

I did NOT splurge for the factor 55 pulley yet. I did splurge for a factor 55 flat splicer on all my winches. I figured i will use the winch line, winch end and soft shackle more than a snatchblock. It is on my list of to acquire soon.

One of our club members was going to try and make some soft shackles out of left over winch rope but never completed that project. I imagine after you learn how to tie the knots and splice everything it might be easier but my time is better spent on other things.

 

[Sandy Cruiser]

I have two Bubba Rope 7/16" Soft Shackles Around $50 each and one of the ASR Offroad 3/8" Extreme Soft Shackles around $60. All made in USA. I've used the Bubba ones with zero issues with snatch straps. The ASR one I've only used with my tree saver for my winch line so far no problems.

As far as build the regular none wrapped "flex" Soft Shackles are easer to slide into those factory recovery points pockets a lot of trucks/suv come with now. Ones like the ASR Extreme Soft Shackle I have are nice because they are more abrasion resistant. I do like that ASR lets you pick the color but FYI the custom color wait time for ASR stuff was like 3-4 weeks If I recall.

I would say any name brand soft shackle is fine though. ASR, Factor55, custom splice, Yankum, and others I cant think of right now. Personal opinion on cost I have had zero issues with ASR or Bubba so I would be hard pressed to pay more for the other "higher end" name brands. And if you really need to have the rated sling tags on your gear ASR dose that for a little less than the next three top brands.

 

[ChaseTruck]

Consider what the recovery points are before dumping the metal shackles from the recovery bag. My K5 has 2 recovery points each f/r, all 4 set up for 3/4" metal shackles. The Slee Shortbus bumpers on the '80 and the LX - the recovery points won't accept a soft shackle as well. At least not the ones I made myself from 1/2" diameter rope. I have one I got from southeast Overland back in the day, also based on 1/2" rope. But the metal shackles will stay in the bag.
I once did mangle a rope with a metal snatchblock, so I'll be adding the aluminum roller thingy before the next bigger trip.

 

[LandLocked93]

There's also the X-Block accessory that enables multi-line pulls using a single rope (if I understand it correctly). Or maybe it just shortens a rope so you don't have to spool it back in to reset between pulls. See Justin King on yt for more.
This device really showcases the main benefit of rope over cable - the bend radius.

I run cable and shackles as they cope far better in rocky terrain ime and I'm willing to sacrifice weight. Also some of the leverage (torque) of stacked cable on a spool is lost with rope most of the time.
And spooling out rope after hard pulls looks like a PITA compared to stacked cable (this is age biased lol).

 

[Eyedaho]

There's also the X-Block accessory that enables multi-line pulls using a single rope (if I understand it correctly). Or maybe it just shortens a rope so you don't have to spool it back in to reset between pulls. See Justin King on yt for more.
This device really showcases the main benefit of rope over cable - the bend radius.

I run cable and shackles as they cope far better in rocky terrain ime and I'm willing to sacrifice weight. Also some of the leverage (torque) of stacked cable on a spool is lost with rope most of the time.
And spooling out rope after hard pulls looks like a PITA compared to stacked cable (this is age biased lol).

You have some good points regarding steel cable. Regarding torque, you're going to get more of it the fewer wraps you have on your drum. It's counter intuitive, but the smaller diameter is similar to a lower gear.

 

[LandLocked93]

Regarding torque, you're going to get more of it the fewer wraps you have on your drum. It's counter intuitive, but the smaller diameter is similar to a lower gear.

That isn't counter intuitive.
What I said seems counter intuitive.
lol