Snatch Block Bargain

[greentruck]

I came across this deal elsewhere and ordered a couple on Monday. They were on my porch today! Allen Machine has some very competitive pricing on snatch blocks that are the equivalent of the higher cost brands: Material Handling-Lifting, Hoisting, Pulling


Order the Yarding BLOC 1240 (4.5 ton) and it is the same red snatch block as the W# 15640 block. Allen also has larger and smaller blocks. If you'd prefer it in galvanized finish, for instance, order BLOC 1280.

The customer service can't be beat either. No connection other than a very satisfied customer. It's like they put some guy in a truck to drive up here with it!

 

[Anthony.L]

I saw this also posted somewhere else.

Could you post a quick picture of the snatch block? With maybe something else in the picture for scale. The picture on their site is extremely small and hard to get an idea of it's size.

 

[greentruck]

I don't have pics handy right now, but the thread where I found this deal is over at Expedition Portal: Pulley Block and Shackles for a 10,000# Winch - Expedition Portal Forum

The BLOC 1240 (5" pulley) is the next to the largest size and are the ones I bought. The pic in the thread at EP is of the largest size (sez 6 ton on the casting and has a 6" pulley) and is Allen's BLOC 1250.

Brand W rates the same one they sell as the 1240 for use with a 12k winch. So the 1250 should be able to handle whatever you can throw at it. It's just going to be really huge to pack around, so I went with the 1240s.

 

[-Spike-]

Thanks for the link, those prices are great. Nice to see the comparisons to a well-known brand and the other discussion in the ExPo thread. Just wish the site showed pics of each type of block, they seem to have 4 different kinds but only two pics- and neither is labeled. Without someone having posted pics of what they actually got from there, I wouldn't know what I was buying.

 

[e9999]

I dealt with all this stuff a while back with Warn when I found out that my "24,000 lbs" block was stamped 4.5 tons...
I thought it was pretty cheeky of them to advertise them as 24,000 frankly, although they do say "max cap". Still a bit unclear. Not to mention the cost...

I would not automatically assume that all handling accessories are 5x safety factor. I think some are more like 3x.

 

[Anthony.L]

Also worth noting from reading the Expedition Forums thread people have called Warn and they do not recommend using these blocks with synthetic rope. YMMV

 

[greentruck]

Yeah, if you didn't know what to ask for, you'd certainly not know they were even there. I think they are passing the savings in marketing and web design onto their customers

I saw the discussion on ExPo about these not being recommended for use with synthetic rope. Not mentioned was the fact that these things are so darned heavy, you'd have to get some significant tension on the block by holding it just so before you could let go of it, otherwise the rope would likely get caught or snagged in the gap between the pulley and sheave. That would be unsafe, whereas no big deal with cable since it's so stiff.

 

[e9999]

Yeah, if you didn't know what to ask for, you'd certainly not know they were even there. I think they are passing the savings in marketing and web design onto their customers

I saw the discussion on ExPo about these not being recommended for use with synthetic rope. Not mentioned was the fact that these things are so darned heavy, you'd have to get some significant tension on the block by holding it just so before you could let go of it, otherwise the rope would likely get caught or snagged in the gap between the pulley and sheave. That would be unsafe, whereas no big deal with cable since it's so stiff.

IIRC, it sounded like Warn was saying their biggest one was not recommended for synth but the 24K one was OK.

 

[greentruck]

There were several replies in the ExPo thread, so it sounded rather much like the Game of Telephone, with multiple reasons why it wasn't a good idea.

I only mentioned my reason because it wasn't mentioned in the other thread and seemed like an obvious one to me. Synth is limp stuff relative to cable and this block just wouldn't work well unless you had someone spotting by holding onto it so when you took up the slack it pulled at just the right angle for the rope not to be sucked into the gap.

Want your hand in there? Naw, me neither.

I think maybe Warn just gives people a reason that's less complicated like "it's not smooth enough" to "warn" people away from using these with rope.

Heck, I've never had a rope winch, but I can see by looking at these blocks from past rigging experiences that I'd never want to use something like this horizontally with rope. That really is the challenge of designing a good snatch block for rope the way we use winches. It has to be a horse of another color than a cable snatch block. Vertically, it would be different, perhaps a little easier, because your rope or cable tends to hang in the pulley's groove by gravity. Not so when you winch.

If you do use rope, you'd want to be sure a use a snatch block that's specifically designed for rope. Not these.

 

[e9999]

There were several replies in the ExPo thread, so it sounded rather much like the Game of Telephone, with multiple reasons why it wasn't a good idea.

I only mentioned my reason because it wasn't mentioned in the other thread and seemed like an obvious one to me. Synth is limp stuff relative to cable and this block just wouldn't work well unless you had someone spotting by holding onto it so when you took up the slack it pulled at just the right angle for the rope not to be sucked into the gap.

Want your hand in there? Naw, me neither.

I think maybe Warn just gives people a reason that's less complicated like "it's not smooth enough" to "warn" people away from using these with rope.

Heck, I've never had a rope winch, but I can see by looking at these blocks from past rigging experiences that I'd never want to use something like this horizontally with rope. That really is the challenge of designing a good snatch block for rope the way we use winches. It has to be a horse of another color than a cable snatch block. Vertically, it would be different, perhaps a little easier, because your rope or cable tends to hang in the pulley's groove by gravity. Not so when you winch.

If you do use rope, you'd want to be sure a use a snatch block that's specifically designed for rope. Not these.

"cable" is actually (wire) rope, but I guess I know what you meant...

 

[greentruck]

Yeah, something like that...

Will that be cable -- or plastic?