Injury from soft shackle failure
- Thread starter rjaym
- Start date
Or people would stop trying to rip the vehicle they are recovering apart.
All you should need is a rope sized to extract the vehicle needing recovered if you have a larger recovery vehicle and you pull it in a reasonable fashion.
I wonder if Yankum’s sizing has more to do with CYA than anything else.
I grew up recovering with log chains so I look forward to seeing what others with some experience have to say about it.
I've made this point many times, one of these days it will stick, I hope. Every recovery bag within easy reach should have a roll of cheap electrical tape. If you toss a loop over a hook without a keeper, tape it in place with several wraps and cut the tape when you are done. The easy reach part is if the bag is in the back and hard to get to, put that roll of tape beside the seat on the floor with your gloves and a shackle or two.
I made a note of it when you mentioned it a while back. Only I carry the good stuff, the local POCO here is very generous with Scotch 33, the guys get armloads of it and freely share it. The advantage is that it doesn't turn into a gooey mess in the heat out here. My Scotch 33 hangs on my belt bag which goes with me on every trip out of town.
Yep chains and wire ropes here. Later we went to two and three inch nylon straps. I still carry a Peerless CC2003 2x30 strap. It’s rated breaking strength is around 15000lbs which is less than most 3/4 inch kinetic rope. We just make do and not try and break it. I have no need to change it out currently since the majority of trails up here do not give you much opportunity to use a strap.
I've got a 2x20 and 3x30 strap ..and 4 x 8 tree savers. Mostly use them for winch extensions, bridals and flat towing.
I find broken straps everywhere...sides, middle of trails, roads, tied around trees, bumpers, axles.
Burned cars we recovered (on my YT now) were dragged and flipped with 1" rachet straps. Of note in that video we actually pulled apart several factory shipping points...so if you really want to see how flimsy those points are watch away.
I also find them tied together which is hilarious because the knots they use usually 1/4 the load rating.
But hey...in all those broken remnants we hardly find any vehicles...so it did work enough to get someone out...but who knows what got broken.
Cheap gear can be really expensive.
And don't get me started on recovering a Toyota several years ago when I too didn't have much gear. Told the guy he didn't have any recovery points and that we were going to do damage pulling...creased a fender as predicted but saved the guy, his buddy and girlfriend who were all in jeans and t shirts...snow pouring down...from spending the night in their truck. So then the asshole asked me for my insurance...we all.learn lessons the hard way.
-Mac
The worst part about this is people leaving their broken shit behind for others to clean up. Littering get trails closed often as fast as trail abuse.
Good on ya Mac for doing your part to clean things up.
Times when I would get stuck on a pipeline right of way, there was always a nylon sling to get me out. *I think sling was the term they used* They never used chains.
There are probably 10 different materials they make slings from. The chances of one being nylon are pretty slim. Nylon is very susceptible to UV degradation and is very stretchy. Neither of those two properties make it an ideal material for a lifting sling. That said, the only difference between a chain and a lifting sling's ability to cause damage under impact loads is the sling just weighs a bit less. They are as unforgiving and non stretchy as chain.
Me personally I'd rather get hit with a sling than a chain.
I also suppose that's the origin story of a lot of this recovery gear. Straps were decertified lifting slings until they were purpose-built for recovery. Kinetic rope was mooring line before it was purpose built.
-Mac
I also suppose that's the origin story of a lot of this recovery gear. Straps were decertified lifting slings until they were purpose-built for recovery. Kinetic rope was mooring line before it was purpose built.
-Mac
Great rhetorical question to delve into the physics a little more. You know the answer but I'll take this opportunity to spell it out for the group. Because I'm a nerd.
It can help to use specific terms:
Force is a load, described as pounds. This is what breaks things when it's too high. And if it's too low nothing moves at all.
Kinetic Energy is force applied over distance, described as foot-pounds (easily confused with torque, which is force). The equation is .5(mass)x(velocity)^2.
In this recovery situation, Force determines if the Bronco moves at all. Energy determines how far it moves.
Looking at the Kinetic Energy equation, The Mass matters for sure, but the energy goes up with the SQUARE of velocity. Going from a pull at 1mph to a pull at 2mph gives you 4x the energy. Going from 1mph to 4mph is 16 times as much energy! To get the same energy increase from mass, this would be like going from a 5,000 lb Jeep to an 80,000 lb fully-loaded tractor trailer! Speed is a much bigger factor than weight.
The huge variable in a dynamic recovery is how Energy gets converted into Force. The overly simplistic answer is that if Energy is foot-pounds, we divide by feet to find pounds. Energy/(distance force is applied over) = Force.
(Distance Force is Applied) is determined by the elasticity of the connection. A more elastic connection, ie a smaller-diameter kinetic rope, will greatly reduce the force. With a non-elastic connection where the distance approaches 0 the force applied approaches infinity. This is why you don't take a running start with logging chain!
From a practical standpoint when evaluating THIS recovery, I have to say FORCE was clearly excessive. They damaged the frame on the Bronco and nearly ripped off the recovery point. I'm going to call that excessive force.
As many have pointed out, a lot should have been done to reduce the force required to move the Bronco. A properly sized kinetic rope would have helped as well.
What's more, I'll take the controversial stand that the soft shackle DID NOT underperform. Yes it failed, most likely due to poor mounting, but better the shackle than the entire mounting point on the Bronco. I do not see this as evidence to avoid using that type of shackle.
This example does show a possible new product opportunity: shock-absorbing fuseable link to limit overloading in a controlled fashion. Basically an upsized shock absorbing lanyard like that used for industrial fall protection: folded webbing stitched together where the stitches rip when overloaded, letting the webbing extend. This would make the Bubba-ropes a bit more Bubba-resistant.
It really sucks when you can't find a decent recovery point on a vehicle.
It really sucks more when you can't find a recovery point on an oven...in an ice cold river...
I've always thought soft shackles were my fuse in my recovery system. I like that sewn together fuse idea.
-Mac
It really sucks more when you can't find a recovery point on an oven...in an ice cold river...
I've always thought soft shackles were my fuse in my recovery system. I like that sewn together fuse idea.
-Mac
Just a question not related to yanking someone out, but using a tow strap to get someone form being high centered, out of a hole or an obstacle. I was told that its better to connect to the rear of the pulling jeep than is to connect to the front of the pulling jeep, and putting it in reverse to free the stuck vehicle is this true or a wives tale
You would be adding a whole level of complexity and additional connection points that we try so hard to avoid. You are better to properly size your kinetic line, make sure your connections and rigging are up to snuff then use them as intended.
I've never seen the pulling damage anything pulling from the rear. I have seen several break front axle shafts, u-joints, and damage ring gears pulling from the front.
So we would use the electrical tape around the rope making the loop smaller so it is less likely to slip off?
It can still get bounced off with a smaller loop, as Josh pointed out, tape the eye of the loop to the hook. Or tape a hook to the hook.
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