Soft shackles—proper use and fitting up
- Thread starter WSS
- Start date
Just about anything that mimics a large knitting needle about 5-6" long that you can tape or attach the end of the line to will work. Jon from Winchline.com camped with us many times and showed us how to do it with the old Bic pen barrels. All you are looking for is something with a rounded point that won't snag the fine fibers of the line that you can feed into the innards of the line you are burying the tail into.
Of course, I would have them in a recovery bag (that will weigh 10lbs instead of 30lbs). I am way past the cool stage (age wise LOL) Why not use what is there? Lighter and safer. My wife is usually the one pulling line. I will remove the dangly steel shackles and thread the softies through there. One less potential failure point.
LONGJP2
TJ Expert
Steel Shackle is removed from equation. Soft shackle will go direct to shackle mount.
LONGJP2
TJ Expert
I jumped in with both feet tonight. Ordered a thimble mount fairlead, a thimble, synthetic style snatch block and three 3/4” soft shackles.
I’m going to weigh in and out to see what I trimmed off. I bet it’s 20lbs. I’ll. Have to do some training and rigging lessons before we get out on the trail. Should be quicker and safer. My passenger always had trouble with the shackle pin threading. Now it should be a simple task and not as directionally important with soft shackle placement.
I’m going to weigh in and out to see what I trimmed off. I bet it’s 20lbs. I’ll. Have to do some training and rigging lessons before we get out on the trail. Should be quicker and safer. My passenger always had trouble with the shackle pin threading. Now it should be a simple task and not as directionally important with soft shackle placement.
Lots struggle with shackle pins. Most also don't know to turn the pin in until it stops and then back it off a tiny bit to stop it from locking up and being hard to unscrew.
One more item to pick up and/or add to your TRE order before it ships is a "Tree Saver Soft Shackle". They are 8ft. long, 7/8" dia. and will allow a thimble or snatch block to tree saver connection. The less connections the better.
https://www.tacticalrecoveryequipment.com/product/tree-soft-shackle/
mrblaine is spot on with backing off the shackle pin.
You're still going to want to carry a hard shackle with you for those times when a soft shackle could be cut by a sharp edge. I carry my soft shackles, snatch blocks & hard shackle in a TRE canvas bag so they stay clean and out of the elements when not in use. I wouldn't leave anything on the front or rear bumper full time.
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I had it in my cart. I put together my "dream cart" and then backed off. My finance manager said she would overlook and not question anything under $500 LOL
Not that there is anything wrong with that big shackle but my preference for the rocks is an out of date way overkill lifting sling. We generally carry one that is 15ish feet long, 3" wide and rated for around 50,000 lbs. Not that we need that, but the extra bulk makes it less likely to tear up when we toss it around rocks as an anchor point.
One of these days if ya'll are really nice, I'll show you how to hook up a winch line to a rock that takes a 20 foot strap to go around when you only have a 15 footer.
LONGJP2
TJ Expert
It is actually a proven fact that folks that drive yellow vehicles are attention whores, so there is that.
Options. If you've ever done any rigging with a decent variety of equipment you'll find that an endless loop can do things that a flat strap can't always do as well. Soft shackles and the big soft shackle tree saver mimics an endless loop.
LONGJP2
TJ Expert
Whatever helps you sleep at night.
I guess I'll just have to rely on being able to improvise.