Soft shackles—proper use and fitting up

[WSS]

I am slowly swimming to the soft shackle side of the pool. Can we get some dialog going about the safe and proper use of them? What do they really replace? Can I eliminate the steel D clevis altogether?

My last bumper, I made the clevis eyes with soft shackles in mind. I rounded the corners after a deep countersink in hopes of threading the shackle through the hole in the eye. I still think it is not enough, compression over that radius is still "sharp" I think. How far do I go? Any and all input including rabbit trails are encouraged.

 

[MountaineerTom]

Interested in this too.

 

[Irun]

I've been using soft shackles for at least the last three years now, doing dozens of pulls with them. I haven't really noticed any major wear issues. However, I have seen some minor wear on them. If I had to guess it's due to both normal use and the sharp edges on the shackle mount. It's enough to make me want to pull the bumper and radius the inside (shackle hole) and outside edges of the mount. Both sharp surfaces certainly seem like they could put excessive wear on the soft shackles.

 

[matkal]

Following

 

[Chris]

@mrblaine

 

[Chris]

I'm curious about this as well since my new rear bumper has clevis eyes with very sharp edges in mine.

In fact, I am running the same Next Venture rear bumper as you @jjvw. Did you do anything to radius the clevis eyes on yours? Not sure if this is really necessary or not with soft shackle use.

 

[ToddK]

I'm curious about this as well since my new rear bumper has clevis eyes with very sharp edges in mine.

In fact, I am running the same Next Venture rear bumper as you @jjvw. Did you do anything to radius the clevis eyes on yours? Not sure if this is really necessary or not with soft shackle use.

I found a soft shackle connected with a hitch pin on that Savvy rear receiver bumper to work extremely well. You’d be surprised how strong that attachment point is. I was unable to ever bend a pin and it got yanked from just about every angle possible at one point or another.

 

[tworley]

A little radius in the mount will certainly prolong the life of a soft shackle. A dremel, file, or even a chamfer bit would help. Dont be afraid to use them, they are not that frail.

I have four in my tool box, along with synthetic winch rope. Its surprising the how much weight you can start to accumulate with bow shackles

 

[mrblaine]

I found a soft shackle connected with a hitch pin on that Savvy rear receiver bumper to work extremely well. You’d be surprised how strong that attachment point is. I was unable to ever bend a pin and it got yanked from just about every angle possible at one point or another.

Astoundingly strong. We have used that connection many times and it works well, very well.

 

[mrblaine]

A little radius in the mount will certainly prolong the life of a soft shackle. A dremel, file, or even a chamfer bit would help. Dont be afraid to use them, they are not that frail.

I have four in my tool box, along with synthetic winch rope. Its surprising the how much weight you can start to accumulate with bow shackles

Yep, just ease the sharp edge, the more you can round it, the better it is but just knocking the sharp edge off will do wonders.

 

[mrblaine]

I'm curious about this as well since my new rear bumper has clevis eyes with very sharp edges in mine.

In fact, I am running the same Next Venture rear bumper as you @jjvw. Did you do anything to radius the clevis eyes on yours? Not sure if this is really necessary or not with soft shackle use.

Less sharp = less ability to cut the fibers in the shackle.

 

[mrblaine]

I've been using soft shackles for at least the last three years now, doing dozens of pulls with them. I haven't really noticed any major wear issues. However, I have seen some minor wear on them. If I had to guess it's due to both normal use and the sharp edges on the shackle mount. It's enough to make me want to pull the bumper and radius the inside (shackle hole) and outside edges of the mount. Both sharp surfaces certainly seem like they could put excessive wear on the soft shackles.

They do cause some extra wear. Just knocking the sharp edge off will do wonders.

 

[Chris]

What kind of tool is used for rounding the edges?

 

[mrblaine]

I am slowly swimming to the soft shackle side of the pool. Can we get some dialog going about the safe and proper use of them? What do they really replace? Can I eliminate the steel D clevis altogether?

My last bumper, I made the clevis eyes with soft shackles in mind. I rounded the corners after a deep countersink in hopes of threading the shackle through the hole in the eye. I still think it is not enough, compression over that radius is still "sharp" I think. How far do I go? Any and all input including rabbit trails are encouraged.

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Obviously the larger the radius, the less ability it has to cut the rope under load. Just cleaning the hole up like you did would generally be enough. Knock off the sharp outer corners and it would take a long time to ruin a shackle.

 

[mrblaine]

What kind of tool is used for rounding the edges?

You won't like the answer but generally they call it a round over bit.

 

[jjvw]

I'm curious about this as well since my new rear bumper has clevis eyes with very sharp edges in mine.

In fact, I am running the same Next Venture rear bumper as you @jjvw. Did you do anything to radius the clevis eyes on yours? Not sure if this is really necessary or not with soft shackle use.

My NV bumper came with lightly chamfered holes. I did the same to my Motobilt front with a round file. The edges are just knocked down.

I've done a good amount of pulling and towing with my soft shackles and haven't noticed any meaningful wear.

 

[mrblaine]

My NV bumper came with lightly chamfered holes. I did the same to my Motobilt front with a round file. The edges are just knocked down.

I've done a good amount of pulling and towing with my soft shackles and haven't noticed any meaningful wear.

It also important to understand the material. The UHMW fiber in most of the soft shackles is fairly immune to that type of abuse. If they were made of any of the aramid fibers, that would not be the case. Aramids suffer damage not immediately obvious when the fibers are stressed at 90 degree angles to the long axis. They will break down without any indication they are about to fail.

 

[Chris]

My NV bumper came with lightly chamfered holes. I did the same to my Motobilt front with a round file. The edges are just knocked down.

I've done a good amount of pulling and towing with my soft shackles and haven't noticed any meaningful wear.

Interesting, my NV bumper didn’t come with chamfered holes at all. I’ll just use a file, I’m sure that will be fine.

 

[WSS]

Interesting, my NV bumper didn’t come with chamfered holes at all. I’ll just use a file, I’m sure that will be fine.

If you have a die grinder, you can get a tapered stone (coarse grit is quicker) and wobble the tool around the hole till you like the profile. I used a stone on my angle grinder that looks like a die grinder stone but a little bigger and has a 5/8-11 fitting. The stone tended to eat up quick but left a nice rounded shape to work around the shackle tab hole.

 

[WSS]

It also important to understand the material. The UHMW fiber in most of the soft shackles is fairly immune to that type of abuse. If they were made of any of the aramid fibers, that would not be the case. Aramids suffer damage not immediately obvious when the fibers are stressed at 90 degree angles to the long axis. They will break down without any indication they are about to fail.

How do we distinguish between UHMW and Aramid material?