Recovery/tow straps

[brad77]

In doing some research about what to bring when you hit the trails, recovery/tow straps are mentioned quite often. When I looked into getting one, noticed that they come in a variety of sizes/strengths.

What is an acceptable strength? I know we're talking about a ~4200 lb machine, but I don't know how much pull would be needed to un-stick a stuck truck. Would 15,000 lbs be a good guess?

thanks in advance...
brad

[Schludwiller]

I use a Pro-Comp 3"x30ft - 30,000 lb rating recovery strap $50. But you could get away with a 2" strap rated at 20,000 lbs $30. Just make sure they don't have metal hooks.

[bluez28guy]

The reason they are better than just about everyting elsi si caus they streach a little when pulled. I have a "6X'30 I got for $50 at my local Peterbuilt repair shop. You prob won't need one that big, but it never hurts to be safe. I also dont have an X, ive got an 89 ramcharger. If you do get one make sure its througly cleaned every time you use it and it will last forever. If the dirt stays in it the dirt will tare it up pretty quick.

[evergreen]

i would go with the at least a 30,000 lb strap and as long as possible. i would also invest in a good set of metric tools.

[OffroadX]

A 2" 20,000 lb. rated strap will do for most situtations, and a 3" 30,000 lb. strap is better for nasty stucks in mudholes.

Toss the strap in your washer when you get home to clean it.

Brent

[Kennedy]

Toss the strap in your washer when you get home to clean it.

Don't do that. Washing machines will weaken the fibers in your tow starp and cause premature wear and breaking. Hose it off at the Car wash and let it dry. Store it inside the truck in a bag (Not on the front of the truck). UV rays do the same thing (weaken the fibers).

Remember... Recovery gear is your friend. Treat it like it!

[rhombus]

I agree...
You can also use you bath tub to clean it.
You don't need soap, just get the dirt out of it.

Remeber that the tow strap has have to be dynamic not static.
To do it's job it has to stretch and store the energy and then snap back.

If you do not clean it then the fibers will wear down (dirt is like sandpaper, not good) and it will loss it's ability to function as designed.

The name Tow Strap is a bit misleading.
Chains are mean for towing (or totally static rope with no give).

[Schludwiller]

Originally posted by rhombus


The name Tow Strap is a bit misleading.

Tug strap gets used sometimes too. Eventually I'm headed down to this marine rope shop in Seattle that makes the extra springy ropes for recovery. We used a jeepers once on Naches and it worked great.

[Kerensky97]

I already did a huge post on the XOC about this but its an important topic so I thought I'd repost it here for those who don't 2 time like me.

Some of this won't make sense because its from a different discussion.

Posted on XOC

I'll try to answer as many questions in the thread as I can (ie I'm not typeing this again).
There are three types of straps to extract yourself when stuck.

First is the Chain (I know its not really a strap).
It's heavy but realitively safe if it breaks, the bennefit and drawback is that it has no elasticity. This is good if you are using a HiLift or Come-A-Long to winch yourself out because you can only reel in 4-6ft. at a time and you dont want the strap to stretch 3ft evry time you winch in 4 ft. The drawback is if you use it to tow or yank a vehicle. It's a jarring experience to say the least and could easily result in the loss of a attachment points on both vehicles.

Second is the tow strap.
It has hooks on the end and a very low weight tolerance.
It should only be used for towing!
The reason is that if you yank using it the strap or the hooks can break (that's why you shouldn't use a hook even if it has a piece that closes the loop). The benefit when towing is that it can absorb the minor stretches used when towing a stalled vehicle.

Third is the almighty Yank Strap.
A MUST HAVE if you go offroad.
The purpose of Yanking a stuck vehicle is to apply a smooth amount pulling force that can't be obtained using the chain. A yank strap has looped fabric ends and a pulling rating of over 3 to 4 times the weight of the vehicle.
There are three ways to use a yank strap:


1-Connect the two vehicles and have the unstuck vehicle slowly try to pull the stuck vehicle out.

2-If #1 doesn't work the unstuck vehicle takes up the slack on the strap and the slowly accellerates away until the the weight of the stuck vehicle stops it.
The elasticity of the yank strap then pulls the stuck vehicle out.

3-The last resort. If none of the above steps work then the unstuck vehicle takes up enough slack to get the strap off the ground then guns the engine and tries to pull away with all of its might.
This is also the most dangerous of the the three if you didn't guess.

quote:
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Originally posted by Xterra Rick:
I am also hitchless.........
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Me too, and now you see one of the major problems about not having any rear tow hooks, or front ones in some cases.
The best thing to do until you get Calmini's rear bumper is to get a large shackle to go around the rear spring hanger like Brent did.

I think this is what kayak_x meant.

Do Not yank from the spring shackle itself though.
You should never yank or winch from a part of the vehicle that move independantly from the frame unless you want to damage your suspension and driveline.

Those holes you have instead of a tow hook are tie down hole for shipping vehicles. There are two in front and two in the rear. But they don't have the strength to be winched or yanked from.
However when you're stuck in the middle of nowhere and you get desperate you may have no choice. Just try not to put too much stress on them, if you have a tree trunk protector (its like a 8ft by 2" yank strap) then you can hook this to both tie down holes and have it run through the loop of a yank strap. This would even out the stress on both holes and hopefully not cause any damage.

The same can be said for using a tow strap as a yank strap, it can be done in an emergency but remember to take all precautions and try to pull with just enough force to get yourself out. Hooks can go through glass like it wasn't there. One other safety precaution is to have the hook with the opening facing up, that way if the hook breaks most of the force will be directed downward into the ground.

Never use a hitch ball as an attaching point. If the ball does happen to fail it becomes a tiny cannonball and can go through head-rests and anything in front of them.

This doesn't even touch on all of the safety concerns of using a winch. With a winch you don't have a fist size hunk of metal, you have a thin wire that cuts through metal like a cheese slicer. Plus you have to worry about getting hands caught in the fairlead and a whole mess of gruesome problems.

The most important rule is to not get in a rush. It doesn't matter if you have 40 people behind you on the trail and their all honking at you to get out of the way.
TAKE YOUR TIME!

It's not worth rushing something and forgetting about safety. You're life may depend on it (and I'm not trying to be dramatic).

[warmonger]

My personal preference is tow hooks on all four corners. There is a reason for this:



Notice the strap in the V-shape in front of the truck. This is what Kerensky was talking about. One of the Toyotas in our group that day used a rope that was too big to fit on a tow hook. To resolve the situation, we cross-tied my two front tow hooks with one strap bringing it through the eyelet of the rope. We than had to cross-tie the tow hooks at the rear of the Jeep pulling me out (the Toyota was unable to budge me after 10 pulls). This technique distributes the weight of the vehicle between two tow hooks and evens the pull on the frame at all pulling angles. Using this technique, the Jeep only took 3 pulls to break the suction and get me out of the swamp.

Here in the south we call them Snatch Straps. We commonly have to "snatch" trucks out of the mud to break the suction underneath. My experience has been: Chains suck unless you are on the road moving a vehicle that doesn't run, ropes are sometimes too big to fit where you need them, especially if the vehicle has no pull point where you are hooking to and have to frame wrap it and last; "snatch straps" are the way to go for most pulls. Generally a 2" 20 or 30 foot strap will suffice. You just make sure you have shackles and other straps in the vehicle in case you need a longer strap. I carry one 2" 20 footer, one 2" 10 footer and one 2" 6 footer in my recovery gear box.