Basic recovery gear question

[Zachanadandy]

Man…. I don’t know about the $200 mark…. Especially when we start looking at snatch blocks 2x pull multiplier- which usually means 5/8” soft shackles… they run $60-90 each….

I would say- don’t think about the price as a whole…. Just start piecing together a recovery kit made of quality items.

If you don't have a winch, what good is a snatch block? If you do have a winch with synthetic line, I'd suggest a snatch ring. Cheaper, lighter, just as effective, with no moving parts or points for the line to get pinched. You can find a 35klb rated ring that comes with a soft shackle for $30 on Amazon. A 30' 1-1/8" kinetic recovery rope with 2 soft shackles for $80. Add a $20 folding shovel and a $20 tree strap. $150 and you've got a pretty good recovery kit. Add a $300 xbull 12klb winch and you're set. I've been running this same gear since 2019. Dozens of hard pulls in mud and snow and it's good as new.

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[bleda2002]

Rhino gear USA and Gear America are quality less expensive brands. Personally I went with 4 rhino shackles, a rhino kinetic rope, gear america tree strap/tow strap and a gear america recovery ring. Not as fancy as factor 55 or yankum, but just as effective and a lot more price friendly.

 

[Zachanadandy]

Actually works quite well. I have done it with a tree branch in a pinch.

Soft shackles are like $20/pair on Amazon and take up almost no space. Sure if I somehow found myself without any the dowel trick might come in handy, but I keep enough in the Jeep to join every strap/winch line/extension together. If the anchor is more than 300' away I'm screwed but that's another issue.

 

[cranbiz]

Soft shackles are like $20/pair on Amazon and take up almost no space. Sure if I somehow found myself without any the dowel trick might come in handy, but I keep enough in the Jeep to join every strap/winch line/extension together. If the anchor is more than 300' away I'm screwed but that's another issue.

I would trust the tree branch more than I would trust $10 Amazon soft shackles.

To be clear, I prefer to use the right equipment, be it a D-Ring or quality soft shackle. Sometimes the situation requires improvision, that's when one might need unconventional methods. Now I carry 5 D-Rings and 2 7/16" Amsteel soft shackles. At the time I used the tree branch, I didn't have the inventory of shackles that I have now.

 

[Zachanadandy]

I would trust the tree branch more than I would trust $10 Amazon soft shackles.

To be clear, I prefer to use the right equipment, be it a D-Ring or quality soft shackle. Sometimes the situation requires improvision, that's when one might need unconventional methods. Now I carry 5 D-Rings and 2 7/16" Amsteel soft shackles. At the time I used the tree branch, I didn't have the inventory of shackles that I have now.

I'll take a budget soft shackle over a tree branch or shovel handle any day. I couldn't tell you how many shovel handles I've broken in half just digging and you want me to hook 2 30klb straps together with one? I can tell you how many soft shackles I've seen pulled in half under human power, because it's 0. Factor in the potential projectiles and I'd say you're far better off buying cheap recovery gear than playing with sticks.

 

[cranbiz]

I'll take a budget soft shackle over a tree branch or shovel handle any day. I couldn't tell you how many shovel handles I've broken in half just digging and you want me to hook 2 30klb straps together with one? I can tell you how many soft shackles I've seen pulled in half under human power, because it's 0. Factor in the potential projectiles and I'd say you're far better off buying cheap recovery gear than playing with sticks.

You are comparing apples to oranges. Different forces and leverage play into your examples. You don't trust the wood and I wouldn't trust a $10 soft shackle in a 10K lb pull.

We don't actually disagree, I wouldn't make a recovery kit depending on wooden pieces to join ropes and straps. I also wouldn't base my kit on $10 soft shackles either.

 

[Zachanadandy]

You are comparing apples to oranges. Different forces and leverage play into your examples. You don't trust the wood and I wouldn't trust a $10 soft shackle in a 10K lb pull.

We don't actually disagree, I wouldn't make a recovery kit depending on wooden pieces to join ropes and straps. I also wouldn't base my kit on $10 soft shackles either.

I bought the cheap shackles to prove there was no way you could get serviceable soft shackles that cheap as I shared your opinion. 4 years later, dozens of hard pulls including pulling a stump in the yard hard enough to break the winch line... the soft shackles have proved themselves to me. I have steel shackles in the recovery bag... just in case. Haven't used one since I bought the soft shackles. Would they hold to their 35klb rating? Maybe not. Have they proved to in fact be stronger than the winch line itself? Yep. In some cases it's just not a matter of "you get what you pay for" but more a matter of paying for a brand name. It's simple synthetic line with a knot on the end. Not some complicated piece of equipment. Manufacturing cost is minimal. If you want to pay 5-10x for a brand name have at it. These knock offs work great even under hard use.

 

[Higher_Ground]

14' of 1/2" amsteel blue cost me $45 and was enough to make two rather large shackles. I think the breaking strength is over 30,000lb and since it's a soft shackle you can double that and then some.

I asked about diameter on here before buying and someone made the comment about "why not go a size bigger" but I think you could get away with smaller and cheaper. Buying in bulk would certainly bring the cost down.

 

[Zachanadandy]

14' of 1/2" amsteel blue cost me $45 and was enough to make two rather large shackles. I think the breaking strength is over 30,000lb and since it's a soft shackle you can double that and then some.

I asked about diameter on here before buying and someone made the comment about "why not go a size bigger" but I think you could get away with smaller and cheaper. Buying in bulk would certainly bring the cost down.

Personally I like the idea of the soft shackle being the fusible link if you will. 60k+lb rated shackles will mean they hold beyond the limits of your other gear and/or attachment points. I'd rather pop a soft shackle and realize we need to dig, rethink the recovery, pull from another angle, etc vs snapping my recovery rope or tow strap or even worse shearing the mount and sending potentially deadly projectiles at speed.

 

[Higher_Ground]

Personally I like the idea of the soft shackle being the fusible link if you will. 60k+lb rated shackles will mean they hold beyond the limits of your other gear and/or attachment points. I'd rather pop a soft shackle and realize we need to dig, rethink the recovery, pull from another angle, etc vs snapping my recovery rope or tow strap or even worse shearing the mount and sending potentially deadly projectiles at speed.

I agree, and in my case the kinetic strap will probably break first. I will say, the knots on these things are no joke and while it's softer than steel it's still heavy/dense and would do some damage if it went flying. Luckily I haven't had to use either yet but plan to cover with a blanket just in case.

 

[Zachanadandy]

I agree, and in my case the kinetic strap will probably break first. I will say, the knots on these things are no joke and while it's softer than steel it's still heavy/dense and would do some damage if it went flying. Luckily I haven't had to use either yet but plan to cover with blanket just in case.

Always use a winch blanket for sure, but I'd imagine if the shackle broke the strap would pull/slingshot away from the anchor and the knot wouldn't shoot off? Connecting 2 ropes or straps I could see it becoming a projectile for sure.

 

[Higher_Ground]

Probably very low on the scale of things that could go wrong, that is for sure!

 

[chorky]

If you don't have a winch, what good is a snatch block? If you do have a winch with synthetic line, I'd suggest a snatch ring. Cheaper, lighter, just as effective, with no moving parts or points for the line to get pinched. You can find a 35klb rated ring that comes with a soft shackle for $30 on Amazon. A 30' 1-1/8" kinetic recovery rope with 2 soft shackles for $80. Add a $20 folding shovel and a $20 tree strap. $150 and you've got a pretty good recovery kit. Add a $300 xbull 12klb winch and you're set. I've been running this same gear since 2019. Dozens of hard pulls in mud and snow and it's good as new.

not all rings are created equal though. I have seen plenty of videos of rings destroying synthetic line. personally I prefer a standard type of snatch block. That way anybody can use it. Never know if others around have synthetic or steel line.

 

[Zachanadandy]

not all rings are created equal though. I have seen plenty of videos of rings destroying synthetic line. personally I prefer a standard type of snatch block. That way anybody can use it. Never know if others around have synthetic or steel line.

If you use the same snatch block for cable and synthetic line, you are damaging your synthetic line. I'm not carrying a 20lb anchor around so someone wise can use it. I'll stick with my ~8oz ring. Especially with something as bulky as a snatch block I'm not leaning that out for some random unmaintained cable in a double line pull high force scenario. Even if it's their junk that fails I'm now named in the fatality lawsuit that resulted. Either I do the recovery with my gear and you get out of the way or you use yours. Not about to start mixing the 2 personally.

 

[chorky]

If you use the same snatch block for cable and synthetic line, you are damaging your synthetic line. I'm not carrying a 20lb anchor around so someone wise can use it. I'll stick with my ~8oz ring. Especially with something as bulky as a snatch block I'm not leaning that out for some random unmaintained cable in a double line pull high force scenario. Even if it's their junk that fails I'm now named in the fatality lawsuit that resulted. Either I do the recovery with my gear and you get out of the way or you use yours. Not about to start mixing the 2 personally.

nope this is incorrect. There are a few snatch blocks outnthere that work just fine with synthetic and steel line. A snatch block has a wider radius therfore less tension is being placed to round a corner. synthetic rings are often a much tighter radius. But thats not the real concern. Heat dissipation and soft edges is the bigger issue. A lot of the cheap rings build up heat pretty bad and if using a synthetic shackle can burn both the winch line and shackle line. I do agree, partially, with the liability aspect though. But then again if you question anothers recovery gear or abilities maybe theyre not someone you want to be in a potential recovery situation with in the first place.

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