Basics for keeping in my wife's JLU

[WILDHOBO]

That's the sort of thing I'm referring to - I bet you found it was really a pretty easy pull, compared to other stuff you've done. It's just that the stuck vehicle can't make it out on its own, lack of traction, snow blocking the way, etc.

And for stuff in my wife's JLU - no offense, but seriously, a pintle type setup is just not gonna happen for a list of reasons. Not when a simple shackle mount would work with a rope or strap. Just too much money and weight - great for heavy tasks, but just clumsy for such a basic thing.


I have a feeling one of the two is off in numbers. Factor 55 has a pretty low WLL - and a really high breaking number. That's an odd spread, IMO. I bet the spread is smaller in reality. I think the two are actually closer in numbers. Not picking on the Factor 55 - quality stuff, but I think their WLL is conservative and i can't see their breaking at almost double what the other's breaking number is.
I've found other pictures that make that radius look a lot more close to the same in other places, but even if not - it's a simple fix......... or don't use a soft shackle. It's pretty easy to smoothly radius aluminum.

Factor 55 -

Here's the less expensive unit - awfully close...........

The idea is keep everything small - it's a JLU only ever used on road and with little storage because it's a 4xe. Even the rear cargo area has less space than a gas or diesel JLU.

Heavy steel - no need or desire for a heavy steel thing weighing multiple pounds.

Keep weight down, keep size down, keep cost down as this is just for "nice guy" type use - not for recovery as jeep people tend to think of recovery.
If my wife is driving and gets into a pickle, I want her to have the stuff that someone can safely use to pull her out of the snow without damage - yeah, even Jeeps can get buried.
OR, she can call me and I know that the stuff will be there, although if my snow plow is off, I'd probably use the winch. If the snow plow is on, I won't need to dig out all the crap in my JT to get her out.


But a steel pintle hitch - 18 pounds of iron. Sorry, but I'd never even use that in mine and I do more tough stuff with my JT than her JLU will ever see.
It was just way out in left field as far as light, small, simple, getting out of the snow situation.

Thought I was limiting it when I said JLU, small, light, inexpensive, rarely used, only for light duty, pulling people out of snow, or someone pulling my wife's JLU out of snow (there's just no way she'd be able to get it into 4L and know what lockers are or how to get out of such a situation.

When we flew over the big embankment at the end of SE Powers here where the road drops off big time in our WJ and landed several yards from the road - I switch places with her and actually was able to drive that Jeep back out, working up the side of the ditch a few yards to the east. (Powers was pure ice - nothing and no one could stop or even slow on that road - they've since started salting and sanding the crap out of it any time there's a threat of even frost it's so bad.) She was amazed that I got that Jeep out of there. I was amazed she kept it between the poles and posts and kept it upright flying across that highway.



I literally had not had the CBD yet (lol - that's only half-joking)

If I was still on the farm and had my JT - that's the sort of hitch I'd actually consider - can hook to almost any piece of equipment with it to at least MOVE it.
I typed before I thought of what I keep saying - others read these posts, too................

For a second time, this past weekend - we were this time driving TO church, and saw a guy with a 2 wheel drive pickup trying to help get another pickup out of a snowy not really deep ditch along by a stop sign. Looks like he tried to stop, the truck spun around and went into the roadside in several inches of snow - and now it's wet snow.
I told my wife - "man, I could have him out of there in minutes" as we drove by going to church - if it had been the trip back home, I'd have stopped in a heartbeat.
The weekend before - it was the guy crossing the divided highway trying to get to a farm house on the north side - and the path between lanes was deep with snow and coming up on our side it was a bit up hill. Had we had so much as a simple strap, i'd have had my wife stop her Jeep on the shoulder, hooked up and just driven away slowly pulling him out of the snow and onto bare pavement. Damn! For lack of something so danged simple as a strap or rope and something to hook it to!
Twice in two weeks - but one was because of timing. We're both the type where we wonder - "I wonder if they need any help" - but she'd never stop alone, only if I was with her. It bugs us when it's so very simple - and for lack of 2 or 3 pieces of simple equipment, we can't really help.

My hitch block is steel, and I’ve had it for years. It’s not rounded or rated for soft shackles, but I also rarely use it since the recovery ring on my hitch skid is. I keep the block in the Jeep for the other car. If they have a receiver, I just use it with a clevice. But usually the stuck vehicle has no recovery points. I put the soft shackle through a couple wheel spokes in this case, and had the pullee in neutral. I’ve wrapped a strap around A arms, axles, and used the puller’s thread in recovery ring if it’s a straight pull. In almost all cases, I need two soft shackles and one strap or rope. If I’ve got easy access and time, I use the winch, it that doesn’t apply to your wife’s JL.

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[chorky]

ope vs. strap in a pulling out of the snow situation - I've always used the
* take out all slack, now apply the pull
method with no jerking or snapping, just a slow steady pull.
So I have big stra

For sure - and that's the best way to do it 90% of the time. I only mention the jerking motion because most people don't understand proper methods and leave 10' of line loos then slam down the skinny pedal. Hopefully that would never happen to you or your wife, but it's something to consider if she ever did get stuck and you were not available. Although it would be, or should be, easy enough for her to tell someone the right way to pull.

I was with @Mightytalldude a couple of weeks ago and we pulled an Acura out of a mess of snow. It looked like they attempted a u turn in a foot of unplowed snow. I doubled up the 30ft kinetic rope, used one soft shackle on the Acura, and one on the hitch skid with recovery ring (it’s always in my jeep). Doubled up it was short enough for the close quarters where we were. It took 2 minutes.

Kinetic ropes are so freaking awesome!! I keep waiting for the chance to use mine since I've not had a rope from voodoo before. And honestly, chose them because of the bright green color making it easier to see in inclement weather. But they are a reputable company from everything I dug into.

of the two is off in numbers. Factor 55 has a pretty low WLL - and a really high breaking number. That's an odd spread, IMO. I bet the spread is smaller in reality. I think the two are actually closer in numbers. Not picking on the Factor 55 - quality stuff, but I think their WLL is conservative and i can't see their breaking at almost double what the other's breaking number is.
I've found other pictures that make that radius look a lot more close to the same in other places, but even if not - it's a simple fix......... or don't use a soft shackle

Factor 55 definitely uses conservative numbers. Personally I appreciate that. They have a solid background though. In my previous research for looking for my own items I found Factor 55 to be one of the 3 or 4 companies that use a similar safety net for their rigging equipment as professional straps, shackle, etc that are used in heavy construction/repair industry. Safe-Xtract is another one that not many people know about, but they dont offer what I personally wanted to have. I can't recall what the safety net is but something like 4.5 times seems to be in my mind. I could be totally off on that, can't really remember.

In those pictures you posted, something to seriously consider is the angling of the rounded edges of those holes. You already mentioned it too which I expected considering your knowledge base. The radius of the curve where the shackle would go through. Now, there are a lot of people who would say "hogwash that doesn't matter". But actually, it does. There are specifications for different rope manufacturers for what their product allows in terms of radius turn angles. Too sharp of a corner can ruin, or worse, rip and tear, both a composite/soft and steel line - not usually as big of a deal with hardened steel shackles. Usually it doesn't matter as much with just an attachment point, but, in that second picture of yours, I would not trust it. It 'probably' would be fine. But to me, fine is not good enough to trust in a recovery situation. I want to know darn sure that whatever items I have in my recovery bag are capable of handling 4 times the amount of what I realistically expect myself to be in. Which is why I have a rear winch in addition to the front winch.

Now, it's not like anyone on this forum is regularly doing complex recoveries here (I dont think) like this (stolen picture).

But - why risk damaging a recovery strap or soft shackle using the wrong equipment? All this talk about some items being too expensive... Well if you have to buy 2 of the cheaper item because a lesser quality one a person opted for caused damage, now a person might have actually expended twice the cost.

 

[WILDHOBO]

For sure - and that's the best way to do it 90% of the time. I only mention the jerking motion because most people don't understand proper methods and leave 10' of line loos then slam down the skinny pedal. Hopefully that would never happen to you or your wife, but it's something to consider if she ever did get stuck and you were not available. Although it would be, or should be, easy enough for her to tell someone the right way to pull.



Kinetic ropes are so freaking awesome!! I keep waiting for the chance to use mine since I've not had a rope from voodoo before. And honestly, chose them because of the bright green color making it easier to see in inclement weather. But they are a reputable company from everything I dug into.



Factor 55 definitely uses conservative numbers. Personally I appreciate that. They have a solid background though. In my previous research for looking for my own items I found Factor 55 to be one of the 3 or 4 companies that use a similar safety net for their rigging equipment as professional straps, shackle, etc that are used in heavy construction/repair industry. Safe-Xtract is another one that not many people know about, but they dont offer what I personally wanted to have. I can't recall what the safety net is but something like 4.5 times seems to be in my mind. I could be totally off on that, can't really remember.

In those pictures you posted, something to seriously consider is the angling of the rounded edges of those holes. You already mentioned it too which I expected considering your knowledge base. The radius of the curve where the shackle would go through. Now, there are a lot of people who would say "hogwash that doesn't matter". But actually, it does. There are specifications for different rope manufacturers for what their product allows in terms of radius turn angles. Too sharp of a corner can ruin, or worse, rip and tear, both a composite/soft and steel line - not usually as big of a deal with hardened steel shackles. Usually it doesn't matter as much with just an attachment point, but, in that second picture of yours, I would not trust it. It 'probably' would be fine. But to me, fine is not good enough to trust in a recovery situation. I want to know darn sure that whatever items I have in my recovery bag are capable of handling 4 times the amount of what I realistically expect myself to be in. Which is why I have a rear winch in addition to the front winch.

Now, it's not like anyone on this forum is regularly doing complex recoveries here (I dont think) like this (stolen picture).

But - why risk damaging a recovery strap or soft shackle using the wrong equipment? All this talk about some items being too expensive... Well if you have to buy 2 of the cheaper item because a lesser quality one a person opted for caused damage, now a person might have actually expended twice the cost.

A few of us on the forum did this one successfully. They drove it out.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

In those pictures you posted, something to seriously consider is the angling of the rounded edges of those holes. You already mentioned it too which I expected considering your knowledge base. The radius of the curve where the shackle would go through. Now, there are a lot of people who would say "hogwash that doesn't matter". But actually, it does. There are specifications for different rope manufacturers for what their product allows in terms of radius turn angles. Too sharp of a corner can ruin, or worse, rip and tear, both a composite/soft and steel line - not usually as big of a deal with hardened steel shackles.

It can actually be worse on some steel rope - because the outer strands are the outer strands throughout almost the entire "curve" around that radius.
Why that matters? The outer wires in the steel rope are being pulled while the wires against the radius, say a shackle, are being compressed. This puts almost all of the load on the outer wires in a steel rope. A 10,000 wire rope (just tossing a number out for kicks) is rated at a straight pull, all wires in the rope basically under the same tension. But make a bend around something and now the outer wires are taking most of the force while those in the inner layer of the curve are compressed, handling pretty much no load.
It's critical enough that makers of cable, or wire rope, publish charts of recommended wire rope size for each radius or pulley, for example.

It's similar for rope although a braided rope helps because the outside strand of the rope in one area becomes a side strand or strand against the shackle in another area, still, it leaves places where some of the strands of that rope are being pulled at a far higher force than those on the inside. Same thing applies - the forces of the pull are concentrated on strands on the outside.
Radius matters.
A bit less for braided synthetic than twisted rope or wire rope, but it still counts.
(the numbers are easy to find)

 

[Volt0]

Radius matters.

That’s what she said? ;-)

This caught my eye ( no pun intended ), for that very reason, and and it looks like almost any soft shackle would fit through that eyelet. It just looks like a 1-trick pony to me.

 

[WILDHOBO]

That’s what she said? ;-)

This caught my eye ( no pun intended ), for that very reason, and and it looks like almost any soft shackle would fit through that eyelet. It just looks like a 1-trick pony to me.

I dig it.

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