Never use a tow ball for recovery.

[Snake Eyes]

I would never use a hitch ball. Period. Dont care what anyone says about angle, strength, etc. That is lazy and risky. Wont do it. Take the damn thing out if you are going to do something with the hitch.

Always use a winch blanket also no matter what. You should have a dampener on any recovery line. Use a proper recovery rope, etc. 5 minutes of proper safe set up can help prevent a permanent death. Too many people treat recovery like a no risk quick hit.

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[OngsterA]

The idea of straps and ropes - you want the bend to be gradual, otherwise with a sharp bend or curve, as going around a small pin (and by small, I mean a radius a lot smaller than the devices that go into receivers made to do the job, would have.
A rope going around a small pin is actually only holding on the outer part of the rope. The inner part against the pin is compresses. The outer part of the rope is stretched. So whatever the rope is rated at on a straight pull - take a fraction of that at the point it bends around a pin. The compressed part of the rope in the inside of the circle against the pin isn't doing anything. That leaves the load or stress to be handled by the part of the rope on the outside of the curve around the pin.

Yes, great points. Even the front receivers sold for these have different numbers for towing, tongue weight and straight pulls, etc. Be VERY VERY careful using those for a winch or recovery. They are rated for 9,000 pounds only in that case - and then that's a STRAIGHT pull.
I'd bet similar for the rear receiver - ignore the towing numbers, when using it for recovery - it's likely to be different and then those are rated for straight loads, nothing pulling on them at any angle.
Again, good points to remember.

Excellent points, for straight pulls, i.e dynamic, not solid 'yanks', can use a receiver within its limits, but as last resort if no actual recovery points (attached to frame) exists. I always use a winch rope blanket, floormats, etc as precaution. Amazes me how many people forget this part, see them on trails all the time!

 

[NachoRuby]

I'm an absolute and complete novice when it comes to this stuff. But doesn't an f-250 have actual rated recovery points from the factory?

 

[Rusty PW]

Years ago I showed up late to a stuck F150 on the trail. The guy with the Jeep with a winch had already hooked up and started to winch the F150 out. The F150 wasn't moving. Heard the bang and the winch hook with shackle went through the windshield, drivers headrest, and out the back window. Lucky the guy was standing behind the open driver's door. What failed was a cheap 3,000lb rated strap that was wrapped around the rear axle.

Seen a F250 get it's bull bar yanked off with the bumper. The bumper bolts pulled through the bumper. You should have seen the look on that guy's face.

When I worked for Elliott and at the power plant. We had to rigged equipment to lift with cranes. Some of the equipment was 100 ton. Got lots of training to do that.

 

[doc-ketamine]

You can use a receiver based recovery device with no concerns IF it is a solid piece of steel.

Or machined aluminum - there are some with a 50,000lb rating or above, and a ⅝ steel pin can have similar tolerance.

 

[Rusty PW]

Always inspect your rigging equipment before and after each use. Look for cuts, loose ends, cracks, etc. If it looks iffy. Toss it and get new. Don't take a chance.

 

[Snake Eyes]

Or machined aluminum - there are some with a 50,000lb rating or above, and a ⅝ steel pin can have similar tolerance.

41K pound rated

 

[Rusty PW]

41K pound rated

I have the Warn version.

 

[Geoarch]

I think we're both mostly novice. I've done tractors - using chains, but those were straight pulls, never any "jerking" or stored energy in straps - just with a very large and heavy chain can store and release.
The idea of straps and ropes - you want the bend to be gradual, otherwise with a sharp bend or curve, as going around a small pin (and by small, I mean a radius a lot smaller than the devices that go into receivers made to do the job, would have.
A rope going around a small pin is actually only holding on the outer part of the rope. The inner part against the pin is compresses. The outer part of the rope is stretched. So whatever the rope is rated at on a straight pull - take a fraction of that at the point it bends around a pin. The compressed part of the rope in the inside of the circle against the pin isn't doing anything. That leaves the load or stress to be handled by the part of the rope on the outside of the curve around the pin.

I'm not saying it can't be done. I'm sure people here have done it - but there's better ways.
It's got me thinking of buying one of those pieces that slips into the receiver to handle such occasions.

I have one for the receiver and have used it. Got it at 4wheel parts.

 

[Geoarch]

I would never use a hitch ball. Period. Dont care what anyone says about angle, strength, etc. That is lazy and risky. Wont do it. Take the damn thing out if you are going to do something with the hitch.

Always use a winch blanket also no matter what. You should have a dampener on any recovery line. Use a proper recovery rope, etc. 5 minutes of proper safe set up can help prevent a permanent death. Too many people treat recovery like a no risk quick hit.

I always use a blanket and have two.

 

[Panthers65]

I saw this. Tragic.

But even if you accept that you shouldn't use a ball. This example was an extreme case. The hitch had like a 8 inch drop. So the ball was cantilevered way down which put huge stress on the welds where the drop attached to the drawbar.

One other thing. Lets pretend you don't have dedicated recovery points. You can always remove the drawbar, insert the recovery rope into the receiver and put the pin in.

If it fails all you are dealing with at that point is the rope itself.

That was my initial thought too, an 8" drop (lever bar) against a 7500# truck with a running start. I'd be curious what commonly used points on the market WOULD survive that? Would any of the shackle mounts/ect... survive if you put an 8" pry bar on the recovery point and generated that much torque on the mount?

I don't have the money, but that sounds like one of those cool mythbusters/offroad physics shows. How much torque was likely placed on the drop hitch at that point and would other recovery points have survived where that one failed?

I pulled a wrangler out of a mud pit back in the day with my little 2000# Suzuki Samurai based buggy, using one of the mounts on his front bumper, and after a few running starts he was out and his front bumper was tweeked enough to be touching his grill.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

41K pound rated

Good job.
I find it interesting that people figure hey, the vehicle is not even 10,000 pounds, why do I need 20,000 or 30,000 pound strength?
Then they proceed to get a running start - with a solid chain or rope that's not made for that type of use. You can pick any number of things for comparison - the people who bust boards with their hands - they can't push on it and break it and yet a really QUICK hit and it snaps.
I saw a demo of breaking nylon tape. The guy challenged a class to pull and break the tape. No one could do it. He took the tape and SNAP with a quick jerk.
The straps I use to strap the cars onto my car hauler - I've been asked why such heavy rated straps for a car that weighs less than 4,000 pounds. Hit a hard bump, or have to come to a sudden stop and all of a sudden that car is a slide hammer - it's got the energy of motion, many times greater, many thousands of pounds of force against those straps.
This is no different. Kinetic energy -the energy in a mass in motion. Energy was applied to make it start moving so in a sense that energy is stored in it until it stops moving and then all of that energy is released and has to go somewhere.

I know some have asked about the pin - in the case of the tool pictured above - you are relying on the sheer strength of the pin. It can't really bend and get weaker because of the fit of these things, so you'd have to sheer that pin in two places at the same time. Not likely.
But pulling on the pin by itself with just a rope - the force is concentrated in the middle of the pin so I suppose it could bend?? again if the receiver is thick where the pin goes through it would prevent an easy bend.

 

[MrKnowitall]

That's horrible. I bought a Factor55 insert for the tow hitch, I have to imagine there are similar risks with that. Makes me think twice about using it with a kinetic rope.

That insert is a totally different animal. The geometry is correct to handle the loads.

 

[bwildoutside]

41K pound rated

I’d ditch that shackle and get a soft shackle if I were you. Hopefully they smoothed the edges out like the factor55 does. I won’t use hard shackles anymore unless I’m doing a double haul on my winch back to my front bumper shackles.

 

[cafecito]

FWIW, I have also heard of people that recommend opening your hood when you're doing the recovering in case something becomes a projectile. I don't imagine it would have thoroughly prevented this, but another layer of metal might have slowed it down enough to not be fatal.

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