Michigan Jeepers Loose member to strapping accident..

To all the newbies out there.. straps are dangerous animals...

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Reply to
JeepNutz
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Reply to
L.W.(ßill) Hughes III

This is sooo sad....it breaks my heart...the tears have been shed....I don't know the man, but is a Jeeper and means he is all our friend...

I'm a new Jeeper and our club has had many discussions on tugging and what to use and not to use... and I have already seen this joining two straps together by a cleavis.... I know I will never see it again NOW....I will never let this happen in my presence as it has really opened my eyes...

God Bless the family and friends of the deceased... you are in our prayers.... Jeff

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Reply to
Jeff

Very sad....

I know I have used a clevis for this purpose in the past, but recently a wheeling buddy showed me how to use a 1.5" diameter wooden dowel to connect 2 straps when one is not long enough. Would believe the dowel would be the first thing to break, or if not it would not have the weight/inertia to become a projectile.

Any one have any ideas/cautions on using this instead?

Reply to
aGraham

The dowel doesn't really hold the straps, they are (should be) looped through each other. The dowel is only (should only) be there so the straps can be pulled apart after the pull has been completed. Without the dowel, they can be difficult to disengage the straps from each other due to the force of the pull.

Jerry

Reply to
Jerry Bransford

Agreed, very sad....

Two straps can just be looped together with a piece of dowel or stick wedged in to make pulling them apart easier.

You hold one loop straight up and take the second strap's loop and put it over top of the loop you are holding up so it slides down the strap a bit. You then take the far end of the second strap and put it through that first loop you are holding up. When you pull the two loops are locked together and look like a figure 8 or something. The dowel goes in the joint so the straps don't lock too tight together.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

aGraham wrote:

Reply to
Mike Romain

Reply to
L.W.(ßill) Hughes III

Reply to
Jeff

I met Mark Smith at a Jeep Jamboree a few years ago, and he showed us a different way of connecting straps with a dowel...pull the end of Strap 1 through the loop of Strap 2, then insert the dowel into the loop of Strap 1, essentially making the dowel a toggle. If the dowel breaks, it will break inward, and the wood pieces won't fly toward either vehicle.

I made a dowel out of a hardwood sledgehammer handle. It should have a minimum diameter of 2 inches. I've used this method several times and have yet to have a problem with breakage, and when done, you slip the dowel out and the two straps instantly come apart.

I've never personally met the fellow that was killed, but I am sure some members of my off-road club know him. What a tragedy.

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Reply to
Matt Macchiarolo

He just didn't know the right way to use the dowel. :-(

You put the two loops together so they lock. The dowel just goes between them so you can pry them apart.

Hole one loop up. Put second strap's loop over one you are holding then feed the second straps other end through the first loop. Bingo, two locked together loops.

Wood can go just as ballistic as steel if it snaps under pressure. In my mind the person who showed you that method should be slapped. Hard!.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

Matt Macchiarolo wrote:

Reply to
Mike Romain

A dowel of 2inches is a small tree with the bark peeled off!! haha

Reply to
SteveBrady

Mark Smith...

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Like Steve said, it's a tree with the bark peeled off...

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Reply to
Matt Macchiarolo

Wow, that is freaking amazing!!!!

I cannot believe someone who seems so 'Jeep savvy' would be stupid enough to rely on an unknown stick to trust his life too.

Maybe he has a death wish?

Are you sure you just didn't mistake his using the stick as a knot holder like I describe below so it can be undone for using the stick as part of the structure?

My straps are rated for 30,000 lb each.

The shear force on a baseball bat or on an ax handle or hammer handle under impact is 'not' very high. I have busted more than one by just hitting a ball or a log or a board slightly wrong. And you are talking an unknown freaking chunk of tree?

So when I take my Jeep and 'snatch' a stuck vehicle using vehicle momentum to the point of breaking a strap or ripping bumpers off, I sure as hell wouldn't want to be relying on a stupid stick as the 'fuse' in the equation!!!!!

That would just be suicidal. Literally.

I would recommend you watch a Logger's safety video to see just how fast and hard pieces or chips of wood will fly when broken under pressure. Or even hurricane test videos where 2x4's go right through concrete walls.

Sorry Matt, but you must be mistaken on the placement of the stick.

Mike

Matt Macchiarolo wrote:

Reply to
Mike Romain

Reply to
FrankW

Down boy. I said that tongue-in-cheek. Mr. Smith demonstrated with a 2" hardwood dowel. How he instructed us is exactly how I said it, using a the dowel as a toggle through the loop of one of the straps. The dowel doesn't see impact forces. I never said he'd cut down a sapling and strip the bark off. It's just something you carry with you.

It stuck with me because (a) he never looped a strap back on itself and (b) as soon as he pulled the dowel out, the straps came right apart without unlooping.

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Reply to
Matt Macchiarolo

Have you ever snapped a baseball bat? Hooks have even been known to snap and hook bolts shear.

The dowel certainly 'does' see the impact forces. 100% of them as a matter of fact.

Wow.....

Mike

Matt Macchiarolo wrote:

Reply to
Mike Romain

I used to have a photo, I will look around and see.

I have two twenty foot 3" loop end straps I want to join.

I take the loop from strap 1 and hold it straight up in the air.

I then take a loop from strap 2 and put it over the loop from strap 1 I am holding up. This strap 2 loop can now slide along strap 1.

I then take the far end of strap 2 and feed it through the loop on strap

1 I am still holding up in the air and feed it all through.

I now have two loops locked together.

Where the loops join, I take a piece of dowel or chunk of tree and lay it through them. After the pull, the dowel can then be worked at to pry the loops apart because they 'will' jam up tight on each other.

Mike

FrankW wrote:

Reply to
Mike Romain

I got confused over how it was put together in the demonstration but be sure to remember that the straps do need to be looped through each other. The inserted dowel or whatever is inserted only serves to keep them from being pulled into each other so tightly during the pull that they're nearly impossible to separate.

Jerry

Reply to
Jerry Bransford

Jerry,

Mark Smith absolutely DID NOT loop the straps together when he demonstrated using the dowel at the 2000 Penns Woods Jeep Jamboree. He used the dowel as a toggle to connect the two straps. It was probably 2 1/2' diameter, we're not talking about a small piece of wood.

The point being that if something breaks, most likely it would be the dowel, and it would break in such a way to minimize the risk to bystanders (who should already be at a safe distance). And if it did break, the straps would immediately disconnect. If something on either truck broke before the dowel broke, the toggle connection would immediately loosen and absorb some energy that would otherwise be transmitted down the strap to the 3-lb piece of steel that broke off.

By connecting the straps directly, you effectively have a very long strap out of two straps that will not disconnect if something breaks, meaning bystanders would have to move farther away to be at a safe distance.

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Reply to
Matt Macchiarolo

But Matt, looping the straps through each other is, at least in my opinion, a better/stronger/more secure method than joining them via a piece of wood that with everyone's interpretation of what is suitable, means variable suitability of the wood used. I'll continue looping tow straps together and using the wood only as a means to help undo the loop after I'm done. At least if the wood breaks, the loops won't come apart which could potentially cause a problem for one of the two vehicles.

Jerry

Reply to
Jerry Bransford

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