Tow Strap vs Tow Chains

I think it's the recoil thing plus the tree saver thing.

Chains are fine for towing. They actually work better than a strap for that.

It's extracting when things get interesting.

For extractions you want something in the neighborhood of 3" wide and

20' or 30' long. These are 'snatch' straps and have a built in elastic action.

Lots of times a straight pull won't get folks unstuck so you need some momentum. The strap comes up soft as it gets tight. Chains come up hard and break things like frames or themselves. Chain links can go ballistic, literally.

Mike

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

William Oliveri wrote:

On Tue, 18 May 2004 19:58:05 GMT, the following appeared in rec.autos.makers.jeep+willys, posted by "JimG" :

Chains, unlike cables, don't usually recoil. And IIRC, the classic "snatch-strap" *depends* on recoil. If you're worried about the tree, put a short section of heavy hose (firehose works well) on the chain where it goes around the tree.

A chain store a shitload of energy, and it has loads of mass if that energy is suddenly released. A nylon strap also stores energy, but it has virtually no mass so there is very little danger to bystanders is the energy is released without prior warning.

A chain can be useful where a strap might be cut, but a strap is the first choice.

A strap is also much lighter than a chain of equal length.

A chain is preferred over those straps with hooks on the end.

A chain stores almost no energy under its rated working load but does have a very high mass. Keep it away from anything that might be elastic under load (like a recovery strap.) If you overload a chain it will stretch and store a lot of energy before it fails- and if you ever overload it you need to throw it out immediately!

And there are two types of straps. The recovery strap is designed to store large amounts of energy. A tow strap is designed to store as little energy as possible. They both have their place and you could often substitute chain for a tow strap. As was already said- never use a strap with any attached metal.

I use both chain and a tow strap with my hi-lift since I'm too cheap to buy a winch. The chain goes on one end of the hi-lift and the strap goes on the other. I could another chain instead of the strap, but 25' of chain weights over 30lbs and doesn't take an insignificant amount of space...

I carry 25' of 3/8" grade 70 chain with a grab hook on one end and a slip hook on the other. The hooks are rated for grade 70 as well. The rating is 6600lbs working load. The shear pin on the hi-lift will break well before the chain does.

Recovers 40" at a time! ;)

CRWLR wrote:

Wrong. Chain stores very little energy compared to a strap. That's the problem, you have no stretching ability, using a chain tends to rip the hooks off or bend the frame.

The problem comes when you MIX cha> A chain store a shitload of energy, and it has loads of mass if that energy

And hopefully are very aware that if the chain "slips off" from whatever it is attached to on the "far side" of the highlift (not clear if that is the jeep or the tree), that it and the highlift will be propelled at potentially high rates of speed towards whatever the tow strap is attached to.

And if you happen to be standing on the wrong side of the highlift handle when it takes off with the chain, it just might kill you. Or the end of the chain wipping around might kill you as it goes zipping past you on the way to whatever spectators might be around.

Not saying this is wrong (I have the same setup!), but you must know the risks and treat the setup like it's a cannon and make darned sure the chain is not going to break or "slip free", and not pointed at anyone.

alan

Chains sink in deep mud.. not nice or easy to recover.. fingers get caught in links too..