Recovery Gear

[tobes]

Having sold all my recovery gear with my old disco, i now need to buy all new kit.

I have seen these (tried doing a search, i thought i had read about them before)

ARB Snatch Strap - 11000 Kg

An ARB snatch strap is one of the most popular and easiest to use item of recovery equipment. Snatch straps are used to recover bogged or immobilised vehicles and operate similar to a big rubber band between two vehicles.

ARB snatch straps are manufactured from 100% nylon webbing, have genuine 20% stretch for maximum effect & incorporate a unique, overload safety indicator

Surely its best to have something with 'give'?

What do you use? What do you suggest? What would you buy if you were doing it all again?!!

Also what snatch/pulley block is best for use with 'Plasma'?

Thanks very much,

Toby (VERY excited! - collecting my 90 tommorrow! will post some pics at the weekend)

[Guest diesel_jim]

If you want something with "give" then i'd get a proper KERR... kinetic energy recovery rope. which will stretch a good 10 or 15' before the stricken vehicle is either pulled out or ripped in two

For other uses i'd use a non stretchy "tree strop" which can be used for a plain recovery or for winching, with no stretch and no worry that "when it stops stretching i'll then be able to have my wnch pull me properly"

i also use a small ex military rope that could "pull the QE2" (some might say)... these don't stretch but i don't really like using winching strops for vehicle to vehicle pulling.

just my personal choice really, i'm sure others will have different opinions.

[BogMonster]

I know somebody who uses one and swears by it but personally I use 12 metres of 24mm three strand white nylon because 1) its cheap 2) I can splice it myself and 3) I can therefore make the rope and eyes any size I like. Eyes in the end are sleeved in 2 inch fabric fire hose which is everything proof you can hook it over a front bumper with no risk of cutting the rope. Never likely to use anything else for a recovery rope unless they ban nylon

Also have a bunch of 4.75T stamped rated shackles, snatch block (though it isn't really needed with a Milemarker), a master ring in case I need to put the winch onto a NATO hook, adjustable hook chain, 2 ground anchors, Jackall with adaptor, spade, 2 alloy bridge boards, and a T-Max hand winch which I've never had to use. Never owned a tree strop and not likely to around these parts

[western]

I've got a 8m Superwinch version of that strap, works fine if treated with respect.

[landrover598]

I've always used straps as they are much easier / neater to store, easier to clean, and lightweight

I've got a short tree strap, 5m and 10m straps and a 9m ARB snatch strap, a bunch of 4.75T shackles, a pair of masterlinks, ARB pulley block and a shortening chain.

[white90]

Black Rat pulley blocks

from OEC in Devon

ace pieces of kit.

they also supplied my Strops made to a design JST came upon

perfect for what I use them for

also have strops from gigglepin/D44 4-6m ones

[FridgeFreezer]

Well being a fully extreme armchair off-roader I use super bling ultra-extreme heavy duty colour-coordinated anodised, err, 24mm nylon rope from Paddocks and some bloke selling ropes at Sodbury

Big, rated, bow shackles from Lifting & Crane again at sodders or one of the shows.

A big fat ~3m tree strop from Lifting & Crane.

With any recovery gear my personal advice would be to see what other people are using, and how well it works, before making your mind up. It's a common newbie thing of "do I need to buy all this bling stuff?" and there's no right answer. See what's out there, READ UP ON HOW TO USE IT ALL and then make your decision.

The snatch strap sounds a bit like a KERR, and those need to be used carefully on solid recovery points or you can come a cropper.

[tobes]

i have seen kerr's used before.... far too scary for me right now!

Reading above, it seems nylon is most common, its what i had before. i was just wondering if there is something that would be sympathetic to the recovering (and recovered) vehicle by 'giving' a little, but not to the extremes of a 'kerr'

thanks

[Diff]

i have seen kerr's used before.... far too scary for me right now!

Reading above, it seems nylon is most common, its what i had before. i was just wondering if there is something that would be sympathetic to the recovering (and recovered) vehicle by 'giving' a little, but not to the extremes of a 'kerr'

thanks

All nylon recovery ropes or strops have 'give' or stretch in them. This is why they are best for recovery. The amount of stretch varies dependant on how the rope or strop is made. Typically the stretch varies between approx 5-20%. Not all manufacturers will be able to tell you the amount of stretch in their products.

Polypropylene ropes, tree strops and lifting strops have NO give in them and should only be used for controlled slow winching. These are regarded as 'dead' ropes/strops and are not ideal for recovery between one vehicle and another. It can be very damaging to the vehicles recovery points and uncomfortable for the occupants if any 'snatch' occurs when these products are used in this way.

Straps are easier to store, but in theory easier to damage, in that a nick on the edge will significantly weaken it. Because of its round profile, the rope is less likely to be damaged as significantly/easily by the same object that damages the strop.

Hope this helps,

Regards,

Diff

[Mark90]

I have a 'snatch' strap (not an ARB one but similar) and it is no where near as stretchy as a KERR rope but has enough give that it is softer than a normal tree strop when doing non snatch tow recoveries.

I also carry few tree strops from 2m to 10m, snatch block (black rat good for plasma rope due to deep groove), selection of rated shackles and a couple of master links.

Nylon ropes are good but very bulky compared to strops, which is one of the reasons I don't carry a KERR.

[will_warne]

I've always used straps as they are much easier / neater to store, easier to clean, and lightweight

I've got a short tree strap, 5m and 10m straps and a 9m ARB snatch strap, a bunch of 4.75T shackles, a pair of masterlinks, ARB pulley block and a shortening chain.

Plus stops are much easier to check for damage and degredation. The only rope I now ever carry is a KERR although I only use it very occasionally.

I've found a couple of short (2 - 3 m) strops and a longer (5 - 10 m) strop along with a few rated shackles does the basic job nicely.

[dollythelw]

I only carry strops in 2 sizes, 9metre and alottametres,

I've found a 9 metre length strop will do everything I want a strop to do, the lottametres is not really needed in the UK, I wont have a KERR rope as I dont like having bumpers heading towards me at speed, been there done that a lot I use a really nice, really cheap chinese snatch block with the plasma and its been totally reliable (proper bearings, grease nipple, nice big diameter and oversized profile to the wheel) but ORC sell good gear so will be doing some shopping with them in the spring

I wont haul anything out for anyone if they dont have rated shackles and decent recovery points - Petal carries one on each corner and I dont see the attraction of putting mickey mouse choco metal under load although winch powered remote disassembly of other peoples cars can be a lot of fun

lifting and crane do some good deals on strops - but as the guys have said they get damaged relatively easily (offset that against cheap and easy to store) so inspect them constantly, if you find a frayed one slice it in two and bin it so you're not tempted to use it "in emergencies"

[Bush65]

20% stretch works reasonable well for snatch recoveries.

IMHO, the best snatch strap available in Aus, is the Black Snake. This uses a rope (nylon I presume for the stretch), which is rubber coated after the eyes are spliced. The rubber coating prevents damage by sand particles (which get between fibres of normal rope and straps), water (affects nylon) abrasion and UV radiation.

Advert

[Mark90]

You can get rubber coated black snakes in the UK but it's a completely different product

[dollythelw]

You can get rubber coated black snakes in the UK but it's a completely different product

24volt?

[freeagent]

I've got a KERR, I usually take it out with us but rarely use it, you need to gig them properly, and idealy use bridles at both ends, we don't tend to off-road in the kind of places you can safely use a KERR anyway.

I normally use a heavy Nylon rope, bought from a guy at the old sod, its about 30mm diameter, and has an eye spliced in each end, its great as it ain't ever gonna break, but it does get really heavy when wet, and can be a bit of a handfull.

i've got a few webbing strops, they're great, cheap and easy to use... don't know why i use the heavy rope really....

i always leave a pair of shackles and a 5M strop in the truck, even when doing the weekly commute...

in answer to your question, buy 4 decent, rated shackles (at least 4.75T) and either a good quality strap or a good rope, make sure its over-specced for its intended use....

i've done a lot of marshalling and recovery duties at the LRO shows, and you'd be amazed at the ridiculous ropes people expect you to tow them out with, some of the kit people carry i wouldn't use to tie a dog up outside the co-op....

[Guest diesel_jim]

You can get rubber coated black snakes in the UK but it's a completely different product

Wahey... a use for this smiley.....