Tow rope whats your ideal length?

[agent nomad]

Hi

A question for the seasoned and experienced what would your ideal tow rope or tow strop be I believe the min legal length is 1.5m, This seams a little short, so to tow with and to be towed, what would your ideal length be for use on tarmac, green lanes and off road. I know its almost like asking how long a piece of string is but that is twice is length for its center to one end.

I have asked this because I am looking into having some made up, but to also incorporate multi use's

Paul.

[19MART82]

do you mean for towing or recovery or an all rounder? for offroad recovery i carry 2x 12ft strops rated at 8 ton each,12ft is normally ample but you can join both together to make 24ft and youve also got a 24ft extension to your winch should you need it,personally i hate towing with anything other than a straight bar but i have towed mates home useing 1 of the 12ft strops with no problems

just to add i also carry a 2m tree strop too for the winch

[Effortless]

Hi,

Not sure what the minimum is, but I believe the legal maximum is 4.5 metres, and this seems to be the length of most commercially available ones.

Mine is a 4.5m 12 tonne nylon rope (24mm dia springs to mind??) with sleeved soft eyes either end, and it's served me very well over the years. I use Crosby bow shackles (3/4"???) to attach it to recovery points, and also have 2x 1m bridles available if the other vehicle has 2 recovery points.

In terms of materials, synthetic is better than natural (my opinion!!) as it doesn't rot, and I believe that nylon is better than polypropylene as it has some stretch to it which reduces shock loads on each vehicle.

If you are planning on making some up, get good quality rope that has UV stabilisers incorporated into it, as this will limit UV degradation of your tow-rope over the years.

If you look at some of the commercial rope and wire suppliers, some will already have this sort of stuff made up, and this will probably be a cheaper way to buy than trying to get some made up for you (assuming off course that you don't want something out of the ordinary. Also remember that for towing anything any distance, a bar is far preferable to a rope, as Mart suggests.

HTH,

Effortless.

[landroversforever]

I think there is also a maximum length for towing on the road?

[Effortless]

I think there is also a maximum length for towing on the road?

I believe it's the 4.5 meters mentioned above...

[landroversforever]

I had started typing before and got distracted and you beat me to it!

[ToyRoverlander]

I've got 2x 9mtr snatchstraps for offroad recovery.I love the bit of extra length. For onroad towing I just double it up to get 4.5mtr.

Here we joined 2 9mtr straps together... I couldn't get any closer without getting stuck myself. That ground was VERY soft..

[agent nomad]

I am looking to have one or two made up to test an idea but want to try it first before going public with the idea just in case it's a no hope idea

Material would be nylon 3 tonne lifting strop material off a real so the SWL would be 3T and shouldn't brake until around 21T due to the safety factor in lifting equipment.

Will keep interested people informed through this thread

Thanks for the replies so far

Paul.

[western]

UK road use towrope length is 4.5 metres or 15 foot. or even better use a proper towbar. [towropes are illegal on motorways]

[Diff]

I am looking to have one or two made up to test an idea but want to try it first before going public with the idea just in case it's a no hope idea

Material would be nylon 3 tonne lifting strop material off a real so the SWL would be 3T and shouldn't brake until around 21T due to the safety factor in lifting equipment.

Will keep interested people informed through this thread

Thanks for the replies so far

Paul.

Lifting strops have virtually no stretch due to their weave, and behave like polypropylene ropes, in that they do not absorb shock loads during towing. This means any shock or snatch loads created when the towing strap goes slack and then tight is transmitted to the vehicles in an uncomfortable and jerky fashion.

Ideally a tow rope or strap would have some stretch which gives a much nicer tow and is less likely to damage the towing points.

From memory, the approximate stretch details are as follows:

Polypropylene ropes and lifting straps (including nylon lifting straps) have a stretch of less than 3 - 5% (Ok for winch extension)

Nylon ropes and purpose made nylon towing straps have a stretch of 5 -15% (Best for general purpose towing)

Purpose made nylon 'Snatch' recovery straps have a stretch of 15 - 20%

Nylon KERR (Kinetic Energy Recovery Rope) has a stretch of 20 - 30%

Hope this helps,

Regards, Diff.

[BogMonster]

I use ~ 10 metres of 24mm (12 tonne breaking strain) three strand white nylon with spliced protected eyes. Usually start with a 12m rope which once you have spliced 2 big eyes in gets down to about 10-10.5.

[jai_landrover]

My pet hate is people using lifting strops for towing.

as above 24mm rope I use 8 meter ones and I have one thats 12 meters but the 8 meter one has served me well for years.

somone not educated in towing using a lifting strop is so very dangerous. Seen far too often at P&P bumpers and jate rings bent or ripped off. A strap wrapped around the front and or rear of a motor and attached to a tow point instantly makes me think the owner/driver has no idea and is usually avoided at P&P's. Rope is more expensive but it does the job.

Strops for winching ropes for recovery. Simple We all know a strop can be used to pull out a stuck motor safely if the stuck motor isn't that stuck and needs just a slight pull by taking up the atrain and driving once fully taught. but in reality how many times does this work? sometimes you need to use the weight of thw towing vehicle to unstuck the stuck motor. If done sensibly its very effective.

How much abuse a rope can take.

strops would have if used to snatch like that would have ripped off tow points and most likley hurt the occupants jar'd backs and shackels flying through windscreens.

[mmgemini]

Now TOW ROPE. That is for TOWING and TOWING only.

Not to be used for RECOVERY purposes....

Where can you aquire a rope that has been tested ? As for plastic rope....No the only safe rope is HEMP or MANILA.....

[mmgemini]

My pet hate is people using lifting strops for towing.

as above 24mm rope I use 8 meter ones and I have one thats 12 meters but the 8 meter one has served me well for years.

somone not educated in towing using a lifting strop is so very dangerous. Seen far too often at P&P bumpers and jate rings bent or ripped off. A strap wrapped around the front and or rear of a motor and attached to a tow point instantly makes me think the owner/driver has no idea and is usually avoided at P&P's. Rope is more expensive but it does the job.

Strops for winching ropes for recovery. Simple We all know a strop can be used to pull out a stuck motor safely if the stuck motor isn't that stuck and needs just a slight pull by taking up the atrain and driving once fully taught. but in reality how many times does this work? sometimes you need to use the weight of thw towing vehicle to unstuck the stuck motor. If done sensibly its very effective.

How much abuse a rope can take.

strops would have if used to snatch like that would have ripped off tow points and most likley hurt the occupants jar'd backs and shackels flying through windscreens.

How come you have shackles flying ?

WHY hasn't a sacfrificial rope been used at the two or three shackles at the recovery points.

Why are the shackles being used as a less rate then the recovery strop. That's when shackles break.....

At Stoneleigh I watched in horror at some of the recovery techniques.

[19MART82]

My pet hate is people using lifting strops for towing.

as above 24mm rope I use 8 meter ones and I have one thats 12 meters but the 8 meter one has served me well for years.

somone not educated in towing using a lifting strop is so very dangerous. Seen far too often at P&P bumpers and jate rings bent or ripped off.

A strap wrapped around the front and or rear of a motor and attached to a tow point instantly makes me think the owner/driver has no idea and is usually avoided at P&P's. Rope is more expensive but it does the job.

Strops for winching ropes for recovery. Simple We all know a strop can be used to pull out a stuck motor safely if the stuck motor isn't that stuck and needs just a slight pull by taking up the atrain and driving once fully taught. but in reality how many times does this work? sometimes you need to use the weight of thw towing vehicle to unstuck the stuck motor. If done sensibly its very effective.

How much abuse a rope can take.

strops would have if used to snatch like that would have ripped off tow points and most likley hurt the occupants jar'd backs and shackels flying through windscreens.

any strop,rope etc is dangrous used by someone not educated and most of the time its not the equipment its the person useing it and lack of cleaning/checking it,but normally if i see someone at a p&p with a towrope hooked up and wrapped around the A bar etc i would say there prepared/sensible,weve all seen people trying to hook a towrope to a towing point with the motor upto the door handles in muddy water.

and personally i dont like to see any towrope/strop used in anger,if a quick pull isnt enough to free the motor than its safer/more controlable to use the winch,

this is what can happen when a stretchy rope snaps,but then again the same could happen with wire winch rope,theres no doubt this thread can go round and round in circles about the right or wrong way but its all about useing your head and useing what equipment you have/prefer safely

[19MART82]

another point on ropes/strops with stretch is how often do you see people useing kinetic ropes for recovery with a winch sail or wet jumper/coat tied in the middle of it? never!

i do agree that a degree of stretch is very usefull/important but again its the person useing the gear thats more important

[jai_landrover]

I Fully agree all ropes and recovery can be dangerous. But knowing your equipment knowing how to use it and how to link ropes etc is all part of it aswell as basic physics angles of pull and expectaion of where the towed vwhicle will go once moving. Strops I see as a bit pointless unless for winching or to secure somthing not towing.

My first competitive trial I drove completly on my own one series owner caught a tree and as per usual with a replacement LR bumper it wedged against the Firestone SAT. Twas going nowhere!!! Out comes Mr Winch Pajero flashing amber lights, flourecent jackets (I'm not joking it was like a scene from Londons Burning Way OTT). He proceeded to spend the next 10 minutes rigging up. Everyone and I mean everyone was experienced triallers stand there watching but well out the way. It was safe, very safe and maybe it was more the marshal (thats all he ever did never drove a trial) Wow I was amazed how long it took. normal procedure would be to attach a strop to a motor and a hook to the end of the bumper and for the driver of the damaged motor to reverse very very slowly to ease the bumper out. I agree not as safe. Not dangerous either just the usual way most of the trials guys would sort it. Common sense and driving accordingly. unfortunatly these days there seems to be a great lack of it especially in the P&P community it would seem.

Shackles flying I was refering to when sompeople usually at a P&P uses a strop and tries to do a snatch recovery the instant loading on the shackel/chassis is massive.enough to cause sevear damage to persons in the vehicle.

A degree of stretch as you sat Mart makes things way safer in terms of instant shock load applied to the towpoints and the weight of the toing vehicle to some degree helps get the stuck motor moving.

The Vid I posted is the nationals. All motors have a cage, secure towpoints, mesh and or windscreens. It shows how much abuse the 24 mm rope can take and if used well can extract really stuck motors. Agree that if you have a dead disco in porridge up to ots doors then its winch time moving a dead motor that weighs 2 Plus tonnes and 6 or more tonnes of porridge infront of it a rope isn't going to work all that well. Granted.

Personal choice 8 meters can be halfed to 4 meters.which both are lengths are very useful. Rope over strops anyday for me they're versatile and can take plenty of abuse if req.

I was at driveround/open day event many years ago as a kid. It was an open day and the AWDC was running a trials event the same day but on the other half of the site. Well somone in a RRC on the P&P was towing out a 90 with a nato hitch the 90's rear x member was shot. There was a video of the nato hitch detatching flying through the rear screen of the RRC and through the Passenger head rest (yes through it) and through the front screen. Luckily nobody was in there and nobodoy was injured. Ever since seeing the video after the event I'm the careful one! Kinetic ropes tp be used when its called for, nylon when called for and Strops for winching/securing.

When the local fire brigade got stuck in the snow at the bottom of a dead end close we got them out safley. Our thankyou letter which I will one day frame and put up had a section from the chief that was there at the time. He commented on how professional we were and how they were very grateful of our help. I think he appreciated me Cutting a rope up to be re spliced at a later date after inspecting it before attaching it to the front of one of his appliances.

(Never lend somone your recovery box full of equipment). I always carry an 8 meter rope behind my seats that never gets abused. Although the fire engine wasn't a dead burried motor it must have weighed in a fair bit. More a case of more suited tyres 4x4 or 8x8 with us both helping up the fire engine that was only 2wd on road tyres locker engaged but just spinning.

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Towing ropes for the road are they actually legal? I heard they were no longer legal but I may be wrong. It used to be that you could use one upto 8 meters however that was defo changed. years ago. I blew up a Gearbox coming off the M11 near Stanstead best part of 45-50 miles. My old man came out in his 300tdi disco and towed me home on my trusty 8 meter rope. Took us ages to get back my 90 went faster behind his disco that it had done with its na. before I tdi'd it.

My old man has a good simple method as he used to do truck recovery for years. when they used scammel explorers and series 1's. Basically its waving his Right hand out the window various commands to what he needs the towed driver to do. i.e brake more, brake less, hold on the brake handy at Roundabouts keeping the rope taught, letting off the brakes etc. I have used the same method and it makes it easy even with somone not used to being towed.

[mmgemini]

Whats the rated SWL of a 24mm plastic rope ?

[19MART82]

I Fully agree all ropes and recovery can be dangerous. But knowing your equipment knowing how to use it and how to link ropes etc is all part of it aswell as basic physics angles of pull and expectaion of where the towed vwhicle will go once moving. Strops I see as a bit pointless unless for winching or to secure somthing not towing.

My first competitive trial I drove completly on my own one series owner caught a tree and as per usual with a replacement LR bumper it wedged against the Firestone SAT. Twas going nowhere!!! Out comes Mr Winch Pajero flashing amber lights, flourecent jackets (I'm not joking it was like a scene from Londons Burning Way OTT). He proceeded to spend the next 10 minutes rigging up. Everyone and I mean everyone was experienced triallers stand there watching but well out the way. It was safe, very safe and maybe it was more the marshal (thats all he ever did never drove a trial) Wow I was amazed how long it took. normal procedure would be to attach a strop to a motor and a hook to the end of the bumper and for the driver of the damaged motor to reverse very very slowly to ease the bumper out. I agree not as safe. Not dangerous either just the usual way most of the trials guys would sort it. Common sense and driving accordingly. unfortunatly these days there seems to be a great lack of it especially in the P&P community it would seem.

Shackles flying I was refering to when sompeople usually at a P&P uses a strop and tries to do a snatch recovery the instant loading on the shackel/chassis is massive.enough to cause sevear damage to persons in the vehicle.

A degree of stretch as you sat Mart makes things way safer in terms of instant shock load applied to the towpoints and the weight of the toing vehicle to some degree helps get the stuck motor moving.

The Vid I posted is the nationals. All motors have a cage, secure towpoints, mesh and or windscreens. It shows how much abuse the 24 mm rope can take and if used well can extract really stuck motors. Agree that if you have a dead disco in porridge up to ots doors then its winch time moving a dead motor that weighs 2 Plus tonnes and 6 or more tonnes of porridge infront of it a rope isn't going to work all that well. Granted.

Personal choice 8 meters can be halfed to 4 meters.which both are lengths are very useful. Rope over strops anyday for me they're versatile and can take plenty of abuse if req.

I was at driveround/open day event many years ago as a kid. It was an open day and the AWDC was running a trials event the same day but on the other half of the site. Well somone in a RRC on the P&P was towing out a 90 with a nato hitch the 90's rear x member was shot. There was a video of the nato hitch detatching flying through the rear screen of the RRC and through the Passenger head rest (yes through it) and through the front screen. Luckily nobody was in there and nobodoy was injured. Ever since seeing the video after the event I'm the careful one! Kinetic ropes tp be used when its called for, nylon when called for and Strops for winching/securing.

When the local fire brigade got stuck in the snow at the bottom of a dead end close we got them out safley. Our thankyou letter which I will one day frame and put up had a section from the chief that was there at the time. He commented on how professional we were and how they were very grateful of our help. I think he appreciated me Cutting a rope up to be re spliced at a later date after inspecting it before attaching it to the front of one of his appliances.

(Never lend somone your recovery box full of equipment). I always carry an 8 meter rope behind my seats that never gets abused. Although the fire engine wasn't a dead burried motor it must have weighed in a fair bit. More a case of more suited tyres 4x4 or 8x8 with us both helping up the fire engine that was only 2wd on road tyres locker engaged but just spinning.

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Towing ropes for the road are they actually legal? I heard they were no longer legal but I may be wrong. It used to be that you could use one upto 8 meters however that was defo changed. years ago. I blew up a Gearbox coming off the M11 near Stanstead best part of 45-50 miles. My old man came out in his 300tdi disco and towed me home on my trusty 8 meter rope. Took us ages to get back my 90 went faster behind his disco that it had done with its na. before I tdi'd it.

My old man has a good simple method as he used to do truck recovery for years. when they used scammel explorers and series 1's. Basically its waving his Right hand out the window various commands to what he needs the towed driver to do. i.e brake more, brake less, hold on the brake handy at Roundabouts keeping the rope taught, letting off the brakes etc. I have used the same method and it makes it easy even with somone not used to being towed.

ive seen some crazy things myself over the years at p&p's etc and i think thats what makes you think about what your doing more,i used to marshall for a local club at some p&p's but there was more and more people turning up with lack of experiance,poor recovery points,10 ton ropes with 1ton shackles etc the best thing about it half of them dont want to listen when you try and help,in the end i gave it up with the blame/claim culture we live in today i didnt want the marshall vest on my back if you know what i mean,theres only so much advise/help you can give people,as you say though you do soon learn the ones/types to keep an eye on

love the pic recovering the fire engine by the way,you ought to send that off to the bbc when there next pulling offroaders down

[Tanuki]

I generally prefer chains to ropes: it's easier to shackle-up a tow with no slack when using a chain.

A good 1.5cm steel hawser with ferrules on the end is also always in my kit - great for hauling tree trunks out to somewhere you can dismember them. Thick is better than thin - there's less stretch in it. Stretch is dangerous if it gives-way!

--Tanuki.

[elbekko]

I've always used an ARB kinetic strap for most recoveries, rated at 8000kg. There's also an 11000kg version.

If you're not a complete plonker it's perfectly safe to use. I've seen kinetic straps snap (usually due to excessive force), and have only seen it going wrong when people were standing too close. Same danger with a winch really.

A regular strap is fine for use for anchoring, or pulling a vehicle that isn't stuck but needs to for example be pulled sideways a bit. That can be done slowly and controlled, so no problem there.

I'd never even consider using a chain for recovery, too many possible flying bits there. I've seen someone trying it once, failing horribly (almost landing in the ditch himself), where the kinetic strap did the job without a fuss and much more controlled.

Of course, part of using a kinetic strap safely is knowing when to stop and find someone with a winch. But usually it's a bit silly faffing about with the winch when it can be easily solved with the strap.

[mmgemini]

I've always used an ARB kinetic strap for most recoveries, rated at 8000kg. There's also an 11000kg version.

Of course, part of using a kinetic strap safely is knowing when to stop and find someone with a winch. But usually it's a bit silly faffing about with the winch when it can be easily solved with the strap.

Where do you get the 24,000kg shackles and recovery points from ?

Yes I agree BUT not everybody had a winch available.

[elbekko]

Lifting shackles with a load rating have a humongous safety margin, so no problem there. I should get me some of those though, as mine aren't rated, thanks for reminding me.

Part of the appeal of the kinetic strap is massively reducing shock loading, so your recovery points should be able to handle it. I doubt a Land Rover towbar with a Dixon-Bate ball-pin hitch isn't up to the task, and in the front I have a FirstFour winchbumper where the tow points are 10mm steel and it's attached with 6x M10 (or is it M8? I don't think so, but possibly) 8.8 bolts. I don't think there's an issue there.

But sure, everything can go wrong. That's why you don't stand too close to things just in case.

[mmgemini]

So you use shackles with a lower rating than the recovery rope ?

It's not the bolts that's the problem but the thin steel they're fitted into.

[elbekko]

I can't remember off the top of my head what the (lifting) rating is, but probably yes. I bet you do too. That doesn't mean they're not more than adequate.

What thin steel? Didn't I just tell you what my recovery points are?

I'd love to know what yours are now, might as well feed the troll.