Safe to use recovery strap on hitch pin instead of shackle?

[MuddyOval]

I dont' like doing kinetic recoveries at all. I like the slow, predictable winch. For those just barely stuck, I'll use a strap and a very slow pull with no yanking. I bought one of those uber expensive kinetic ropes and after the first time I used it, I retired it. It was, IMHO, too unpredictable and violent on the stuckee rig.

 

[Scott Brady]

Another aspect maybe worth discussing, is the rating of the kinetic strap vs. the weight of the vehicle.

Good rule: Kinetic recovery strap/rope should have an MBS of 3x the vehicles GVWR.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Yes, I vaguely remembered that rule. I need like a 10k strap for cars.

What was really alarming was the rally cars all carried straps to help eachother out. Non-competitive teams would stop and yank eachother out of the snow banks before we got there. They were using "tow straps", non-stretchy yellow rope with open hooks. :Wow1:
And sometimes they were really hammering them. They never wanted to use my winch, the lead recovery truck was a Ram 2500 diesel 4x4, and he was just slamming some of them.

Also, some of the recovery points were pretty scary. They are required to have a tow point, but no details on the construction of the tow point. Some of them weren't big enough to fit a shackle, and I was carrying around 1/2" shackles just for the occaision.

These are the same guys who agonize over seat belt mounting angles, how many layers of Nomex, etc... but completely gloss over the recovery aspect.

 

[Scott Brady]

Another note on capacity (MBS) of the rope/strap.

It is easy to just buy a really big strap, like a 4", etc., but bigger is not necessarily better. The strap should be appropriate to your vehicle. For example, if you use a 4" strap with a Samurai, you will yield a fraction of the stretch and resulting kinetic effect.

Buy the strap appropriate to your GVWR.

 

[I Leak Oil]

KE straps, like all recovery equipment, have their place. They do work really slick at the right time. I became a true believer the first time I saw one used the right way. It looked as if it happened in slow motion!

 

[michaelgroves]

I'm betting you were using a winch in a very controlled recovery- not putting a springy inertia strap on there and yanking the hell out of it. JATE rings are not rated for inertial recoveries. The bolts are smaller than the cross-pin on the previously debated hitches.

Actually, except for "field expedients", Kinetic Rope recoveries were forbidden for non-armoured vehicles. For one thing, it was too hard to control when the ropes should be retired, and the accident rate was very high.

But no matter what the recovery technique, if Jate Rings were available, they were the correct pair of attachment points (in preference to dual D-rings, even if both were fitted).

Btw, Jate rings are certainly not to be confused with the standard lashing eyes that are fitted to Land Rovers, front and rear. Those are just for tying down the truck!

I'm not sure how to answer your reasonable-sounding argument that the receiver hitch pin is much bigger than Jate Ring bolts. It might be that the pair of bolts are tightly fitted, and the pull isn't in the centre of the bolts, as it is with the pin. Or it might be that the pin isn't actually the weak point of the receiver hitch (which was my contention all along). Either way, I have never heard of Jate rings failing, except when the bolts have been corroded almost completely through.

KE straps, like all recovery equipment, have their place. They do work really slick at the right time. I became a true believer the first time I saw one used the right way. It looked as if it happened in slow motion!

There's no question about how effective KERRs are! And if there were no other option, then I'd use one. But it would be a last resort, for me. Too much guess-work, too little control, too much potential for vehicle and equipment damage, and too dangerous.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

I'm not sure how to answer your reasonable-sounding argument that the receiver hitch pin is much bigger than Jate Ring bolts. It might be that the pair of bolts are tightly fitted, and the pull isn't in the centre of the bolts, as it is with the pin. Or it might be that the pin isn't actually the weak point of the receiver hitch (which was my contention all along). Either way, I have never heard of Jate rings failing, except when the bolts have been corroded almost completely through.

I would think the difference is that with a JATE ring, as with the reciever mounted shackle bracket, the metal bracketry is converting the force on the bolts into pure double-shear loading. The bolts are pretty strong when loaded this way. Compare that to the strap-on-pin-in-reciever method creates that complicated shear/bending loading which bends the pin.

 

[nwoods]

FWIW, Bill Burke's "Getting Unstuck" video advocates (maybe suggests is a better word) using the hitch receiver and pin for the recovery strap connection.

 

[Antichrist]

One question that comes to mind, well, two questions:
Is using just the pin better than using a receiver shackle?
If it's not, why, when one has spent so many $$ on recovery straps, would you skimp and not get a receiver shackle? They aren't that expensive.

 

[BIGdaddy]

FWIW, Bill Burke's "Getting Unstuck" video advocates (maybe suggests is a better word) using the hitch receiver and pin for the recovery strap connection.

well, thats pretty much the end of the discussion for me, right there. Not that I don't have a mind of my own, but this is just a part-time(less than part time?) thing for me. When a fulltime adventurer-trainer generally approves of something, I tend to keep that process or skill in my toolbox to use when appropriate.

 

[winkosmosis]

One question that comes to mind, well, two questions:
Is using just the pin better than using a receiver shackle?
If it's not, why, when one has spent so many $$ on recovery straps, would you skimp and not get a receiver shackle? They aren't that expensive.

Here is why

1) A reciever shackle, like a lot of hunks of metal, is inordinately expensive for what it is. They seem to be around $75. My whole hitch costs only twice that. I just bought a 500gb hard drive, an extremely complex electronic and mechanical device, with millions of parts and a lot of engineering work to make it, that cost that much.

2) It's another thing to carry

3) Even if it's stronger, it does have a negative effect-- it pushes the attachment point of the strap further to the rear, changing the angles of forces and stress to the frame/unibody. If using a pin is OK, I'd rather do that since the point is much closer to the frame, and to the rear tires.

 

[BIGdaddy]

Here is why

1) A reciever shackle, like a lot of hunks of metal, is inordinately expensive for what it is. They seem to be around $75. My whole hitch costs only twice that. I just bought a 500gb hard drive, an extremely complex electronic and mechanical device, with millions of parts and a lot of engineering work to make it, that cost that much.

2) It's another thing to carry

3) Even if it's stronger, it does have a negative effect-- it pushes the attachment point of the strap further to the rear, changing the angles of forces and stress to the frame/unibody. If using a pin is OK, I'd rather do that since the point is much closer to the frame, and to the rear tires.

all good points.

 

[spencyg]

If the strength of the pin is a genuine concern (which I would say it is....), than I see no reason why you couldn't add a second thru-hole further back in the reciever tube which can accomodate a 1" dia hardened hitch pin. If you bend/break that with a 2" strap than you need to probably just abandon the truck, hike out, and take up professional demolotion as a primary source of income, because at that point, you have proven yourself capable of destroying just about anything. Obviously this entire thread is dedicated to recovery with a 2" strap, as nothing larger will fit in a standard Class 3 hitch.

Spence

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Here is why

1) A reciever shackle, like a lot of hunks of metal, is inordinately expensive for what it is. They seem to be around $75. My whole hitch costs only twice that. I just bought a 500gb hard drive, an extremely complex electronic and mechanical device, with millions of parts and a lot of engineering work to make it, that cost that much.

2) It's another thing to carry

3) Even if it's stronger, it does have a negative effect-- it pushes the attachment point of the strap further to the rear, changing the angles of forces and stress to the frame/unibody. If using a pin is OK, I'd rather do that since the point is much closer to the frame, and to the rear tires.

What about the aspect of a non-straight pull severely rubbing the strap on the inside edge of the reciever tube? Or the fact that a heavy pull is seemingly likely to bend the pin, jamming in the reciever tube, and leaving you with a recovery strap stuck in your hitch? The shackle mount is less likely to jam the pin, since it's a pure double shear force on the pin.

For me, using the strap on the pin is a contingency for if there are no other options. The

 

[ntsqd]

I built my own shackle slider. Cost was a couple hours of my time thinking it through and finding the bits to build it from, then building it.

The teal bar was notched to fit inside of the 1/8" wall square tube, and rosette welded in place along the top and bottom of the tube. Then a 1" hole was drilled all the way through at the desired hitch pin location, and a 1" OD X 1.95" long center drilled bar was welded to the square tube and the 5/8" pin hole drilled through after the welding. Finally light gage end caps (not shown) were welded over the end to keep junk from building up inside.
So all that the square tube really does is transmit any side loads to the receiver's socket. The 1" bar turned into a tube is there to reinforce the pin and make it's loading only in shear.

It's not particularly light, but it is lighter than any that I've seen offered for sale.

A very long time ago I posted this illustration as a suggestion for how weight could be taken out of those castings offered for sale: