Assuming all else equal in the strength department, hooks limit the angle you can pull, and rigging falls off. Personally I'm not to keen on one bolt in single sheer. I'll take a cheap loop welded both ends to the frame any day over that. It does look cool though.What I find hard to understand (leaving aside our desire to own and play with more things and the retailer's desire to sell us more gimmicks) is why we have gotten rid of tow hooks? A tow hook means NO shackles at all, which is less to fail or fly around. And less to fiddle with.
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I have never agreed more with a post on EP than this one! Excellent layout of the critical issues, especially this statement, which we all should have pasted to the sun visors in our rigs to see every time we're out:I look at this whole incident simply for what it is. A misuse of equipment that demonstrates the "safety" of using lesser soft components for quick recovery encourages speed and creates a process no more safe than a good ol' fashioned winch and bow shackle used correctly.
Recovery isn't just the pieces, it's a process, and it's the process that dictates safety.
Have you ever watched riggers in confined spaces move things like safes, generators, or other heavy pieces? They take their time, examine conditions, formulate plan, have the right equipment in good working order, prioritize safety, and use the LEAST amount of energy necessary to complete the task.
I have a bubba rope, but I've only ever been involved in using a bubba rope once. Getting a loaded straight truck up over a muddy slick rise. There was no avoiding the total energy needed given the conditions and weight disparity. Other than that it's a process where I take the time and I use hand tools, rocks or ramps to create conditions that lessen the stress on a winch and energy in the system, and nothing breaks.
The first soft shackle I have was a handout from lucky8 that was labeled 18000 pounds max break. Since that day its been used as a handhold extension on the fj60 for short people climbing in. I use dyneema line simply because its lighter and I never found a pair of gloves that could resist a steel line fray. I use bow shackles. I know their origin of manufacture and their history. I use straps from rigging/trucking suppliers with proper labeling and 4x the wwl I could load them to. I do NOT put 12,000lb winces on 6000lb trucks. I WANT my failure point to be the WINCH. I can double line an 8000lb winch on my 7800lb loaded lexus, (splitting the load on the line) and if I need more than that, then I'm not using the correct process. Th reason the truck isn't moving is ME, not the available equipment.
Soft shackles are handy and light, but as far as a solution? They are only a solution for a process problem you created yourself, and as this demonstrates, by assuming any components are "safe" you may have just moved your procedural issues further down the line where they become exponentially more dangerous. Soft parts or not.
Just my opinion. Feel free to disagree.
...a newby driver in a Jeep being mis-directed completely by a spotter at the top of Diablo Drop Off in Anza causing her to not roll but go end over end down the hill several times breaking her back, IIRC (search Heart Attack Hill)
Thanks for that. Thought they were the same. Found the vid, and it is indeed Pinyon Mountain.Just to clarify, Diablo Drop Off and Heart Attack Hill are two different obstacles on two different trails in Anza-Borrego. Diablo is NBD really, a little steep but I've watched stock vehicles with no lockers drive up it with a little coaching. It's fun.
Heart Attack Hill on the Pinyon Mountain trail on the other hand is extremely steep with deeply rutted off-camber shelf drops and I'm sure some momentum and a badly-placed tire could initiate an end-over-end roll. Would like to see that video.
And especially don’t blindly trust random spotters or would be rescuers!oof yeah, very educational. The trail looks even worse now as another 12 years of erosion have rutted it out more and more. I saw -30° on my own tilt gauge last fall, which can combine with a lot of roll if your line is wrong (like that vid). That's one situation where long wheelbase and rear weight bias add a little passive safety. But your point stands, move a little and reassess. Sometimes reassess after every inch.
2) Thread the soft shackle through a smooth-edged D-Ring, and not the sharp holes the D-Ring mounts to.
If you have a hard shackle tab, why not just use the hard shackle to connect directly to the rope/strap? No soft shackle needed.