What size chain should I get?

[smokymt]

So I am heading out this weekend for a last minute trip to an area I haven't been to before. I have a good idea of what the terrain will be like, and I want to be prepared for manual winching just in case. I have a Hi-lift jack and the off-road kit, but I need a 20'-25' length of chain for winching.

I thought finding chain would be an easy task, but I haven't really had much luck shopping locally. And at this point I am too late to order online. I know that 3/8" grade 70 chain is typically recommended for this application, but I haven't been able to find exactly that at any local stores. However, I did find 5/16" grade 70 and 3/8" grade 43 chain. Do you guys think either one of those will be okay?

 

[off.track]

do you guys have TSC, rural king or other farm like stores down there? also walk and explore instead of getting stuck. or bring a bike.

 

[JamesDowning]

The important thing is the breaking strength.

70 grade 5/16" has a breaking strength of 18,800 lbs. and a working load limit of about 5k lbs.

I don't know how much you use your hi-lift, but its not easy to lift even 3k lbs. I doubt you can exceed 5k in a winching situation anyways.

I actually have a 25' 5/16" grade 70 chain I have used. Despite the smaller diameter links, it still holds the load without issue (and weighs less!).

 

[DaveInDenver]

I carry 20' of 5/16" Gr. 40 and a 4' of 3/8" of Gr. 40. A Hi-Lift is rated to 4,600 lbf and AFAIK the pin shears at 7,000 lbf. In my case the 3/8" chain is rated higher, but the 5/16" is not (Gr. 70 5/16" would be ~4,500 lbf). But I have a 2" nylon tow strap (not recovery strap!) that I use with the 3/8" chain, which is another option instead of chain. This is rated for 10,000 lbf.

 

[smokymt]

Thanks for the replies. There are several farm stores here including TSC, and they all have everything but 3/8" grade 70. Looking online, most of the off-road gear websites seem to carry 5/16" grade 70 for towing and recovery. I'm only pulling a Tacoma, so I guess as long as the weight rating is at least as high as the Hi-lift then I am fine.

I like the tow strap idea. I thought it needed to be chain.

 

[RobA]

Not sure why you would want to carry that amount of weight around? We tend to use winch extension straps and/or plasma rope sections which are lighter and easier to carry, store and use. Even in rocky terrain all we do is use some custom made protectors to reduce the risk of abrasion

Regards

RobA

 

[UK4X4]

bring a pick and shovel, jack up fill hole drive off

easier safer

 

[JamesDowning]

Not sure why you would want to carry that amount of weight around?

The off road kit comes with chain lengths and grab hooks. This actually allows you to winch up the length of the hi-lift, then hold the weight with the secondary grab hook in order to 'ratchet' yourself up the chain without having to de-rig.

With only a strap... how do you fine-tune the length to what you actually need? Chain makes this easy because you can grab at any point.

I've seen one method with synthetic extension where you essentially braid the line back onto itself in order to shorten it to the desired length. But you'd still have to de-rig when you reached the end of the hi-lift.

 

[ryguy]

I got my 12' chocker 3/8" from 4x4 connection, if you need longer than that I'd try iron pig in va.. Last time I was down there they had alot of recovery gear and they were nice to deal with.

 

[RobA]

The off road kit comes with chain lengths and grab hooks. This actually allows you to winch up the length of the hi-lift, then hold the weight with the secondary grab hook in order to 'ratchet' yourself up the chain without having to de-rig.

With only a strap... how do you fine-tune the length to what you actually need? Chain makes this easy because you can grab at any point.

I've seen one method with synthetic extension where you essentially braid the line back onto itself in order to shorten it to the desired length. But you'd still have to de-rig when you reached the end of the hi-lift.

Simple actually. The orignal query is regarding 20-25' of "extra" chain as I read it. The hi-lift winch kit already comes with enough chain to carry out the winching process, particularly given the amount of effort required for manual winching. So we use that section of chain and then supplement the distance to the anchor point using either plasma rope or a winch extension strap(s). Not sure if these are available in the USA? You can shorten these straps quite simply by running the strap back to the anchor point or the vehicle without prejudice to safety. Same for plasma rope. Both are lighter and much easier to haul around, particulary if you have to clamber up a steep, loose slope to the anchor point. We have sections of plasma rope made to specific lengths to deal with these sort of situations.

The hi-lift extension kit requires you to de-rig each time you get to the end of each section of the chain that is doing the work. We figure that's a nice time for a break.

Apart from that we tend to rely on vehicle mounted winches to avoide all of the above issues. But with 45m of plasma rope I regularly have to get the extension strap kit out as Murphy says the anchor point is always just beyond the total length of all your recovery gear.

Everyone has a different view when it comes to recovery. Our focus is on risk management for occupational health and safety. We spend a lot of time consulting in this area to organisations operating in remote areas and not just in Australia which always generates some surprises I must say

Regards

RobA