A strap is a strap...

[SAR_Squid79]

Is there a write-up or detailed explaination about why you should spend the extra few bucks to get a good recovery strap?
...as in the answer to "Why should I buy an ARB recovery strap? Any yellow nylon strap from Farm & Fleet is just as good".

At Overland ExPo, both Thor from Viking Off-Road, and Bruce Elfstrom put out great info about how the ARB & Viking recovery straps are built and tested to a rigorous standard specifically for recovery, and assigned a specific rating, etc. etc.

I'm pretty sure that I have read that info somewhere before, but I'm not sure if it was in a magazine, on a forum, or what... Does anybody know where to find that info real quick, so I can answer a **************'s question intelligently, and back it up with hard facts?

Thanks!

 

[Token]

A good recovery strap is somewhat of a bungee cord and stretches out to take some of the shock out of a snatch recovery.. Those generic straps you find at most farm supply places aren't recovery straps, they are tow straps..

http://www.offroaders.com/tech/Tow_Straps.htm

This guy gives a good lesson in How to..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JBnxSqpuCM&feature=related

 

[CJCA]

I don't know if this is what you're looking for, but it was easy for me to find as I remember posting to it......

http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=33138

 

[UK4X4]

I have both a farm store tow and an ARB kinetic...............

the ARB is a work of art thickness, width quality everything is beautifully made
including the neoprene covers.

No worries about breaking it its awsome......

technical facts - none ! but put them both on a table side by side

and you'l see !

 

[I Leak Oil]

The farm store tow straps will work well a couple times. The better straps will work well for a long time...

 

[hillbillyjake]

for as long as i can remeber, everybody i have known have used the farm store straps to get there trucks unstuck. in my opinion and experience, they work fine. i have never seen an arb, viking, ect..., and i have been doin this for 15 years.

i'm not saying that the expensive straps won't work, but i am saying that the cheap ones will.

 

[UK4X4]

"I've been doing it for 15 years"

I think it depends alot on where, how, what and where's the nearest store for a new one.

trail riding with buddies - fine buy a harbour freight and giggle and laugh when it fails and buy a new one on the way home, hopefully no shackles impacted on people or vehicles

Stuck up to the axles with a fully loaded truck in a desert 40k to the nearest track and 400k from the nearest store with a new strap

Please pass me the ARB..................

I have a friend in Oman who bought the cheapo strap, himself and a friend spent 8hrs stuck in sand in 40-50 deg heat, only rescued by a passing bedu with a LC -sand tires and ships hauser, their strap broke and was knoted multiple times till it was useless.

As you sit trying to keep cool watching your gas gauge drop as the day goes by , water diminishing and people tired from digging ,you'll find the cost of the strap rapidly being regretted

he has never gone back into the desert since

 

[WoldD90]

The farm type straps are fine most of the time, I have several. But, the ARB straps are more elastic, allowing more force to remove a stuck truck. Also, as a safety point the ARB's have red fibers woven into them and when you see them, you will know when the strap is shot.

 

[PhulesAU]

you can still buy a strap from a rigging company cheaper than, an ARB. No use paying extra for the name.

 

[UK4X4]

I happen to have ARB

but there are other good strap manufacturers, including just using the industrial lifting strops as you say

I think the point of the thread was why pay $80 for something you can pickup for $15

The answer is quality usually costs

and personally I'd rather not have to walk out back to the nearest track or road.

I think the tow strap V's kinetic has been discussed to death.

note kinetic is the only way to go in sand, unless you want two stuck trucks

Oh and the lifting strop won't come with a protector for use over rocks or obstacles

 

[Overland Hadley]

An ARB strap is a snatch strap that has stretch, the stretch will give a little more power to the pull and will soften the harsh jerk you would get with a static strap.

A tow strap has no stretch, and you will get a hard jerk when the strap is pulled tight.

It is like comparing a dynamic climbing rope that you can take a big fall on to a static rope that you buy at a hardware store. No comparison.

When it comes to rope you get what you pay for.

 

[I Leak Oil]

you can still buy a strap from a rigging company cheaper than, an ARB. No use paying extra for the name.

This is true and a great piece of advice. My tree strap is a good quality, 4" wide, short, lifting strap. About 1/3 the price of a branded for off road strap when I bought it.

 

[lcsodiver]

Yes and to be clear.... if you go to the rigging house to buy a strap.. MAKE SURE you get what you think you are getting.... A rigging strap has NO stretch!! they are great for tree straps however. They may have stretchy straps there just be sure they know what you are wanting!!

 

[hillbillyjake]

i have never seen a farm store strap fail. weather pulling a truck or a tractor or what ever. i've seen some heavy trucks and some bad spots. they work. and when the day comes that my buddies and i take off for Oman, i'll take my farm store strap and hope for the best.

 

[SAR_Squid79]

So this was the answer I came up with:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Most of the straps found at a farm store are TOW STRAPS, not designed for recovery, or rated for the forces at work during recovery. Those cheapy farm store straps can be very VERY dangerous!
TOW STRAPS SHOULD NEVER BE USED FOR RECOVERY!!

The ARB and Viking straps are specifically designed to stretch under load for maximum performance, a snatch strap (sometimes mistakenly referred to as a tow strap) is a very effective method of extracting a bogged or immobilized 4WD when a second vehicle is present.

This ability to stretch is a distinction between a snatch strap and a tow strap, ARB/Viking snatch straps are elastic when under load whereas a tow strap is not, the benefits of which are twofold. Firstly, the kinetic energy generated by the elasticity actually aids the recovery itself, and secondly, the elasticity greatly reduces the likelihood of vehicle damage during recovery. The enormous weight of each 4x4 and the weighted force of whatever caused the immobilization puts enormous strain on the point where the straps are attached, and without some elasticity, there is a substantial risk of damaging the vehicle. For vehicle recovery, a snatch strap is more suitable than a tow strap.

All ARB snatch straps are woven and fabricated to ARB specifications, and tested by a NATA approved laboratory.

Both the Viking and ARD straps are color coded, and properly labeled for their application and Working Load Limit.

http://www.offroaders.com/tech/Tow_Straps.htm
http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/Recovery/
http://www.uscargocontrol.com/Towing-Auto-Hauling/Recovery-Straps-Tow-Straps


It's true that you don't need to spend a lot of money to get a quality product, but look at the UScargocontrol site. They sell very high quality straps. There are tons of different straps there, for tons of different applications, yet - THEY ALL LOOK IDENTICAL.

I'm not really about name brands. I could really care less about that (believe it or not)...

But ARB, Viking, and ExpeditionExchange are leading the way to create a new industry standard in color coding and properly labeling recovery straps. In the not-too-distant past, if you had a tree strap, a tow strap, and a snatch strap, they all looked identical, and took careful inspection to make sure you had the correct strap for the task at hand. I know from experience - until this past Christmas, I had 4 very similar looking yellow straps in my recovery kit. If I needed someone's help, there was no way I could verbalize which strap I needed. I would need to see and touch them for myself to know the difference, and in a rush or pinch, there was the chance that I could grab the wrong one.

So I've spent a few extra bones, and there's virtually no way I could make a potentially dangerous mistake like that. You really can't argue these straps are making a recovery a little bit safer. So - why not?

ORANGE = Snatch Strap
PURPLE = Tow / Winch Strap
GREEN / YELLOW = Tree Strap

Labels clearly indicate the Rating & Working Load Limit (in case you have more than 1 strap of the same color):