Recovery thoughts, ideas, advice

[Metcalf]

They are designed to do the exact same function as the tow hooks on a Jeep or Toyota or whatever truck so the exact same caveats apply. Whatever the manufacturer puts on there will be strong enough to handle the car's weight being pulled onto a tow truck or similar and that's all you can assume. IOW I'd consider or not a dynamic recovery on those as any other stock tow point.

Mostly agree, the stock tow points, especially the thread in version ( and some are left hand threads....who does that! ) are ok for a straight line helping pull.
That honestly will go a LONG ways for most of the 'car' based recovery. When in doubt use more shovel.

 

[luthj]

Kinetic ropes do a great job of reducing shock loading for straight pulls. Especially longer ones. When its slick (ice, mud etc), a rolling start at about 5mph doesn't put much stress on the pull points, but allows the rope to stretch, and then pull the vehicle at several times the traction pull over the distance of a few ft (depending on rope length).

 

[shade]

Kinetic ropes do a great job of reducing shock loading for straight pulls. Especially longer ones. When its slick (ice, mud etc), a rolling start at about 5mph doesn't put much stress on the pull points, but allows the rope to stretch, and then pull the vehicle at several times the traction pull over the distance of a few ft (depending on rope length).

Sure, that's why I'd take a yank via one - in a straight pull. I've used mine on a much heavier truck that was mildly stuck in mud on a grade. Worked great, with no harm to anything but the sod.

Any other yanking, no thanks. If someone doesn't want to take the slack out of a tow strap/chain/cable/rope properly before pulling, I'll find another way to get the job done.

 

[MOguy]

Kinetic ropes do a great job of reducing shock loading for straight pulls. Especially longer ones. When its slick (ice, mud etc), a rolling start at about 5mph doesn't put much stress on the pull points, but allows the rope to stretch, and then pull the vehicle at several times the traction pull over the distance of a few ft (depending on rope length).

That is fine but what I am talking about and what I think Shade is talkin about is you start with a strap some slack in it and get a running start.

 

[shade]

That is fine but what I am talking about and what I think Shade is talkin about is you start with a strap some slack in it and get a running start.

Yep. No thanks.

This would be on the list of why I'm very hesitant to accept a tow from an unknown driver. I don't need my junk any more broken than it was before Hobo Joe decided to yank on it, and I don't want to buy him a U-joint, either.

 

[shade]

When in doubt use more shovel.

This is the way.

 

[DaveInDenver]

That is fine but what I am talking about and what I think Shade is talkin about is you start with a strap some slack in it and get a running start.

The idea isn't to leave the whole thing slack and see if you can hit 3rd gen in high range when you tension the strap.

 

[luthj]

The examples I have seen are to not exceed 1 car length of slack, or more than 30-40% of the ropes length. You can only gain so much speed in that short of a distance, and the rope will stretch about 30% of its length. So if you accelerate at about 0.5G (max) then the rope will decelerate you at about the same rate. If the recovery points can't handle 1/2 the vehicles loaded weight, don't use so much slack.

 

[shade]

The idea isn't to leave the whole thing slack and see if you can hit 3rd gen in high range when you tension the strap.

And yet, it's not hard to find plenty of examples that follow that script.


It's a tow hook, not a yank hook.

 

[shade]

The examples I have seen are to not exceed 1 car length of slack, or more than 30-40% of the ropes length. You can only gain so much speed in that short of a distance, and the rope will stretch about 30% of its length. So if you accelerate at about 0.5G (max) then the rope will decelerate you at about the same rate. If the recovery points can't handle 1/2 the vehicles loaded weight, don't use so much slack.

That's with a KRR. They're also available in different thicknesses, which makes a big difference in the variables. They can deliver exciting results, but at least they're designed for yanking.

 

[luthj]

Absolutely. Never use a normal rope or strap for dynamic recovery like that. They stretch 1-5% before breaking, and the shock loads can be crazy high.

 

[DaveInDenver]

The amount of slack you leave on a dynamic or kinetic strap/rope isn't critical but that you don't want or need to hit it with a metric crap ton of speed. ASR suggests a top speed of 15 MPH on their literature. Any way you look at it you should be in low range and probably 1st or 2nd with a smooth acceleration so even 15 MPH is pretty aggressive in 30 feet.

 

[shade]

The amount of slack you leave on a dynamic or kinetic strap/rope isn't critical but that you don't want or need to hit it with a metric crap ton of speed. ASR suggests a top speed of 15 MPH on their literature. Any way you look at it you should be in low range and probably 1st or 2nd with a smooth acceleration so even 15 MPH is pretty aggressive in 30 feet.

I have one of theirs. Incredibly smooth to use, and useful when trying to move a bigger vehicle. I keep a tow strap in my truck, but would rather use the KRR. They do lose some elasticity over several tugging cycles, and you definitely don't want to tow with one.

 

[Metcalf]

Absolutely. Never use a normal rope or strap for dynamic recovery like that. They stretch 1-5% before breaking, and the shock loads can be crazy high.

I like to have both/all options available.

A dynamic rope/strap works great up to a point. If they are sized wrong or you hook multiples together in series it can completely change how 'dynamic' things are.
You can end up with a case of too much of a good thing.
Adding in a normal static strap or winch extension can give you some more distance from the vehicle without drastically changing how the dynamic strap works.
A very short option, like a 6' static sling is also very helpful if you need to work in very close and/or at odd angles.

Towing any distance on a dynamic recovery rope can also get annoying with the bungee action.
They are also typically much more expensive than a static strap and you don't want to watch one rub on the ground for very long.

 

[roving1]

The problem with this attitude is that it can bleed over to the trail.

There was a large group out on Kane Creek as part of the EJS event a few years back. A gentlemen with a full size bronco ( albeit a little under-equipped for that run ) was stuck on Hamburger Hill for about 4 hours in the middle of a group of almost 50 vehicles. The gentlemen in the Jeep ahead of the Bronco refused to let anyone hook up a recovery strap, or winch, to his vehicle. This caused a VERY long delay for everyone on the trail and it was a complete mess. The Jeep guy was coming up with all kinds of excuses....and he wouldn't even try to pull out of the way to let another vehicle get access. The trail is tight enough in that location....and has a good bit of exposure. It was a complete cluster that messed up a lot of peoples day. That trail run didn't get back to town till after 11pm at night. Many people had to turn around and go back out the bottom with small kids and such.

It would have taken 5 minutes with a strap to make everything go WAY smoother.

This is more a lesson in avoiding stupid group sizes than recovery etiquette for me. But I get the point.