Soft Shackles - what is your experience?

[dstefan]

I use nylon braided static rope exclusively. Learn how to tie knots. Cut the rope if necessary.
I have pulled out vehicles up to 26 tonnes with just 1" nylon braid. Nylon absorbs shock loads and does minimal damage when it fails.

Is that basically climbing rope? Where do you source what you’re using?

 

[Joe917]

Is that basically climbing rope? Where do you source what you’re using?

Not climbing rope, although I do use old climbing rope for tie downs.
Static rope does not have the massive stretch that climbing rope has. Nylon static rope is used as mooring lines or used by arborists etc. It is very strong and has some give. 1" braided sheath is plenty strong, I carry 150' and double or quadruple it as needed. It will not stand up to daily use as a tow cable, but extraction should not be a daily exercise!

 

[toddz69]

I make most all of my own recovery gear, including soft shackles. For a 6000lb vehicle you should be looking for a unit constructed from a 10mm or 7/16" Dyneema, something SK75 or Amsteel Blue. A properly done unit in that size material should have a MBS (Minimum Breaking Strength) of more than 40klbs. I look at most 'drag' recovery ( not overhead lifting ) with a FOS ( Factor Of Safety ) of 2-4:1 depending on what type of device it is. A soft shackle is going to see the most wear in the system typically, so 4:1 is more applicable. On a synthetic winch line, 2:1 is going to be about all you can reasonably do.

A quality soft shackle is going to be $30-40+ typically.

Do you make the one you sell on your site (and which resides in my recovery kit)? Yours are a deal at $25!

Todd Z.

 

[Metcalf]

Do you make the one you sell on your site (and which resides in my recovery kit)? Yours are a deal at $25!

Todd Z.

Yes, unfortunately, materials have gotten harder to find as of late and I am sold out currently. The market is super saturated with recovery gear. I don't honestly sell THAT many, even with a good price point. The main reason I do them is for my recovery ring setup. All my stuff is more 'jeep' sized than anything also. I just don't have the bandwidth to make a ton of different colors and sizes which is what people seem to want.

I recently found a new type of external rash guard that is a big improvement over the typical tubular nylon is commonly used. Getting that in the size I needed was a bit of a challenge with a longer lead time. With the way I run my soft shackles with the ring, the guard needs to easily come on/off to make it all work right. I will probably have to raise the price slightly on the updated version, but I will let them go at the old price on backorder till the new materials show up.

 

[Joe917]

Which industry/field uses the phrase ’static’ when refering to stretchy nylon rope ?
Seems all other users of a stretchy rope refer to stretchy rope as dynamic.
Static rope is a minimal stretch rope such as Dacron.
Fwiw,
I been making my own recovery ropes for years.
1”-1.25” three strand nylon rope eyespliced at whatever lengths I wanted.
Btw,
Its staggering how much nylon will stretch.
Playing with 1.25” rope and winch, it stretched about 25% before I chickened out and I could tell the winch slipclutch was about to release.

The climbing world, the rigging and rescue world, the world selling static and dynamic rope.

 

[WSS]

they each have their place.

snatch block to tree saver? I'd use a steel shackle.

extending a tow rope? soft all the way.

extending a kinetic rope? Would never even dream of putting steel in the middle and watching it propel through the air should there be a failure

Tow strap to bumper? Most bumpers are going to need a steel shackle because of the edge of the tow point that would otherwise cut up a soft

Most attachment points made it the last few years account for soft shackle use. It is a very easy and quick task to round the edges for soft shackle use

 

[WSS]

The deciding factor for me switching to soft rigging was safety, second was weight. It is usually my wife hooking me up. I saved 35lbs switching over.

Too much info with hard rigging hurting people in our situation. I am not a rigging expert and most likely neither is the guy helping me or that I am helping. Best to use what is safe. For the experts in rigging, it is likely appropriate for you to use hard rigging. I am not one to know.

This is my new recovery bag, super light and works great.

 

[dstefan]

On the sharp edges point: for straight pulls you can simply insert a soft shackle or soft rope eye (not a thimble) into the hitch receiver and insert the standard round hitch pin through it. Works great, no extra weight to bring assuming you have a receiver and keep the pin in it.