jai_landrover
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The reason I would never use a carabiner is because your relying solely on a thread to keep the structure/integrity of the loop intact. Imposing a load on the threads which is a wearable part is never ideal. Also because only one side tightens up its likely to open the loop up and stress on the thread stretching and failing. I'd never use one. Also the chance of failure if not correctly tightened is a point to consider thus I think they would just open up easily.
Lets compare this to a cheap rated £5 bow or D shackle. A shackle you are pulling on a substantial pin loading in in shear. The thread only holds the pin in place so that it does not fall out many use a nut and or a split pin and washer as such the thread is non critical to the strength of its structure unlike a carabiner.
Ropes vs strops.
Use of a winching/lifting strop is also IMO a poor choice in almost any situation bar winching, especially in snow. My reasoning is this: A strop is only good if you take up the strain and then drive off. This means you need to have great traction in the towing vehicle. This is never happening in the snow unless you have dedicated tyres and or chains. It means that because you are using traction as your only means to shift the stuck vehicle it simply cannot be that stuck. If you do try and use the weight of the towing vehicle to aid the recovery to unsettle the stuck vehicle using a strop this doesn't work well. Because the strop will go taught instantly with zero kinetic properties (as needed for lifting/winching) it will impose much higher loads on towing equipment instantaneously to the attachment points, chassis and occupants than really necessary to get the job done.
Ropes, Well they are expensive. But these can really aid recovery smoothing out if you do need to give a tug to unsettle the vehicle using the towing vehicles weight as an advantage. Because the time between rope take up and time the rope goes taught is much longer that a lifting strop this smooths out the recovery and can aid getting vehicles out by unsettling them and using the weight of the towing vehicle as an added advantage. I don't mean snatch recovery for the road and snowy typical conditions we are talking about here. However we do, do this yearly in competitions and yes it does work. Its not pretty but nothing fails. (Even tow balls funny enough if attached correctly). Lets just substitute a rope for a lifting strop in these comps we would be ripping off towing attachments and damaging chassis and occupants backs whilst not actually achieving getting vehicles unstuck. This is why strops are banned from this competition by Motorsport UK.
Why do recovery firms use strops. Simply put they winch everything and everything needs to be certified for use LOLER. Typically recovery trucks do not have great traction and everything is winched out on and recovered.
Soft shackles are replacing shackles for safety reasons less mass should something go wrong and become a projectile but for hard wearing a decent rated bow shackle works great so long as the attachment points are adequate. Recovery companies still use steel winch cables because they can take punishment most drivers care very little for the cable dragging cars on their beds at 3 am whereas a winch rope would be toast within a matter of weeks if they did the police recovery work that I've been involved in a few years ago while steel cables last years.
Lets compare this to a cheap rated £5 bow or D shackle. A shackle you are pulling on a substantial pin loading in in shear. The thread only holds the pin in place so that it does not fall out many use a nut and or a split pin and washer as such the thread is non critical to the strength of its structure unlike a carabiner.
Ropes vs strops.
Use of a winching/lifting strop is also IMO a poor choice in almost any situation bar winching, especially in snow. My reasoning is this: A strop is only good if you take up the strain and then drive off. This means you need to have great traction in the towing vehicle. This is never happening in the snow unless you have dedicated tyres and or chains. It means that because you are using traction as your only means to shift the stuck vehicle it simply cannot be that stuck. If you do try and use the weight of the towing vehicle to aid the recovery to unsettle the stuck vehicle using a strop this doesn't work well. Because the strop will go taught instantly with zero kinetic properties (as needed for lifting/winching) it will impose much higher loads on towing equipment instantaneously to the attachment points, chassis and occupants than really necessary to get the job done.
Ropes, Well they are expensive. But these can really aid recovery smoothing out if you do need to give a tug to unsettle the vehicle using the towing vehicles weight as an advantage. Because the time between rope take up and time the rope goes taught is much longer that a lifting strop this smooths out the recovery and can aid getting vehicles out by unsettling them and using the weight of the towing vehicle as an added advantage. I don't mean snatch recovery for the road and snowy typical conditions we are talking about here. However we do, do this yearly in competitions and yes it does work. Its not pretty but nothing fails. (Even tow balls funny enough if attached correctly). Lets just substitute a rope for a lifting strop in these comps we would be ripping off towing attachments and damaging chassis and occupants backs whilst not actually achieving getting vehicles unstuck. This is why strops are banned from this competition by Motorsport UK.
Why do recovery firms use strops. Simply put they winch everything and everything needs to be certified for use LOLER. Typically recovery trucks do not have great traction and everything is winched out on and recovered.
Soft shackles are replacing shackles for safety reasons less mass should something go wrong and become a projectile but for hard wearing a decent rated bow shackle works great so long as the attachment points are adequate. Recovery companies still use steel winch cables because they can take punishment most drivers care very little for the cable dragging cars on their beds at 3 am whereas a winch rope would be toast within a matter of weeks if they did the police recovery work that I've been involved in a few years ago while steel cables last years.
