lowes. heavy duty welded link chain. and two hooks. done. best tow strap you'll ever have.

 

dont order online...go to tractor supply or northern tools....or go to a fire dept and see if they will give or sell there old hoses

 

You CAN use chains safely... If you don't ******/jerk with chains, you'll be perfectly fine.

That's all we use on the farm for recovery. We don't have any "recovery straps" rated for 60,000+ pounds.

 

same here. when we harvest potatoes and a tandem axle truck sinks in the field e use a tractor and a big chain. when youre pulling with a 200+ hp 4wheel drive dual wheel tractor, you arent really "snatching", so therefor a chain works fine. and when it does break we put a bolt thru it, i know its my dumb boss's idea.

 

I'll admit it would be nice to have a recovery strap in one's toolbox of goodies, but believe me, chains work very well if you're competent. I have two 30' chains, and one 5'. I actually used them three times this weekend. They pulled out my dads 09 f150, and a friends 88 chevy. We even jerked a tree out of the roadway with my buddy's dodge dually. Bottom line, chains are tough and durable. Sure recovery straps are nice, but I've made it just fine with nothing but chains. To each his own...

 

Straps dont have the potential to go through a windsheild or shatter when you are pulling either. I had my friend pulling someones '88 Dodge RamCharger on snow with a chain...he was on ice and gave it gas and he slipped and slided until it hit pavement and jerked the logging chain and had it break. Straps are usually cheaper, safer, and lighter. It doesnt make you look any more masculine using a chain to pull someone out than a pink tow strap.

 

I don't think anybody on this thread has said anything about being masculine, or "pink" for that matter. The objective of this thread is for folks to discuss what works for them, and maybe give a suggestion or two.

 

So I have a question. I was gifted a strap but come to think of it I don't know if it's a regular strap or a ****** strap. Is there a way for me to tell??

 

i have a 5/8" link diameter chain, its big heavy ****. havent used it to pull a pickup truck out yet, but pulled out 10wheelers from the mud with it!

 

straps are usually very thin wide and have various end (hooks, loops, etc.) ****** ropes always have loops on each end, and are usally a little thicker, maybe a quater inch or so.

Also to all you guys buying D rings for your hitches, ive always used the pin that goes through your hitch to hold my ****** straps in. I just slide it through the loop end and its worked fine for me for all the times ive ever pulled anyone. yall see any danger in this?

 

I used to do the same before a Ford engineer explained it to me. When you put a strap on the pin it tries to bend the pin. The pin was not designed to resist bending. When you put a ball mount in the hitch the pin is trying to be sheared. It was designed to resist shearing. A paper clip is a fine example. Try bending one. Real easy to do. Now get a pair of scissors and try to cut it in half. Much more effort is required even with the leverage afforded by the scissors.


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Thankst Whitt91. I know it has loops, I'll just have to check on the thickness to see if it's actually a ****** strap or just regular strap with loops.

 

i use a flatbed chain and i have a 20' ****** strap

 

so the pin that u use in your hitch is 5/8inch right? I was at a parts shop today and the guy there told me those pins r only rated for 3500lbs! huh?? that didnt make sense to me to be that low. How can the straps, the d-ring all be rated higher than a metal pin. was he wrong??

 

anyone know what the 5/8inch hitch pins are rated for break strength?