A good pissing match thread so far.

LOL

I have a tow strap, used it a few times to pull people out, but I'm not the type to go out in snow storms just to look for people to pull out. I have better things to do.

 

If the chain was inspected and had no rust or damage and was of decent size, it would not have broken.

The nice, thick stuff they sell at lowes/home depot works.

Again, pull ALL of the slack out before you give it any real gas so there is no jerk and most people's trucks simply dont have the pulling power to brake it.

You're talking 27,000lb braking force for 1/2" chain. That is just 1.5" links. For comparison, that is a 3" or 4" recovery strap right out of the box before dirt and UV light have had a chance to weaken it. How many trucks do you know that can pull (not ******) and brake a 3" recovery strap?

 

Yup.

On this site there is no point in bringing physics into it because what someone heard from there uncles, brothers, best friends, dog breeder is ussually more accurate than physics.

The thing is there is a correct tool for every job, and a correct way and a wrong way to use those tools. If you use it incorrectly or the wrong tool for the job, yes it can break and cause damage and injury. If you use it correctly and safely you will be fine, but because one guy used a chain incorrectly and got hit in the head and is now retarded, every one thinks they are horrible killing things.

 

If you need to be recovered chances are that you will not be able to pull all of the slack out of the line. There is a reason that most every time someone gets stuck they leave slack and then punch it. You need momentum.

 

high lifts, winching, etc...

I've had a chain recover me many times with out having to ******. Of course, it was an F250 diesel on a flat dirt road two times and a 1500 silverado with 38 super swampers for the others. It was never buried to the frame, but it was stuck. If people would know when to stop digging their holes deeper, then they wouldnt lay frame on the mud and it would take a lot less effort to recover the vehicle. Instead, they have to try and show how badass their truck isnt and try and get out.

For trail riding, where you use static recovery with winches and high lifts (ie, not just mudd bogging) a chain is a great thing to have with you along with recovery straps.

In fact, high lifts NEED a chain to use them as a winch.

 

Beat that dead horse........BEAT IT GOOD!!

 

I sure hope you aren't referring to me since, obviously, people have no idea that chains can be used safely for recovery.

 

I agree, there is a right too for every job. You wouldnt use a socket to hammer in a nail, so why would you use a chain to ****** someone out of a mud hole? But in the case of winching, or like you said "static" there are not nearly as many forces put on the chain. The winch cable will probably snap before a 27,000 break force chain would. Its all commen sense, (which seems to be more and more uncommon).

 

It's all about energy.

When you ******, you are storing energy in the momentum of the vehicle. If there is no give between the two vehicles then things are put under MASSIVE stress.

Say a little 4wheeler can manage 200lbs of static pulling force.

Get that same 4wheeler going 20mph with a strap that will give 1' and that is over 400lbs of pulling force.

Get that 4wheeler going 10mph with a chain that has no theoretical give so the only give is what the 4wheeler is attached to (say 3") and that is over 800lbs of force.

So as you can see, even a much slower ****** with a chain can exert a LOT more force. Thus, it puts a lot more stress on the connection points and the chain itself. And remember, force isn't the ability to do work, energy is. the 400lbs of force over 1' is more energy than the 800lbs of force over 3".

 

if you put the mouth of the hook facing up, if it does break, the chain or rope will snap down instead of up. or you could just put some kind of weight on the strap like towel hoodie floormat something like that

im just repeating what they said in FourWheeler

 

all i wanna know is if rope is deadly.... and if its killed in the past like chains have.

 

The thing to keep in mind when recovering ANYTHING can go wrong. Chain does break, and so do recovery straps, and winch cables. I have both chain and strap in my truck. I used chain to pull a semi tractor out of hub deep mud. The key is to not jerk. ANYTHING will break if it is jerked hard enough. Slow and steady always works best, and get your minds outta the gutter!! :)

 

You could always use 1/2" rescue rope (you'd probably need at least 2 of them)...i believe the break strength for them is about 9400lbs, we use them in the fire service (priced at about $1.10 per foot). Also the negative is, once you pull someone it looses its max break strength (drops from 9400 to quite a bit lower, hence we retire them after one or two uses)

and no rope isn't really deadly...the worse i've seen is minor-medium abrasions.

 

It all depends where it hits. A rope flying through the air is a lot less deadly than a chain flying through the air but a rope flying through the air could still brake a neck.

Probably the most dangerous thing I've ever seen during recovery was a recovery rope attached to a tow ball and the tow ball snapped and all of that energy stored in the recovery rope got transfered into that ball and it shot THROUGH the tailgate and dented the toolbox of the other truck.

 

oh damn. time to get a hitch then