My soft shackle failure experience 🤕 -- The Off-Road Recovery That Almost Killed Me

[stampede1]

Bottom line is if a recovery situation arises, it should be viewed for what it is and not a matter of convenience-it is a tactical situation requiring technical analysis and thoughtful planning, supported by extensive pre-incident preparation.

Sponsored

 

[stampede1]

Glad that strap didn't have a direct hit. That would have been unpleasant. I enjoyed and learned from your story. With 12,000 views you've undoubtedly prevented similar accidents and even unrelated accidents when impatience would overcome deliberative problem solving. It's hard to slow down and think when you just want to get out of the ditch. Your story may insert an unconscious pause and avoid a mistake. But dude, you were Air Flighted for a whack on your chin? Treated and released? That's not on you because your bell was rung but someone should have packed you into their vehicle and taken you to the ER before they called out the cavalry. Just saying....

His beard obviously was a confounding factor as it facilitated the fow of a voluminous amount of blood down to his neck which initially appeared to be its origin, not his chin, and was therefore perceived to be much more serious than it was . It took the ER staff to detect that in a sterile, controlled environment. Your hindsight is 20/20, but worthless in this scenario as it is based on superficial analysis. The circumstances on the ground validated the response , airlift and accelerated transport based on limited, objective facts at the time.

 

[Draughon]

One thing (might've been mentioned in this thread - or maybe not) that I'd like to point out is the size of kinetic rope used.

The proper rope for stretch and dynamic recoveries based on the vehicle size *should've* been 7/8'' but he was using a 1''.

I learned something from this video that "bigger is not always better"... we think that if 35'' tires are good, 37'' must be better, and we want 40''... if 2.0'' shocks are good...the 3.5'' shocks are better... more powerful lights, etc... we're have this fixation on over-engineering things and going for bigger and more powerful things...

Stands to reason that wanting a bigger diameter rope falls into that same category, but as his video shows, going bigger can seriously get you into trouble.

Also enjoyed the Mad Matt interview where he discusses the melt point and kinetic energy applied to the rope (KE=1/2mv2 for the nerds) and if the Jeep was going 15-20 mph when he yanked, he was probably putting 50k# of force on that line.

 

[TRACKTOY]

One thing (might've been mentioned in this thread - or maybe not) that I'd like to point out is the size of kinetic rope used.

The proper rope for stretch and dynamic recoveries based on the vehicle size *should've* been 7/8'' but he was using a 1''.

I learned something from this video that "bigger is not always better"... we think that if 35'' tires are good, 37'' must be better, and we want 40''... if 2.0'' shocks are good...the 3.5'' shocks are better... more powerful lights, etc... we're have this fixation on over-engineering things and going for bigger and more powerful things...

Stands to reason that wanting a bigger diameter rope falls into that same category, but as his video shows, going bigger can seriously get you into trouble.

Also enjoyed the Mad Matt interview where he discusses the melt point and kinetic energy applied to the rope (KE=1/2mv2 for the nerds) and if the Jeep was going 15-20 mph when he yanked, he was probably putting 50k# of force on that line.

hi
When my friend was killed by what the hook of the F150 tore off and passed through his rear window to smash his skull, it was a 1 1/2 INCH KINETIC ROPE SOLD BY THE 4X4 CLUB of Quebec. But my boyfriend wanted to impress the gang and he drove away at excessive speed. He died on the spot. I can still see the scene. The club stopped selling these ropes and the members calmed down.
my bad experience in an undisciplined group.
TRACKTOY

 

[stampede1]

So I am trying to distill down the high volume of input on this thread to best understand the specific MBS and WLL for recovery equipment for a bronco raptor. Is there a consensus on what the specs should be for kinetic rope, soft shackles, metal shackles and static tow rope?

 

[swooshdave]

So I am trying to distill down the high volume of input on this thread to best understand the specific MBS and WLL for recovery equipment for a bronco raptor. Is there a consensus on what the specs should be for kinetic rope, soft shackles, metal shackles and static tow rope?

The reality is there will never be one perfect answer for any of those parts. If your concerned is the safest and best documented and supported gear there are several companies providing that.

 

[swooshdave]

Sponsored