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

[AttackGuy64]

1. Glad you are okay. As a combat veteran with 84 months deployed to active combat, I can attest to how hard it is to find the source of "the leak" sometimes. You pay attention to the wrong hole and the one you don't find is what is doing the most damage.

I am shocked that a broken soft shackle caused all that damage. Not saying you said anything wrong, just blown away that there was that kind of weight and velocity to go through your windshield like that. Again, thanks for the good AAR and hope your rig gets back up soon.

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[popo_patty]

Two (!) dampeners loaded with 10 lb each seem to be a good mitigating factor. Look at the test in this video:

That’s the same guy I talked to for an hour that said they wouldn’t work in my case

 

[cr117]

Two (!) dampeners loaded with 10 lb each seem to be a good mitigating factor. Look at the test in this video:

He's testing these with a tow strap. A kinetic rope will have a lot more inertia than a strap like that and probably wouldn't make much of a difference.

 

[vrtical]

Glad you survived a learning experience and brave enough to talk about it. Just for reference my D rings, soft shackles, block are from GearAmerica. Definitely not cheap, but when it comes to safety equipment, you must do your homework.

 

[Jazer]

Wow. Crazy experience. Glad you are okay! A good reminder to always respect recovery scenarios, even with the "safer" gear. TBH I didn't expect a soft shackle to shoot through the windshield with that amount of force either.

 

[Bmadda]

Great video! Glad you were ok to make it @popo_patty ! I watched it at work w/a guy who had zero idea what was gonna happen and when the Jeep launched he was saying "no dude...don't do it!" I get everything you said about the recovery gear...buy stuff you can trust, but that wont fix the loose nut behind the wheel! Have seen whole bumpers ripped off doing stuff like that JUST DON'T! ALWAYS TAKE UP THE SLACK 1ST! Very educational! Sorry you had to go through that, but good for the less experienced to see it and think next time!

 

[Donkeygyrl]

Glad you're okay, and working through it.

Not saying this is the reason or contributing cause, but people REALLY need to think about which alphabet soup bullshit product brands from China they are willing to bet their lives on. There's a metric ton of cheap untested recovery gear from bumpers to winches, to ropes and shackles floating around Amazon. Here's a smattering of manufacturers from a random search on Amazon.

Jackyled

 

[popo_patty]

Glad you're okay, and working through it.

Not saying this is the reason or contributing cause, but people REALLY need to think about which alphabet soup bullshit product brands from China they are willing to bet their lives on. There's a metric ton of cheap untested recovery gear from bumpers to winches, to ropes and shackles floating around Amazon. Here's a smattering of manufacturers from a random search on Amazon.

I wanna make a jig in a safe area and just start testing all the “ratings” haha

 

[userdude]

Jackyled

Dang, I was gonna point out the same one... lol

 

[TheKim]

I would like to get some proper training of how to set up my vehicle and how to safely use the equipment!!!!

Depending on where you live, there are likely groups around you that offer free off-road recovery courses and education classes.
Here in Utah, there's 3-4 groups that regularly run trainings and courses.

 

[Chrome_Pony]

I wanna make a jig in a safe area and just start testing all the “ratings” haha

Send Project Farm a collab request, I'm sure it'd be a great video. He has some testing already on winches and synthetic line, including some of the Amazon brands.

 

[DriveAllNight]

I caught this video on YouTube this weekend and watched it.
First off: Very happy you walked away from this, and thanks for posting and helping others.

Just my thoughts for what they are worth.

Anything moving at a fast enough speed can kill. The stronger the tension the more energy there is to be released, the faster the object will go. ANY OBJECT, or any line material and whatever is connected on the end.

Kinetic energy is no joke! You’re releasing a spring, less control than a winch, although effective in some situations.

For anyone who thinks cheap gear was the cause, I believe, at least in this case, it would have been better if the shackle broke under less stress – which would have built up less stored energy and wouldn’t have been the almost lethal rocket it was. The point is, if the rope (soft shackle) didn’t break, there was a great chance a hunk of metal was going to go flying as he stated in the video. Much like beefing up your tie rods, the breaking point gets shifted elsewhere – be aware of what that is.
This is not a recommendation for cheap gear by any means, just physics. These are things you do not skimp on prices with, ever.

I respect Caleb’s stance on taking responsibility, but I also think it’s obvious that the guy in the Jeep was incredibly overzealous with the power he put down and it would be easy to put blame on him. But I’m going to assume Jeep guy had no idea what he was doing, much like I think many people don’t understand and respect the physics and applied power that comes with these situations and the equipment they are using.
Too many people try to power out of a jam, power is not a substitute for lack of knowledge.

Yes of course if he had taken more time to reassess, or dig out, or used boards this could have been avoided, but I think another big reason this happened, is something that happens to many of us, although this changes with age for many.

Whenever someone is helping you, you are grateful that they are taking the time to do it, and so it feels uncomfortable to tell them they are doing it wrong. He knew with every fiber in his being that Jeep guy didn’t really know what he was doing and he was being too polite to tell him. This is a mistake everyone needs to learn from, it’s not about manners, it’s not about ego, it’s not about respect – it’s about being safe. Don’t be afraid to stop and if need be, educate others.
If you don't feel comfortable, there's probably a reason.

 

[Donkeygyrl]

I have seen crazy stuff on the trail ,dangerous stuff I hate those soft shackles but that's just me .
We used to put our hoods up to protect us from this scenario, watched video came away with jeep got impatient,would have never put soft anything in a recovery point,and like it or not the frame horns on the bronco suck.

 

[Rumbloki]

Send Project Farm a collab request, I'm sure it'd be a great video. He has some testing already on winches and synthetic line, including some of the Amazon brands.

 

[broncobase1]

Watched your video this morning. The main takeaway I'd stress is, when you find yourself in these situations, you need to slow down. Taking the time to assess the circumstances that are preventing the vehicle from moving is critical. My belief is you should always be doing everything to get out under your vehicle's own power first, like digging or trying traction boards. When you introduce winches and tow straps, you're inviting all kinds of risks to the situation that are much harder to predict. If the digging or traction boards don't work, at least you've done the prep work already for a safe pull.

While I agree, it's important to not skimp out on cheap gear, you talked about how if that shackle didn't fail, the recovery point on your front bumper probably would have, likely causing significant damage to both vehicles. Again, I just want to stress the primary lesson learned here should be to slow down and evaluate the situation rather than this turning into a discussion about which brands to avoid.

You also mentioned how you want the weight rating of the shackles to be greater than the kinetic rope so the rope would fail first, likely in the middle. I'm curious if this inline with what you heard from the various companies you've spoken with. I always assumed that a kinetic rope, if it failed, would break at one of the loop ends first, since that's where a lot of the stress it being applied.

Thank you for sharing your experience. YouTube is filled with so many demos of how to use all this recovery equipment but very rarely to you find real world scenarios like this.

This kind of snapping should never be done. The force in the rope approaches infinity, something is going to give. Even before the accident happened I was thinking holy crap this isn't good.

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