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

[Beach_Bum]

Of course I did. He was too fast even if it would have been less stuck and rolled out. From my post on this page:

"Yes, pulling through uncleared deep snow was an issue along too much speed."

The response I quoted assigned "100% of the blame".

First and foremost before any recovery was attempted, the shovel needs to be used. Sand, Snow, Mud - it doesn't matter. When the substrate completely engulfs the wheels and frame, no amount of horsepower is overcoming the suction.

After clearing the tracks, traction boards (if available) would have been the best attempt. Leaving the traction boards in place, Caleb's winch attached to the rear recovery point of the Jeep should have been used to break free of the suction. That alone should have been enough to get the wheels free.

The SS/KR should have been the last action of the recovery.

If an after-action review and blame is to be assigned, at no point should 100% be assigned to the gear.

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[Pilsner]

The response I quoted assigned "100% of the blame".

First and foremost before any recovery was attempted, the shovel needs to be used. Sand, Snow, Mud - it doesn't matter. When the substrate completely engulfs the wheels and frame, no amount of horsepower is overcoming the suction.

After clearing the tracks, traction boards (if available) would have been the best attempt. Leaving the traction boards in place, Caleb's winch attached to the rear recovery point of the Jeep should have been used to break free of the suction. That alone should have been enough to get the wheels free.

The SS/KR should have been the last action of the recovery.

If an after-action review and blame is to be assigned, at no point should 100% be assigned to the gear.

That was bad wording on my part. When I said I 100% blame the shackle, I did not mean to say that I 100% blame the shackle for causing the incident in its entirety. I mean to say that I absolutely fault the shackle for failing. You don't want those giving way on a static pull either, especially if you have a couple snatch blocks/rings on a winch line. You don't want ANY parts breaking when you have that much tension on a line of any kind.

 

[cr117]

I'm not taking wrong messages from anything. There are all kinds of conjecture and uninformed opinions in this thread. There were absolutely issues with this recovery as indicated by the results. But using a kinetic device was not the issue. Yes, pulling through uncleared deep snow was an issue along too much speed. Also the shackle should have been attached to the passenger side to pull the front end toward the cleared road, not the drivers side that will pull back into deep snow. But many of the posts here are clearly from people that learned from a video or single Off-Rodeo class at best. The attachment point wasn't an issue as that's not where it broke. No, you don't want straps or shackles that break. You NEVER want a shackle that will break. They are not engineered to break. A standard duty soft shackle from F55 has a minimum break strength of 60k lbs. I have been part of MANY recoveries and have a large selection of recovery gear I have collected over the years and every piece has its place, including kinetic recovery.

After re-evaluating, I agree with the bolded statement made. Since the shackle broke on the looped portion going around the knot, it likely wasn't the root cause in this case. However, I still believe it was a mistake attaching it directly to the clevis, in general.

I'm not saying you should buy weak shackles & ropes, but you shouldn't also be using the heaviest duty gear out there to ensure they don't break, no matter the circumstances. If the shackles or rope don't break, guess what will? Yes, you need to create a margin of safety where the risk of any breakage is minimized, but if something has to give (like in this scenario), I'd want the soft shackle or rope to go first.

 

[HeliPilot]

Glad driver is alive. As a Med-Evac helicopter pilot I would like to jump in and defend the air crew just a bit. It is not uncommon in our job respond to and treat life threatening injuries, including loss of limbs and life. I am going to assert that the medical crew on board the helicopter radioed your injuries to the Emergency Room prior to your landing at the receiving hospital. Based on their observation and given report, the hospital staff told the medical crew where they would receive you on arrival. I’m 100% positive, it was their observation that your injury was not life threatening. Which turns out, they were correct. To throw shade on the competencies of the on board medical crew is a disservice to the type of care they provide. The doubt was in your mind as to the severity of the injury, not theirs. Be thankful that their services were available, and that your injuries were not more severe. I promise you, that is not always the case.

 

[Bmadda]

How many recoveries have you been a part of?

Far more than I wanted to be! I get it, there is always a feeling of anxiety, and maybe a little embarrassment when you get stuck...but it's part of the hobby! Gotta relax and not let the anxiety get to you...that's when accidents happen!

 

[Beach_Bum]

...

I'm not saying you should buy weak shackles & ropes, but you shouldn't also be using the heaviest duty gear out there to ensure they don't break, no matter the circumstances. If the shackles or rope don't break, guess what will? Yes, you need to create a margin of safety where the risk of any breakage is minimized, but if something has to give (like in this scenario), I'd want the soft shackle or rope to go first.

This is important and quoting for emphasis. Gear needs to be targeted toward the recoveries that are conducted. The rope diameter and fiber count is what gives the load capacity/breaking strength. There are some honking thick ropes out there. They are intended to recover tractors and construction equipment. Likewise, you don't use a 1/2" kinetic rope pulling a tractor.

 

[Pilsner]

After re-evaluating, I agree with the bolded statement made. Since the shackle broke on the looped portion going around the knot, it likely wasn't the root cause in this case. However, I still believe it was a mistake attaching it directly to the clevis, in general.

I'm not saying you should buy weak shackles & ropes, but you shouldn't also be using the heaviest duty gear out there to ensure they don't break, no matter the circumstances. If the shackles or rope don't break, guess what will? Yes, you need to create a margin of safety where the risk of any breakage is minimized, but if something has to give (like in this scenario), I'd want the soft shackle or rope to go first.

You don't want a "fuse" in recovery gear. You don't EVER want to pull hard enough to break any of that gear. Most soft shackles are 50k plus rated and I want that as high as possible while fitting my attachment points. If you are using a 12k winch and 2-3 snatch blocks/rings, you want enough safety margin along with kinetic recovery. Kinetic recovery straps/ropes are rated differently as you want to reach the intended stretch without overdoing it and losing the the memory. In no case should it break. You should never be recovering in a way that puts you near the shear strength of properly sized and graded fasteners connected properly to the frame. As a side note, I would also be interested to see if there were frame supports where the bumper attaches. Was the Jeep bumper also damaged?

 

[Beach_Bum]

You don't want a "fuse" in recovery gear. You don't EVER want to pull hard enough to break any of that gear. Most soft shackles are 50k plus rated and I want that as high as possible while fitting my attachment points. If you are using a 12k winch and 2-3 snatch blocks/rings, you want enough safety margin along with kinetic recovery. Kinetic recovery straps/ropes are rated differently as you want to reach the intended stretch without overdoing it and losing the the memory. In no case should it break. You should never be recovering in a way that puts you near the shear strength of properly sized and graded fasteners connected properly to the frame. As a side note, I would also be interested to see if there were frame supports where the bumper attaches. Was the Jeep bumper also damaged?

This is the key emphasis. You don't want the gear to be a fuse. But you also don't want the gear to be excessively rated beyond the recovery points. If the rope doesn't fail, the recovery point/bumper will. Of course, these statements should be read with the understanding of the highlighted phrase above.

 

[popo_patty]

Glad driver is alive. As a Med-Evac helicopter pilot I would like to jump in and defend the air crew just a bit. It is not uncommon in our job respond to and treat life threatening injuries, including loss of limbs and life. I am going to assert that the medical crew on board the helicopter radioed your injuries to the Emergency Room prior to your landing at the receiving hospital. Based on their observation and given report, the hospital staff told the medical crew where they would receive you on arrival. I’m 100% positive, it was their observation that your injury was not life threatening. Which turns out, they were correct. To throw shade on the competencies of the on board medical crew is a disservice to the type of care they provide. The doubt was in your mind as to the severity of the injury, not theirs. Be thankful that their services were available, and that your injuries were not more severe. I promise you, that is not always the case.

100%! In fact I thanked them in the video and wasn’t trying to throw shade. Im not aware of half the comments so maybe it’s happening somewhere else. I am EXTREMELY thankful for them and trust me, was being as thankful as I could be during the event.
There was communication between helicopter and hospital enroute. I had a headset right away and have an aviation background and understand a decent bit of medical jargon from my wife and experience in ambulances, I’m also VERY familiar with the ER at that hospital. They hadn’t assessed my injury and were relying to the hospital what we currently thought at the time which was that I was possible trauma, not critical but needing immediate care with a laceration to the neck with unknown internal trauma and possibly going into shock. We were talking in the hospital and they are the ones that put pressure on the hospital staff to get me checked out as they were visibly annoyed and confused when we were told to wait in the normal line by staff that hadn’t yet seen us. Mind you, they seemed more upset about it then me initially. I’m not casting shade, just explaining the events. I didn’t go into super detail on this portion due to time but maybe I should have.
But yes, end of the day all was well!

And course, TYFYS!

 

[Pilsner]

Far more than I wanted to be! I get it, there is always a feeling of anxiety, and maybe a little embarrassment when you get stuck...but it's part of the hobby! Gotta relax and not let the anxiety get to you...that's when accidents happen!

I usually don't mind being stuck. It's part of the fun and how you learn the limits of your driving and your rig. I heard that British or Australians often had a cup of tea while contemplating a recovery.

 

[AttackGuy64]

Not that a slapfest between you and Bmadda wouldn't be entertaining, but I believe what he's saying is you don't take a huge running start. You give a couple feet of slack and pull enough to engage and improve the force, but not blow it out. At least, that's what I'm thinking he's saying, and I know he's got some cred.

I have always been shown that when using a kinetic rope, you leave a few feet of slack, then pull away like a reasonable person pulls away from a stop sign. Not stomp it like you are running from the cops. I used my kinetic rope 4 times in January pulling Subarus out of snowdrifts in Colorado. Zero issues and only took 2 pulls max on the most stuck vehicle. Clearing excess snow in front of the bumper is key. Take a few minutes to scoop all that away and they come right out (usually).

 

[AttackGuy64]

Glad driver is alive. As a Med-Evac helicopter pilot I would like to jump in and defend the air crew just a bit. It is not uncommon in our job respond to and treat life threatening injuries, including loss of limbs and life. I am going to assert that the medical crew on board the helicopter radioed your injuries to the Emergency Room prior to your landing at the receiving hospital. Based on their observation and given report, the hospital staff told the medical crew where they would receive you on arrival. I’m 100% positive, it was their observation that your injury was not life threatening. Which turns out, they were correct. To throw shade on the competencies of the on board medical crew is a disservice to the type of care they provide. The doubt was in your mind as to the severity of the injury, not theirs. Be thankful that their services were available, and that your injuries were not more severe. I promise you, that is not always the case.

Hello fellow EMS pilot, I flew for Med-Trans for 8 years. Your assessment is spot on. Which company do/did you fly for?

 

[HeliPilot]

Hello fellow EMS pilot, I flew for Med-Trans for 8 years. Your assessment is spot on. Which company do/did you fly for?

AirMethods, LifeNet of NY. I fly the EC145. How about you? Thanks for your service!!

 

[zombie]

So full disclaimer, I didn't watch the video, but I read through the entire thread.

I'm just curious about a statement (I think made by OP) that soft shackles are safer than D rings.

I'm not a professional recovery expert, but I do work in a corps of the Canadian military (RCEME) that has full time recovery personnel, and I have assisted with multiple complex recoveries involving *very* heavy vehicles. In the military, we use nothing but D-rings, likely for a reason. I've never seen one break (mind you I don't think we don't use kinetic ropes either).

I'm sure there's a time and place for soft shackles, but I'm not sure they're "safer" in any way, shape or form. Lighter/easier to use, sure. More convenient, maybe. Safer? I don't think so.

Again, just my observation, definitely not meant to be taken as anything more than an opinion.

 

[AttackGuy64]

AirMethods, LifeNet of NY. I fly the EC145. How about you? Thanks for your service!!

I flew 407s after I left the Army. It was like going from an F1 car to a gokart. Unfortunately, EMS sucked all the fun out of flying for me. I felt like a taxi driver with no options on where, when, or how I flew. Plus, the chief pilot in the program had zero cares about things like the dead-man zone in the height/velocity diagram. Figured it was time to go before I had an engine failure at a high hover.

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