How important it is for you guys to throw an old coat or a blanket or something of the like over the middle of a tow or recovery strap when pulling someone or something out of being stuck!

Most of us "winch guys" have known all along the importance of this, but I'm sure a lot of guys don't know to do this with a recovery strap as well!

Stories abound about serious injuries and even deaths resulting from being hit by a flying metal projectile!

I just read this today:

http://leadercall.com/local/x2238598...freak-accident

 

Have to agree with you, only takes a split second to change or end someones life.

Same goes for towing trailers.
Im a firm believer in having too much truck rather than too little.
You should never exceed your trailer rating regardless of how short the distance is.

 

Agreed, trouble is I've see people posting in here bragging about how much they tow with thier 1500's...just plain stupit.

The other killer is a Hi-lift Jack. These things will straight mess you up if you don't stay familiar with 'em and keep them clean and properly lubed.

 

Oh, how I hate those things. I've seen them drop full on cab tractors from about two foot because they weren't set right. Crushed one of our greasemonkey's feet one time as well. They are just messy.

 

Thanks for posting this -- when ropes, cables, or straps under load fail the energy has got to go somewhere. It wasn't a "freak accident" that creased that guy's skull. It was an inevitable consequence. I'd bet there were downed tree limbs all around the fool whose head would have been saved if he'd just draped one over the tow strap.

++RM_Indy, too. I'd like to add that just keeping below the trailer weight limit is no guarantee that your truck can maintain positive control of the towed vehicle. The longer the (ball hitched) trailer, the more leverage it can get to take your steering away and ruin your trip. Some combination of slope, camber, wind, and transient load is out there just waiting to make another believer. Or another corpse.

 

To back you up Hammer:http://www.pavementsucks.com/board/t...while-wheeling

 

And yet when you try to warn people they just scoff. Many years ago, while attending a hot air balloon event, when the balloonists inflate their balloons for a nighttime show, I noticed several were tethered with synthetic lines. Having been in the Navy and worked as a deck hand I understood the danger of synthetic snap-back and urged my then-wife to grab the kids and move away. Meanwhile, the crowds kept pressing ever closer against the lines even though the crews kept telling people to stand back. The wife was irked with me, but I told her that if one of those snaps, it sounds like a shotgun and then there will be limbs and blood flying everywhere.

Overall, I chalk it up to social Darwinism.

 

I read that one a couple of years ago, very sad... We went to a ORV park in Georgia maybe ten years or so ago and found out the week before we went a guy was killed while pulling someone out of the mud...

 

That nylon snapback is a proven killer. In 1981 I watched a 5" nylon mooring line part on a ship, killing one, and taking both legs off at the knee on the other. This link is good gouge on the breaking strength of different lines.

 

This is why my tow strap has no hooks on it and I dont use one with hooks, good idea with putting a blanket or such on it, I use my threewheeler alot for moving stuff and pulling trees and I get weird looks from friends when I put on a jacket and helmet in 100 degree weather to go all of 5 feet