If you pulled the chain/rope tight then draped or wrapped a heavy blanket around the rope/chaine I bet if it snapped it would help reduce the damage.

 

Ya beat me too it!!!!1

Always................ ALWAYS if it's chains or ropes/straps, place a tarp over them.
This reduces significantly, any whip back that might ocurr on snapping.
Al.

 

ANYBODY whose EVER been into off-roading knows that when using a winch or just pulling someone or something with a rope, strap or chain, that you ALWAYS drape a tarp, blanket or even an old coat over the middle of it. It's amazing how something as light as a couple pounds will direct thousands of pounds of force harmlessly onto the ground...

 

I had a 2000 Silverado that I used to remove all the stumps and fence posts from my yard. That was before I bought the Ram. I pulled out a 30" diameter Lilac rootball out of the ground. That took some extensive work. 4-lo and a 4ft head start in gunning it in reverse.

The only thing you need to watch out for is the rope breaking and the hook flying through the windshield. I used a 5/8" thick 25ft chain. I put alot of stress on the frame of the Chevy pulling that sucker out. Figure going backwards at 15mph with the gas half throttle and the chain stopping you dead. That happened about 15 times before it came loose. I used both hooks on the front end to provide even stress of the frame. A few times I thought I was going to rip out a tow hook...lol I was pretty brutal on that truck.


HINT>>>HINT>>> let a hose run into the soil of the stump you are pulling out. It gets the ground all wet and helps out ALOT!

 

Thats good to know....never really thought about it let alone had to do it.

 

yes definatly, the water will soften up the ground alot in the root zone and will expand the soil, sort of relieving the compaction. if you have enough work to do it might be worth it to rent a mini excavator for the day. if you can pick it up you might be able to rent it for around 250 a day. itd be easier to hog out the roots and the soil around the base of the trunk to loosen it up. if its not to big you could probably just dig the whole thing out with the machine with alittle will-power. and itll be less stress on the trans and truck, then you could dig your base for the pad

 

Hammer is right. Anybody who knows anything about off road recovery knows you weight the line down. Warn and ramsey, as well as other known brands, make lead drapes designed to kill the motion of a wildly broken line. Ive used a jacket before with rocks in the pockets.

 

yeah they said it was crazy when it broke and it snapped at the far end and not in the middle so it had a lot of energy in it and i will remember to put a jacket over it the next time i have to pull something and i like straps as they would do as much to the truck as a broken chain would

But the hole is about the size of a golf ball and he just put a piece of duck tape over the inside and a sticker on the outside so you dont even know its there

 

There was a thread on another forum I'm on, I can't remember which one, but I think it was a 4x4 specific one, maybe a year or so ago where a member, well known member too, was killed when he was stuck in an off-road park in a mud pit and the chain broke, the hook came through the windshield and hit him in the face. Killed him instantly and his wife and young daughter were on the bank to see it.
They said he ALWAYS weighed down the chain, but it was getting dark and he was in a hurry and forgot.
ALWAYS WEIGH DOWN THE CENTER OF THE LINE!!!

 

Wjen using the winches on my last fire truck, we would drape small sections of chain over the winch cables. I keep little 3 and 4 foot sections of chain in the bed of my truck to use with tow ropes and straps.

And normally chains are less likely to snap back at you than ropes and cables. Ropes and cables are dynamic and stretch as they load. Chains are (in theory) static and shouldn't have stored up energy when they snap. Now, that is assuming you are using the correct size chain.

And, like the story showed, it is always possible.