nylon tow strap

[PhysAssist]

The straps I have seen break have basically fallen to the ground, vs chains and cable which can whiplash back at you, which is easy enough to prevent by a heavy blanket ot carpet slung over the body of the chain or cable. Safety first though, so weight any rigging with a moving blanket or piece of carpet to prevent whiplashing.

 

[Ken45101]

If that stretches and snaps it's coming back at a million miles an hour and aimed at your face. Straps can fray real easy.
Use a 5/16" grade 70 chain and be done with it.

I have to agree. I can't see pulling logs out of a ravine without a LOT of abrasion on the strap. Trying to pull logs (depending on log size and terrain) can have a lot of drag. Nylon straps scare me in such use.

Even with a chain, you have to be cautious.

 

[sixdogs]

That makes sense. I have seen chains come back with surprising ferocity. Logs are different and don't matter but an interesting point I learned years ago was to wrap the chain UNDER the bumper of the vehicle being pulled rather than OVER it. If the chain snapped or slipped in the over position it came back at you and in the under position recoiled to the ground.

I never broke a chain to find out but saw a lot of disasters and the guys that did the work told me the above. I once saw a car pulling another car by the bumper with a chain in the hills of Maine. I forgot about them and on the return trip saw them at a local gas station with the respective bumper of each vehicle puckered way out and the windshield of the towed vehicle nearly gone from a chain snap-back. They both looked pretty shaken.

The straps I have seen break have basically fallen to the ground, vs chains and cable which can whiplash back at you, which is easy enough to prevent by a heavy blanket ot carpet slung over the body of the chain or cable. Safety first though, so weight any rigging with a moving blanket or piece of carpet to prevent whiplashing.

 

[Egon]

Many different ways to hook up. Just make sure any metal hooks don't have a little casting ridge on the inside. If they do file it smooth or it may damage the cord.

Placing a skid thingy under the front of the log will also help.

Now with that said on the safety end the tow strap/chain/cable/bolts can break and may cause the towing apparatus to fly thru the air. In light of this it may be better to buck up the log and take the pieces out by wheel barrow!:thumbsup:

 

[Gary Fowler]

I have a 100 foot nylon tow strap. It is "flat", about 1.5 inches across. It has a small loop on each end. I would like to use it to pull out some logs in a ravine with my 45 hp tractor. I do not want to tear it up. What ideas on what I should use on the one loop end that would attach to the trees but not be tough on the loop? Thanks

I don't like to use nylon straps for pulling when there is a possibility of breaking. They stretch much more than chains, but since they weigh less the possibility of damaging you greatly is less. Attach the chain (or strap in your case) low to the tractor to minimize the risk of it flying up at you if it should break. A shackle (sometimes called a clevis) is what you need to use to attach it to your tractor. I would put a chain around the log the hook my strap to that. Only use as much of the strap as you need by doubling or tripling it so you get as short as possible.

Edit: when using a chain, I minimize the possibility of breaking by using a large chain. My 70 HP tractor will not break a 3/8" grade 70 chain, it cant get enough traction to do so (did that test already). Most any CUT's cant come close to breaking a 5/16" chain

 

[NS Gearhead]

Unless a vehicle can be "recovered" without a sudden jerk, it's never good on your attatchement points to use a chain. Recovery straps absorb initial impact, store kinetic energy, then aid in the "pull".

I have a fair bit of experience using recovery straps and winch cables Jeeping, but nothing with chains... well, just started using a chunk of 3/8" Grade 70 to drag logs.

My old man used to tell me that "logging chain" would fall to the ground when broken under tension and "normal" chain would snap like a whip. As I aged I discovered that if he didn't know something he'd just BS to make it sound like he did... so is their any truth to this?

 

[Egon]

Well, maybe the easiest way to find out is to go to the local hardware store and buy a piece of each. Take them out into the woods and do an empirical test. Let us know.

 

[SPYDERLK]

The dimensions are about 1.5 inches wide by about 1.25 inches thick. It is a more rectangular piece than flat, it is not round.

Pls clarify. What I see described here is a large cross section of woven nylon ... strength in the neighborhood 50 tons. Bulldozer capable. No 45HP tractor would strain it a bit.
laeey

 

[Wa11banger]

I may be confused on the stresses when being used for logging. And I am for sure a tractor newbie but, in my experience with broken chains and straps every chain I have ever seen snap dropped to the ground. However, I have seen more than my fair share of folded in tailgates, destroyed back windows, and wrecked hoods from nylon ropes and straps recoiling back into the vehiclesafter they broke. All of the logging chains I have ever seen used as recovery straps fell the minute they broke and had minimal recoil if any. We used straps anyway because long chains are freakin heavy.

 

[Buckgnarly]

Straps for tugging or dynamic loads, chains for static loads.

Look up broken chains on youtube, they do not just drop when under tensile loads and fail.