Perhaps I'm too simple minded....

Turbogus

Turbogus

Active member
Sooo... if one is mathematically challenged...... and has a winch rated at 9k and the vehicle weight is approx 4500 lbs what weight rating would be safe for snatch block and shackles? I'm thinking the same rating as for the winch.

The reason for my confusion is I see folks comparing weight ratings like male anatomy lengths. "20k, oh yeah? mine's 45k" and so on.
A logger I spoke with recently on the radio said that a snatch block needs not to exceed vehicle weight on account of its inherent divisive power.... uuuum okayyyyy :???:

In my family the man with half a brain is King
 
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How do you hook up a snatch block? I had never even heard of one till joining a jeep forum and i still don't know anyone that owns one
 
OK here is my somewhat of a professional opinion having been in the Elevator buisness for 27 years utilizing rigging lifting 20-30,000 lbs.
We are required to utilize a safety factor 5 times greater than what is actually needed to pick the load SOOOO.
KEY POINT!!!!!! Your rigging is only as good as your WEAKEST LINK>
if you want to lift 9000 your winch,snatch block,cable,winch mounting hardware and slings ,tow straps had better all be rated for that load or you may wind up in a morgue.
 

Excellent! I always prefer to err on the side of caution, I went back to Timber Supply yesterday after work and while they have several blocks of this type they could sell me they (two senior guys) emphatically hit their point that this block's working strength is four times what is cast into the housing.
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I noted their 9k snatch block incorporated a 9" wheel

From Timber Supply: Most components (cables, blocks, hooks, etc) intended for self recovery are advertised at their breaking strength. The rating that is cast into the snatch block pictured above is likely it's Working Load Limit (WLL). The breaking strength will typically be 4 or 5 times the WLL, for a safety factor or 4 or 5 respectively.

Industrial applications will always have a significant safety factor but the recovery gear we typically use is not rated that way. Something to keep in mind when assessing the risks when rigging for a pull.
 
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superj said:
How do you hook up a snatch block? I had never even heard of one till joining a jeep forum and i still don't know anyone that owns one
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I use them; when you are up to the doors in mud, a 9,000lbs winch will more often than not have a hard time pulling you out. In fact, I was once in a ride where the mud was so thick and deep that it took 3 winches (2 with snatch blocks) to pull out a jeep from the mud... Here's the shot of that:

DSC01428-1.jpg


Felipe
 
jfrabat said:
I use them; when you are up to the doors in mud, a 9,000lbs winch will more often than not have a hard time pulling you out. In fact, I was once in a ride where the mud was so thick and deep that it took 3 winches (2 with snatch blocks) to pull out a jeep from the mud... Here's the shot of that:

Felipe
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Now that's stuck!!
 
superj said:
How do you hook up a snatch block? I had never even heard of one till joining a jeep forum and i still don't know anyone that owns one
Click to expand...

Superj- I've used mine a few times, here's how it works:
You get VERY stuck ... Find an anchor point such as a tree, you'd wrap your tree saver around the anchor point and connect the snatch block to the tree saver. Your winch line then gets fed through the snatch block and back to your rig, hooking onto tow hooks/frame, long story short by doubling up your cable and using the block as a pulley , you double your pulling power, your 9000lbs winch pulls close to 17500lbs
 
Midnightsecurity said:
Superj- I've used mine a few times, here's how it works:
You get VERY stuck ... Find an anchor point such as a tree, you'd wrap your tree saver around the anchor point and connect the snatch block to the tree saver. Your winch line then gets fed through the snatch block and back to your rig, hooking onto tow hooks/frame, long story short by doubling up your cable and using the block as a pulley , you double your pulling power, your 9000lbs winch pulls close to 17500lbs
Click to expand...

This is true; puling power is doubled, but, unfortunately, line speed is reduced in half. Still, sometimes you just need more pulling power!
 

Way back in the late '70's I was on a range down at CampPen and there was a pit dug by and excavator with 20' high walls, this was filled by a tanker halfway and each driver would bury the M54 and the following driver would use the M543 to oblique extract. Well LCpl Hardin thought he'd pull a prank on me and buried that truck up to the doors. We rigged up first one, then two blocks to the aft winch but we broke the dam line. Ultimately we called in a Sea Stallion to pull it out. :roll:

I now finally 'get it' the difference is between WWL and breaking strength. Some blocks are sold describing one or the other. Looking at the 20k blocks at Timber Supply they seemed not as robust as the one here. The guys said that those flat ones are intended for lifting rather than vehicular extraction. While they proabably work okay it's not thier inteneded purpose, according to them. Just as they were explaining this a log driver came in for some binders and remarked the same.
 
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Always go more than you need. Had a recent drama in Australia near my place that these guys underestimated their pulling power and a shackle broke. There was 14 yr old boy in the back seat watching what was happening. The shackle ended up flying through the back window over 200km and hour and hit him in the head killing him instantly. So the moral of the story is get equipment that exceeds what you will prob need by a long way.
 
Wow! That poor kids family must be devastated.

That proves the fact that evryone should be away and behind something when using any type of equipment like this also. It would definitely be very hard to get over my son being killed because I didn't tell him to get out of the truck when pulling.

Sent from my iPhone using Jeepz
 

They're great for changing the angle of a pull as well, especially when pulling your buddies and you can't line up facing them. I use mine all the time.
 
Bounty__Hunter said:
They're great for changing the angle of a pull as well, especially when pulling your buddies and you can't line up facing them. I use mine all the time.
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That's a good point; if you notice on the pic I posted above, I am using one to change the angle of mu pull (tied to a tree), Alejo is doubling his pulling power but using a snatch block on the Jeep (seen in the pic), and the guy in the blue Jeep (the one that's stuck) is using Alejo as an anchor...
 
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