Wow, very tragic story DD. Sad that it could have been so easily avoided.
To your question, guessing the attachment/recovery point on the stuck vehicle probably will be the weakest link by the time I put my package together.
Digging into the subject, my conclusion is recoveries are just dangerous no matter what is used and any of the equipment can fail. The heavier the vehicle, the more the dangers increase. It appears dangers can be reduced, but never eliminated.
Even chains can snap and recoil too. See this video beginning at 3:58. 10’ of chain go through the rear window.
And the rear window was only about 2 feet above the license plate that said Tennessee on it...
Many years ago my cousin (spends a lot of time in the swamps) always had a truck with a PTO winch. As long as the motor runs…..you got winch. Quite often he was called in from a hunt to pull someone out.
One time someone at camp had a “hopped-up”, lifted Jeep who managed to burry it real good! Roy was called, arrived and surveyed the scene, and had someone tie onto the front of the Jeep frame. With his initial pull, it started dragging his F 250 toward the Jeep. So they chained the rear of the Ford to a tree and “gave her hell”! The Jeep finally pulled free…..well some of it did. Apparently part of the Jeep frame hung up on an unseen stump in the mud. If I remember correctly, the Jeep separated somewhere around the transmission!
I guess you can only “stretch” a Jeep so far….before something gives! 😁 memtb
You should not use a rifle that will kill an animal when everything goes right; you should use one that will do the job when everything goes wrong." -Bob Hagel
“I’d like to be a good rifleman…..but, I prefer to be a good hunter”! memtb 2024
that's the problem with chain - it has no give at all. If you have to jerk it, you're multiplying the force on the chain many times over. A chain has to be rated many times over what you're pulling with it. Most of the tow chains I've seen on the market are for pulling a car down a flat road, NOT for getting it unstuck. That little chain in the video is nowhere near heavy enough to be jerking that Jeep out of mud.
“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” ― George Orwell
It's not over when you lose. It's over when you quit.
Weight over a strap, cable, or chain absolutely will slow it down in the event of a break. Attempting to accelerate even a small amount of mass bleeds off energy rapidly. Depends on the weight of the chain/strap/cable vs the weight being used to how effective it is.
There are better methods than tied off to the ball hitch, but the ball is pretty strong. A shackle with a grade 8 pin or bolt is better.
Casey
Not being married to any particular political party sure makes it a lot easier to look at the world more objectively... Having said that, MAGA.
Some good information and some misinformation in the OP's video. The presenter brought up some good issues about working loads, loads limits, etc.; however, confused tensile, shear, and bending strength (moment capacity) repeatedly. It appears the hitch in the towing accident broke due to bending or better said, it was a moment failure. The dropped hitch acted like a lever arm and bent, to the point of catastrophic failure, the hitch. The steel was clearly brittle, and should not have been. That appears to be a manufacturer defect. Properly designed structural steel should yield (i.e. bend) before it breaks. Considering it was near the gusset weld, heat might have brittle hardened the steel.
Shear strength is what the hitch pin feels, double shear strength actually, as in two shear planes. Very few factors determine the load capacity: diameter of pin, Fy or yield strength of the steel, usually somewhere between 45-125ksi, thickness of the hitch and receiver steel, and yield strength of hitch and receiver steel. That's it. According to one engineering manual a 5/8" shear pin with mid range steel would be good for 34,000lbs, working load. The shear strength of a 1" bolt, e.g. at the bottom of a 2 5/16" ball is about 44,000 lbs working load. That presenter was not even close when he mentioned the bolt at the base of the ball was a weak link. Keeping a tow strap on a ball is a major safety issue in my opinion.
Tensile strength of steel is what it will break at in tension. Very simply a factor of its cross sectional area and steel strength. For example 1 square inch of 45ksi steel will yield at 45,000lbs - not including safety factors. Even a hollow tube 2" type hitch has a cross sectional area greater than 1 square inch.
In general, a 2 5/16" hitch will handle just about anything you can throw at it assuming the loads are all linear or horizontal. Once moments, angled pulls, and to some degree jerking loads are added to it, all bets are off.
His advice to use a shackle mount hitch is good. It's designed to keep the loads linear with no minimal bending loads and the tow rope cannot fall off the ball.
that's the problem with chain - it has no give at all. If you have to jerk it, you're multiplying the force on the chain many times over. A chain has to be rated many times over what you're pulling with it. Most of the tow chains I've seen on the market are for pulling a car down a flat road, NOT for getting it unstuck. That little chain in the video is nowhere near heavy enough to be jerking that Jeep out of mud.
Not to mention that the link that breaks can fly "somewhere" at bullet velocity.
I've always been a curmudgeon - now I'm an old curmudgeon. ~Molɔ̀ːn Labé Skýla~
Thank you for posting, some great information in that video.
I would add that anything manufactured in chiner is a no go. chiner-made steel is an amalgamation of many different types of scrap and is almost guaranteed to fail. Look at all the bridge failures that have used chiner steel. Look at the problems welding chiner steel. I read an article not to long ago that chiner-made shackles were failing at an alarming rate resulting in deaths and many near misses. Ever tried to sharpen a chiner-made axe or hatchet? - a file will skate across parts of the edge and 'bite" in other parts - inconsistent metalurgy and inconsistent tempering. Avoid chiner steel at all costs. Make sure that all your recovery gear is USA made. Sure, USA manufactured recovery gear is more expensive, but anything less is a risk I'm not willing to take. AND AVOID HORROR FREIGHT GEAR AT ALL COSTS!
l told my pap and mam I was going to be a mountain man; acted like they was gut-shot. Make your life go here. Here's where the peoples is. Mother Gue, I says, the Rocky Mountains is the marrow of the world, and by God, I was right. - Del Gue
![[Linked Image from i.postimg.cc]](https://i.postimg.cc/G9RDVKXr/DSCN4329.jpg)
