Tow balls are not made to snatch off of, I'm still surprised that all snatch straps don't come with a label on each end stating this. Even when used properly snatch straps and winches are still dangerous as hell but a necessary evil. Having said that they are great when it all works the way it's supposed to. My father in law has had a tow hook come through the back window of his cruiser past his left ear and smash his windscreen so even when attached to the appropriate points they can still cause mayhem.

Don't even want to think about a flying towball in the throat. UUUGGGHHH.

Was anybody at Pt Moore a few years ago when somebody tried to tow a Kombi out of the sand by its bull bar?.. The guy towing, took off at about 20k and once the rope went taut it ripped the Bullbar off the Kombi.. It went flying..

It was like he thought he needed a run up..

When my eldest son was about 3 (he's 26 now) I was pulling a stump out of the ground with a nylon rope shackled to a 4wd. I made sure my young bloke was off to the side off the line of the rope and then drove the slack out of the nylon rope.

The shackle broke

It flew of the 4wd like a bullet straight at his head, he saw it coming, he flinched just before it got to him and hit him in the left ear. I ran straight up to him and held his head expecting blood to come running out between my fingers, luckily it had just glanced him and he was crying saying he had a loud ringing in his ear, other than that he was ok

Moral of the story, use extreme caution when using this type of equipment!

And dont use shackles!!!!!!

There is also a big difference between a 'tow point' or a tie down hook, and a properly rated recovery point fitted with the appropriate hardware and high tensile bolts. Don't get 'em mixed up!!

Snatching offf a bull bar or roo bar is fraught with danger also. A 12 year old girl was killed near Kununurra a few years ago when someone attached a snatch strap to a bull bar and it was ripped clean from one of the vehicles.

Best idea is to have two tow points with a bridle then the snatch strap off the bridle. Then, if one point breaks, there's an instant length of slack. However, you want to hope if a point breaks that nothing goes flying. Another good idea is to put your bonnet up as a shield (for the "behind" car). Another good idea is the damper blanket (some shops sell commercial versions, or just wet towels or hessian bags etc). Another good idea is to dig the wheels out to make the bogged vehicle have minimal resistance. And never, never snatch if you're not 100% confident in the situation. It's gotta be one of the worst situations for onlookers, considering it goes from happy day 4wding with friends and family to major trauma death.

Many years ago I watched a D11 pulling a dump truck out of a heavy bog using a chain with links as long as my arm. The chain shifted under tension at one stage and a red hot chunk of metal sheared off and flew up and all the way out of the pit and off into the distance, about 50m to the right of our heads. 100m wasn't a safe watching distance, shouldn't have even been in eyesight of the situation. We were lucky.

Even so called car experts get it wrong

Sailhack said...

Cassa said...

Even so called car experts get it wrong

The correct procedure (or what was shown by our instructor) is to remove the towball mount from the box (if using a HD hayman reece towbar or similar), run the pin through the loop in the strap on the towing vehicle, on the vehicle being towed either tie or use a correctly rated shackle attached to the chassis. And as always - keep clear of the vehicles being towed or ropes/straps/chains/cables under tension!

I agree but I take it one further - I don't trust the pin thru the Reece hitch it is just a bit of steel bar and is it rated? How strong is it? I would not mind betting it is not hi tensile and is designed for towing which is very different to the massive shock load when snatching.
Get a 12mm hi tensile bolt, the next one up from class 8.8 (is it 12.9?), and use that for vehicle recovery. $5 is cheap insurance

you can buy a shackle that slots into your Reece Hitch (if you have one).
I think that the snatch strap or towing gear/winch etc should be the absolute last resort in getting a car out of a typical beach/sand bog.
First line of defence if driving technique and correct tire pressures. dont know how many times I have come across bogged 4wds up north that had incorrect tire pressures.
Had to use the winch one arvo because some unfortunate fella decided that he liked the soft sand at the water line and with an incoming tide he was close to losing his Tojo. No chance or time to dig that one out. We got him out but I hate using that winch. high consequences if something fails.

i'm looking at all this and i'm wondering what part of a car can take that punishment.

towballs no good, towbar may or may not be rated, what about the bolts that hold the towbar in place and is the chassis rated. are designated recovery points rated, are what they attached to rated etc. wouldn't the whole cassis have to be high tensile or are they generally high tensile

confused

I go 4wd every weekend and every trip we need snatch straps with extensions and the old elect winch. We use both methods and average 5x each car each trip. only ever had 1 strap break- no damage due to the mat in the center of strap. we are all loaded 80 series at 3t min. The pin holds fine in the Haymen, the insert with D-shackle is just easier not stronger - we estimate loads above 10t easy when we have 2 cars in 2nd High trying to get a car out. Nearly all of us have put cargo barriers in to prevent the events in the original story.

Also to those unaware if you think you have tow points double check most are not connected to the chassis and you will rip the front or rear bumper clean off - have witnessed many many many times even on the tow points on the steel arb bull bars are crap- only good for very light work.

As to flatten your tyres, yes that works well but do it before you get stuck otherwise you are lowering the entire chassis further into the mud/sand ect. We run 25psi when playing in the dirt hills and generally the mud only because car becomes to low and 15psi on the sand.

My condolences the her family and friends very sad very unlucky.

This isn't an "isolated case King" It has happened before in western Australia. Its good to post as a point of Interest and have a read at the comments they are wise !! good to give it a mention to everyone for further prevention.
I feel compassion for family friends and people involved.

^^^ no it can take more download than that - more like a tonne. It is not referring to the bar will break if you stand on it.

The ball weight (down load) should be 10% of the weight of what you are towing so to minimize hitch uptravel on bumps.

So the 75kg refers to what ball weight the car can take and still have reasonable suspension travel / suspension working (75kg that far behind the axle is equivalent of a couple of adults in the back seat and some gear in the boot.)

Thus your max safe tow is 750kg total. You can tow 1300kg but the car will not handle safely as 130kg ball weight is too much for it... and 75kg ball weight is not enough to tow 1300kg trailer on the highway.

Of course all the above is different with load levelling bars like on a caravan

Sailhack said...


The correct procedure (or what was shown by our instructor) is to remove the towball mount from the box (if using a HD hayman reece towbar or similar), run the pin through the loop in the strap on the towing vehicle, on the vehicle being towed either tie or use a correctly rated shackle attached to the chassis. And as always - keep clear of the vehicles being towed or ropes/straps/chains/cables under tension!

I use this technique all the time at work and it works and is very very safe. Don,t replace the pin with HT Bolt as it will snap rather than bend. Soft steel will take the shock load much better, thats why they use it.

Dont join two Snatch straps with a shackle,if it breaks,its a missile. Thread one loop through the other and place a arm sized green stick through the loop.If something breaks the stick will fall to the ground with very little force.
No sticks...just loop the two together...they will come apart,but it will take some effort

Shackles are fine to attach to cars just use Rated ones Not the china
specials.
I,ve used this method for cars, 4x4,tankers and been daisy chained to dozers with a snatch strap and a stick and it works. Don,t tow on the ball

Mark _australia said...

Rule 1: never snatch off towballs

Rule 2: always place a heavy bag over the strap so if it breaks the heavy bag in the middle kills the momentum.

I agree Waynos - they should have warnings for the clowns who think they know what they're doing

+1

Mark _australia said...

kato said...

Sailhack said...


The correct procedure (or what was shown by our instructor) is to remove the towball mount from the box (if using a HD hayman reece towbar or similar), run the pin through the loop in the strap on the towing vehicle, on the vehicle being towed either tie or use a correctly rated shackle attached to the chassis. And as always - keep clear of the vehicles being towed or ropes/straps/chains/cables under tension!

I use this technique all the time at work and it works and is very very safe. Don,t replace the pin with HT Bolt as it will snap rather than bend. Soft steel will take the shock load much better, thats why they use it.

Dont join two Snatch straps with a shackle,if it breaks,its a missile. Thread one loop through the other and place a arm sized green stick through the loop.If something breaks the stick will fall to the ground with very little force.
No sticks...just loop the two together...they will come apart,but it will take some effort

Shackles are fine to attach to cars just use Rated ones Not the china
specials.
I,ve used this method for cars, 4x4,tankers and been daisy chained to dozers with a snatch strap and a stick and it works. Don,t tow on the ball

Alternative to a stick to join two snatch straps is a rolled up newspaper or about 3 magazines rolled up. Easier to find than a bit of wood sometimes!!

But sorry mate disagree on the bolt. A 12mm class 8.8 has a tensile strenth of about 50,000 psi so in side loading using the 60% rule makes 35000psi ish.
Not that I can do the maths but you will need to generate about 20 tonnes of load at least. The snatch strap will break long before that.

Any engineers here can give the answer on that one?

But if you bend the standard Reece hitch pin it aint coming out

A 10mm grade 8.8 bolt will break from shear stress at around 4.8tonnes.

I use a 2nd reece hitch with no tow ball on it. The hole for the towball is just big enough to fit a pin for a 5.5 ton rated shackle through.

If you put the steel pin from a reece hitch through the strap it can bend the pin and it'll be a bitch to get out.