Hazard freight, I like that. LOL.
Sounds like something Cooter would use to pull Rosco out of the drink with when he come up short on the big bridge jump
Logging Chains
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Sounds like something Cooter would use to pull Rosco out of the drink with when he come up short on the big bridge jump
The details are a little fuzzy, but there was a big to do on YT not long ago over a guy in Colorado that ate a chain thru the windshield and killed him. From the sounds of it it was real ugly. Friends and family witnessed it. Like you alluded to, people don't understand the forces at play when yanking on stuff.
In the Industry I work in our rigging gets removed from service over the slightest damage. Technically they are supposed to be cut up and thrown out, but I know a guy
I've got triple ply 3" x 20' in all my vehicles for tow straps. They are nylon and won't kill someone if they break, plus being designated for lifting service they are made with that 5x safety factor that traditional tow straps are not rated for. I've tugged on some big heavy stuff over the years, it's incredible how strong they are compared to a "hazard freight" 3" tow strap. There is no comparison.
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I use the same chain here. I also have a 1" wire rope sling that was kinda overloaded on an industrial job. It acquired a small twist in it so it couldn't be used for lifting anymore. Works just fine dragging stuff around with my little tractor tho.
Yes that would be one of them thay was discussed in the seminar. Terrible how it all happened.The details are a little fuzzy, but there was a big to do on YT not long ago over a guy in Colorado that ate a chain thru the windshield and killed him. From the sounds of it it was real ugly. Friends and family witnessed it. Like you alluded to, people don't understand the forces at play when yanking on stuff.
In the Industry I work in our rigging gets removed from service over the slightest damage. Technically they are supposed to be cut up and thrown out, but I know a guy
I've got triple ply 3" x 20' in all my vehicles for tow straps. They are nylon and won't kill someone if they break, plus being designated for lifting service they are made with that 5x safety factor that traditional tow straps are not rated for. I've tugged on some big heavy stuff over the years, it's incredible how strong they are compared to a "hazard freight" 3" tow strap. There is no comparison.
I have seen first hand what happens when a barge line breaks. Nothing is full proof.
parked a trailer hitch in a dump truck windshield with a nylon jerk rope once (2" 3strand braided stuff with 3/8 chain on each end... great stuff for yanking a 4x4 out of a cess pit...) Anyhow, rope was fine, dump truck not so much.The details are a little fuzzy, but there was a big to do on YT not long ago over a guy in Colorado that ate a chain thru the windshield and killed him. From the sounds of it it was real ugly. Friends and family witnessed it. Like you alluded to, people don't understand the forces at play when yanking on stuff.
In the Industry I work in our rigging gets removed from service over the slightest damage. Technically they are supposed to be cut up and thrown out, but I know a guy
I've got triple ply 3" x 20' in all my vehicles for tow straps. They are nylon and won't kill someone if they break, plus being designated for lifting service they are made with that 5x safety factor that traditional tow straps are not rated for. I've tugged on some big heavy stuff over the years, it's incredible how strong they are compared to a "hazard freight" 3" tow strap. There is no comparison.
Nylon, and most synthetics stretch WAYYYYYYY more then people really want to believe, and way more then wire rope or chain... the real issue and I keep saying the same damned thing is the load, air filled tires, or a suspended load which the wifes tails of wire rope killing people come from otherwise wire rope will fray rather dramatically, but pretty much just lays down, as long as the load is more or less static.... synthetics including Dynema and nylon etc will stretch, and anytime there is stretch you have rebound, and rebound creates momentem...
Granted synthetics are not as heavy so the rebound is mostly lost do to gravity, but good a shackle on the loose end of a rebounding rope... you have some pretty impressive damage
As for the kinked, damaged, abraded, rigging of anykind, steel or fibre, there are actual enginerded limits on what is acceptable, Wire rope can be kinked even having as much as an entire strand severed and still be considered serviceable, but for liability reasons many companies will take them out of service, After all its perfectly ok to literally cut a cable, then splice it back together, which means all 7 (or more) strands are severed and its just being held together by friction, as long as its a well performed and accepted splice its perfectly safe.
There are fibrous ropes with hollow cores (amsteel comes to mind) were the accepted eye splice is to pass the loose end into the hollow core for xx length, and those are just fine...
Anyway, I see companies that use rigging throwing things out that are perfectly serviceable simply because they are too ignorant to know better, some grey beard with a wagging chin said "oh the osha man will shut you down if you use that" and they panic, cause I guess paranoia and illiteracy go hand in hand piles and piles of shackles that are just shiny in one spot, wire rope with one jagger, or a kink, one thimble slightly askew... its ridiculous (these are the same idiots that think you should throw out a cable choker just because the ferule end has a bend in it... bruh I've been yarding logs with that same bent choker for 12 years... get over yerself)
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I Always use chain two or three times bigger than required for the SWL of the log I'm yarding on or lifting. Never had an issue Even with worn chains and damaged links. Most the wood I deal with can safely be logged and lifted with 1/4 inch high strength chain. However, I always use 3/8 because I know it's gonna do what I need it to and do it safely. No questions asked!
Go big or go home because there is no kill like overkill.
Go big or go home because there is no kill like overkill.
Slip hooks grab a log tighter that a standard hook chain. I've never had one slide off a log. I have had that happen using standard hooks. Now all my logging chains have a slip hook on it.
I ended up with my dads yarding chains.
They're 3/8 with a slip hook on one end and a standard hook on the other so you can hook two chains together if need be.
These are quite old and still work fine, they last until you drag the chain on the dirt long enough to make it thin, then you toss em.
This set up is super common in my area, everyone who cuts fire wood has a tractor and a few of these chains. We have a standard hook on the draw bar of the tractor to hook the chain to, this way you can get the end of the log up off the ground so it pulls easier.
They're 3/8 with a slip hook on one end and a standard hook on the other so you can hook two chains together if need be.
These are quite old and still work fine, they last until you drag the chain on the dirt long enough to make it thin, then you toss em.
This set up is super common in my area, everyone who cuts fire wood has a tractor and a few of these chains. We have a standard hook on the draw bar of the tractor to hook the chain to, this way you can get the end of the log up off the ground so it pulls easier.
I started out with transport chains, grab hooks on each end. They are ok. The endearing quality is that they are 100% adjustable. I still carry one or two, because they have their place. One day I found somebodies 100 foot wire rope choker with a giant knot pulled tight in it at the dump. I cut the usable portions out of it and ended up with 20’ with a choker bell on the end. Even with my (rookie) cable clamps to put an eye on the other end, the thing was a game changer. Fast forward 15 years. I now carry a variety of lengths of 3/8 wire rope chokers from 6’ to 100’. They are all set up to be able to hook end to end. I carry 2 or 3 snatch blocks for redirect and for double blocking the really heavy stuff. The national forest is pretty picked over close to the road, so I have gotten creative in getting out the stuff that the guy with just a couple of chains couldn’t get.
Of course there are exceptions to everything but you won't convince me that using steel anything is a better option than nylon (or better yet a kinetic rope) for recovery. The stretch is what helps prevent damage of attachment points, frames, etc.
If your hitch broke with a nylon attached to it it would have taken less with a chain or a cable. Attachment points matter. That's not a dig on you because sometimes you have to use what is available. I've broken hitches also. It isn't pretty. I've got an old 2.5" straight hitch under my back seat for such purposes. No ball - shackle thru the hole.
Some damage is allowed but very little, assuming you are talking lifting equipment not yarding or logging. ASME B.30.20 is very specific and does not leave much for interpretation. Some nylon lifting slings have a different colored stitching within that if exposed must be removed from service. Slings with damaged or cut exterior stitching on the sides is another failure.
Wire rope criteria is kinda all over the place and depends on the type. Generally it's 10 wires in a lay or 5 in the same strand in one lay. Again type matters. Kinking, crushing, or bird caging is an automatic fail. Ain't no splicing back together of any lifting device by the end user for lifting slings. Some manufacturers will make repairs depending on severity of damage but they must be proof tested 3x weight rating and a new tag affixed. Usually just cheaper to toss and buy new. Again, this is for lifting service, I think the lines are being blurred here a little.
A few locals my uncle included have winches for their tractors now to get to stuff, 100 ft of cable on the winch plus a chain for the choker.
Cable clamps work fine on cable, just remember to never saddle a dead horse so they're on the right way.
I have a lot of rigging training/experience and use cable straps at work but will stick to cheap chains for yarding as they work fine and I have them already.
I've been in the basket of a crane quite a bit to get to parts of the plant I run like pictured above.
This clearly demonstrates the effect of damage to a sling. Look at the numbers in test 1 and test 2, all over 1/8" cut. Substantial.
Again it's all in how it's used. I use these slings in a towing capacity all the time with substantially more damage, and they hold up fine.
Would I use them in any of the jobs in the above pictures I posted?
Not on your life. I check every sling, shackle, spreader beam, etc that comes on the job before it gets slapped on my hook. I have a conscience that would be eternally tormented....not worth it.
No matter how strong your rope, strap, chain cable is when attached to a drop hitch you are flirting with danger,
There is a reason drawbars are straight
There is a reason drawbars are straight
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