G
Guest
Guest
Kinetic ropes yes are great, I notice a discrepancy in opinions on them.
But I have used them for both stump removal and vehicle recovery. Keep them
in the dark and they last a long time retaining all their properties. But
no-one mentioned how to reduce the whiplash effect. If it does happen its
nasty, but at least put one old jacket or sack in the middle of the rope.
If you have both of them, put each a third way along the length. If you are
suspect at the towed vehicle's hitch point (not a TLC of course) put the
coat/sack in front of it - you know your TLC hitch will be OK don't you ?
(Yes I keep a plastic coated picnic blanket in the car for wheel changes
and snow chain attachment, also a 2m square clean sheet for protecting the
wings etc. when working on the engine. Both these are folded during the day
and cover my spares kit in the back - though I do have a roller blind load
cover, at times I have other stuff in there that the cover will not negotiate).
Road work, yes a towbar is great and they are available as telescopic and
cheap. But hey you mechanics, you know its easy to get 3 lengths of RHS to
slide into each other and then all you need do is slot the outer ends and
fillet weld a 70X100m 10mm plate 50mm into the RHS and drill a hole in it
for the shackle. The telescopic bits are pinned with a common 13mm high
tensile pin held by a lynch pin, both bought from any tractor supplier. Its
basic fabrication, not rocket science.
Shackles, yes get SWL rated ones with at least 4.5 tonnes, remember its not
deadweight but shockload that you have to allow for. 6 tonnes is better.
Also try plain black iron ones. Only the very best (and expensive)
galvanised ones will be smooth enough to prevent nicking your hands.
Otherwise, if you are flush enough, buy stainless ones from a yacht
chandler. (I used to be a director of a marine supplies export company, we
supplied fishing fleets from the Faroes to Chile, they never used
galvanised links etc. in situations where hands had to manipulate chains).
General towing, I use a 5 tonne steel cable with swaged loops and
shackles. It coils up very neatly into a pouch that goes in the wing cubby
above the jack. But I rarely tow!
Cheers
Jon
'92 HZJ80 ex UN surplus in Bosnia - where we don't get nice fruit sponge
cakes but sickly cream gateaux !
But I have used them for both stump removal and vehicle recovery. Keep them
in the dark and they last a long time retaining all their properties. But
no-one mentioned how to reduce the whiplash effect. If it does happen its
nasty, but at least put one old jacket or sack in the middle of the rope.
If you have both of them, put each a third way along the length. If you are
suspect at the towed vehicle's hitch point (not a TLC of course) put the
coat/sack in front of it - you know your TLC hitch will be OK don't you ?
(Yes I keep a plastic coated picnic blanket in the car for wheel changes
and snow chain attachment, also a 2m square clean sheet for protecting the
wings etc. when working on the engine. Both these are folded during the day
and cover my spares kit in the back - though I do have a roller blind load
cover, at times I have other stuff in there that the cover will not negotiate).
Road work, yes a towbar is great and they are available as telescopic and
cheap. But hey you mechanics, you know its easy to get 3 lengths of RHS to
slide into each other and then all you need do is slot the outer ends and
fillet weld a 70X100m 10mm plate 50mm into the RHS and drill a hole in it
for the shackle. The telescopic bits are pinned with a common 13mm high
tensile pin held by a lynch pin, both bought from any tractor supplier. Its
basic fabrication, not rocket science.
Shackles, yes get SWL rated ones with at least 4.5 tonnes, remember its not
deadweight but shockload that you have to allow for. 6 tonnes is better.
Also try plain black iron ones. Only the very best (and expensive)
galvanised ones will be smooth enough to prevent nicking your hands.
Otherwise, if you are flush enough, buy stainless ones from a yacht
chandler. (I used to be a director of a marine supplies export company, we
supplied fishing fleets from the Faroes to Chile, they never used
galvanised links etc. in situations where hands had to manipulate chains).
General towing, I use a 5 tonne steel cable with swaged loops and
shackles. It coils up very neatly into a pouch that goes in the wing cubby
above the jack. But I rarely tow!
Cheers
Jon
'92 HZJ80 ex UN surplus in Bosnia - where we don't get nice fruit sponge
cakes but sickly cream gateaux !