39 replies to this topic

[ski3pin]

<snip>

 

..................... these days, I 'd rather park under a tree, drink a beer and watch someone else go get stuck!

 

Smoke

 

Oh, the wisdom age and experience brings.
 

[Mighty Dodge Ram]

I have a 20’ length of HD chain but don’t carry it in the truck anymore. I use it mostly for “securing” our motorcycles to the trailer at night when on a riding trip. I used it once to move a large fallen tree but now use straps when that occurs.

[Smokecreek1]

Oh, the wisdom age and experience brings.
 

!

 

Smoke

[Wallowa]

When I was eight my older brother bought a beater car sans engine.

 

I was enlisted to steer it home.

 

His clever solution was to thread a chain thru a ten foot length of water pipe and then fasten chain tightly to tow car and towed car.

 

We made it ten or twelve miles to home, in the dark of course.

 

Frankly, I think two chains and two equal length pipe would just about make a tow bar.

 

All in the rigging and care of use.....

  Clever!

[Optimistic Paranoid]

When I was eight my older brother bought a beater car sans engine.

 

I was enlisted to steer it home.

 

His clever solution was to thread a chain thru a ten foot length of water pipe and then fasten chain tightly to tow car and towed car.

 

We made it ten or twelve miles to home, in the dark of course.

 

Frankly, I think two chains and two equal length pipe would just about make a tow bar.

 

All in the rigging and care of use.....

My father taught me that trick also, and I used it once to pull a buddy home when his car died one night.  That chain-in-pipe trick must have been fairly well known once upon a time.

[smlobx]

I have a heavy duty 30 ft. Tow strap and a couple of soft shackles.

I recently bought a kinetic rope after watching  “Matt’s Towing” on YouTube. If you are looking for something to do check him out. It’s amazing what he does with his “Yellow Banana” I.e. Jeep Cherokee.

 

Here’s an example..

https://youtu.be/EDjzO8ZCrpY

Edited by smlobx, 30 April 2020 - 11:40 AM.

[ntsqd]

My father taught me that trick also, and I used it once to pull a buddy home when his car died one night.  That chain-in-pipe trick must have been fairly well known once upon a time.

I was taught it by my first employer out of HS, an auto repair shop. He was very clear to me that even with the pipe in the rigging that I was the brakes for both vehicles.

 

I have a 30' 3" dynamic strap in our camper and I carry a 30' piece of 5/8" Amsteel 12 strand with eyelets in both ends.

[Advmoto18]

Chain for towing?  Did as a teen in late 60s early 70s.  Want to detach parts (bumper, etc) from a vehicle, use a chain.

 

My dad once told me..."there's a reason the Navy doesn't use chains to stop an airplane landing on the aircraft carrier"!  But the Navy does use about 10 chains to tie the airplane down to the carrier's deck".  He was a carrier pilot. 

 

He told me if he didn't want to break things when towing with chains, they'd use old fire hoses for towing.   We then went around to all the fire stations asking for old, unusable fire hoses.  They eagerly gave them to us.  Worked great!

 

Using chains and cables today gives me the willies.  They can be flat out dangerous under tension and snap unleashing potential energy.  Chains and cables stretch and if they snap, Newton's Third Law applies and anything or anybody within the length of uncontrolled ends will feel the effect of the energy release.

 

When I attended the Navy's Safety School, we watched a video of an arresting wire snapping under the load of a landing aircraft.  There were about 7 sailors standing in a "safe zone".  The broken cable attached to the arresting gear motor closest to them whipped back around and cut them in half like a stick of butter.  A sickening image for sure.  When you see things like that, you begin to appreciate the inherent danger in materials and how they are used.

 

I converted to synthetic rope for winches when it came out.  Syn rope still retains potential energy, but, not nearly as much as a wire cable or chain.  I also adopted the closed loop winching system.  I've tried to adopt and use the safest tools for winching and towing.

[Wallowa]

Chain for towing?  Did as a teen in late 60s early 70s.  Want to detach parts (bumper, etc) from a vehicle, use a chain.

 

My dad once told me..."there's a reason the Navy doesn't use chains to stop an airplane landing on the aircraft carrier"!  But the Navy does use about 10 chains to tie the airplane down to the carrier's deck".  He was a carrier pilot. 

 

He told me if he didn't want to break things when towing with chains, they'd use old fire hoses for towing.   We then went around to all the fire stations asking for old, unusable fire hoses.  They eagerly gave them to us.  Worked great!

 

Using chains and cables today gives me the willies.  They can be flat out dangerous under tension and snap unleashing potential energy.  Chains and cables stretch and if they snap, Newton's Third Law applies and anything or anybody within the length of uncontrolled ends will feel the effect of the energy release.

 

When I attended the Navy's Safety School, we watched a video of an arresting wire snapping under the load of a landing aircraft.  There were about 7 sailors standing in a "safe zone".  The broken cable attached to the arresting gear motor closest to them whipped back around and cut them in half like a stick of butter.  A sickening image for sure.  When you see things like that, you begin to appreciate the inherent danger in materials and how they are used.

 

I converted to synthetic rope for winches when it came out.  Syn rope still retains potential energy, but, not nearly as much as a wire cable or chain.  I also adopted the closed loop winching system.  I've tried to adopt and use the safest tools for winching and towing.

 

 

Great reminder...my Warn has synthetic line....I never knew that a chain under tension could recoil if broken...thanks.

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Cable recoil from F18 landing