Tow rope.

[ScottTDI]

slowly trying to get a list together of bits and bobs i think would be handy to keep in the back of the disco and got to the tow rope.

Thought i'd look on ebay, its only tow rope, dont need any thing that great.
Now i'm all confused :confused:
there are ropes for £6.99, kinetic ropes for £50 and winch ropes for £30.

what is a kinetic rope?
whats the difference between a winch rope and a normall rope?

can any one recomend a style of rope or any thing i should look out for when buying a rope?
I asume a trip down to halfords and picking up there own brand of rope might not be good enouth?

[leeds]

It all depends what you mean by the expression 'tow rope'

A tow rope in my mind is a piece of string used for towing a euro box down a flat tarmac road. Generally made from polypropylene and about 10/12 mm diameter. Useful for tying a tarpaulin down over a trailer but otherwise of no use at all in a 4 x 4

A recovery rope is typically made from nylon of 3 strand construction, 24 mm diameter and with a breaking strength of about 12 tons. Comes with two spliced eyes which may be reinforced. Cost typically in region of £30-40. Go to your local independent 4 x 4 supplier or http://www.devon4x4.com/products_a/p41c49/5m-nylon-tow-rope.html

A KERR or Kinetic Recovery Rope is a very stretch rope designed for recovery of military hard skinned vehicles. As far as I am aware the army bans them for recoveing soft skinned vehicle such as Land Rovers. Treat them with extreme care. Some clubs also ban the use of them.

Winch ropes are NOT to be used for towing or snatch recoveries.

Some straps (which store more neatly then ropes) are designed to be used as snatch straps and have greater elasticity then a tow strap. Use a tow strap in a snatch recovery and you will get a jolt or a 'hard' recovery in comparison to using a snatch strap.


FIRST ensure you have good RECOVERY points and not towing points/lash down eyes. Also use RATED shackles which have strengths embossed on them with a minimum strength of 3.75/4.5 tonnes. Anything smaller has no use in recoveries.

Hope that helps

Regards

Brendan

[ScottTDI]

thanks leeds.
i'll have a better look in to it.

[Stumpy Doofleer]

If towing on the road, then 4.5 metres is the max length, I got a tow strap from Machine Mart http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/webbing-tow-band/path/
(http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/webbing-tow-band/path/)

[landowner]

If towing on the road, then 4.5 metres is the max length, I got a tow strap from Machine Mart http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/webbing-tow-band/path/
(http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/webbing-tow-band/path/)

That'll do, not bad for the money:)

[leeds]

The Machine Mart item is a TOWING strap and not a RECOVERY strap.

The MM strap is made from polyester with a breaking strain (??? strength) of 5,000 kg. Use this in a recovery situation with some 'snatch' and it will give a hard jolt and is more likely to break.


An ARB recovery strap is made from nylon, is more elastic and is stronger at 8,000 kg. This will give a 'softer' recovery in a snatch situation. Yes it costs more.


Cheap gear and Land Rovers do not go together! :eek:

Make sure you get the right gear for the job in hand.


Regards


Brendan

[conkers]

I found this (http://www.euroropesuk.co.uk/heavy-duty-tow-ropes-for-off-road-recovery-73-c.asp) place while looking for a rope for my capstan.

[Satancom]

I found this (http://www.euroropesuk.co.uk/heavy-duty-tow-ropes-for-off-road-recovery-73-c.asp) place while looking for a rope for my capstan.

Nice page..

I personally use lifting strops.. Cheap and can be found in many differnet sizes/capacity!

[P00DLE]

Nice page..

I personally use lifting strops.. Cheap and can be found in many differnet sizes/capacity!

yep i use them too don't forget that a good strap supplied with a test cert isn't that expensive and when new had 7:1 strength so the 3 ton straps i use are in fact capable of lifting over 20 ton, not that i would advise it but always good to know there is a little bit of reserve to hand.

i tend to use 3 ton flat slings (yellow) for towing / lifting and winching
1 ton endless slings (purple) useful as bridles or to wrap round an axle to create an attachment point if nothing else is available.

good shackles are a must i also have a couple of karibiners for towing / recovery as they are quick to rig up (mine are rated to 500kn or approx 5000kg dont use cheap or ali climbing ones)

[Satancom]

I have a good supply of old lifting strops and shackles. Not as strong as when new, but plenty strong enough for my use :)

I also have a big set of chains with some rediculous loading on them!

[ScottTDI]

****, there is alot more to this rope thing than i every knew.
thanks lads.

[toppa]

Yup be very wary of kinetic ropes, i had one on my tow hictch with a range rover recovering me, and it bent my at the time, solid rear cross member, immense builds up in them!!!


Cheers

[ScottTDI]

I bought a kinteic strap today.
Bit of a impulse buy really (i'm crap at them).
8 ton limit so it should do the job ok for now.
I'll get a normal strap over the coming weeks as well.
I'll slow start building up my recovery kit.

thanks for the advice lads.

[Redwarf]

got my tow ore recury rope from ferst for dun me well and has a slit elasticaty which hepls :D

[dannym2710]

i have an ex army tow strap, rated to about 9 tonnes, and a collection of small 1 tonne straps, and some 4 tonne liting strops

[nobber]

i use 2 8 ton lifting strops.
when buying shackles , unless they come with a paper test cert dont bother.
if one of those were to come apart under the right conditions it could be lethal.
also read up on recovery techniques , you would be surprised at just how wrong you could get it.

[Chasealex]

I use lifting strops for most of my work.

I get them from an engineering company. They're 5 ton rated with a 5:1 saftey rating, but once they've lifted more than 2.5ton they dispose of them, most of the time they've only been used the once. Costs me a couple of quid and are good for quite a while.

Obviously you should be inspecting your gear regularly and at the first sign of fraying, wear, damage, bin it.

[Satancom]

I get them from an engineering company. They're 5 ton rated with a 5:1 saftey rating, but once they've lifted more than 2.5ton they dispose of them, most of the time they've only been used the once. Costs me a couple of quid and are good for quite a while.

My company uses the smaller slings two or three times then dispose of them.. currently the disposal rout is Via the boot of my disco.. Cutrently I have about 40 2-ton strops in there! good for general garage work and shunting stuff about! Not going to be great for snatch recovery but fine for light use :)

[cadfael]

I wont be going anywhere seriously deep off-road, so I got a cheapie nylon rope from Aldi/Lidl, eye spliced and whipped both ends, it'll do me fine!:D:D
Mike.

[c19noe]

i use retired kernmantle climbing ropes and climbing screwgate karabiners between rope and fixing points. making sure that there are two mounting points on front or off towbar at back . also use certain strength rated knots that undoo ( italian hitch with wraps and half hitches ) climbing rope is very elastic so to reduce stretch double up rope a number of times.

[cadfael]

Never heard of an Italian hitch C19, got any pics?
Always found a Bowline the easiest thing do do /undo, as when finished you just "break it's neck" and it all just eases out.
Mike.

[Landrover_Tim]

i use a fat chain probs rated to round 10 - 15 tonne and people still refuse to me pulled out with it, they rather me use a old strap

[c19noe]

the italian hitch is also known as the friction hitch here http://www.ventureforth.co.za/wp-content/themes/ventureforth/docs/ASANotes.pdf

and also is used as releasable abseil

there are variations simplest is the friction hitch followed up with half hitches o r a wrap and clipped off with krab

i like the friction hitch as you can take in slack particularly when recovering lowering boat trailers on a slipway similar to using a capstan winch

[c19noe]

landrover tims chain not good as it shockloads both vehicles with the snatch . ropes originally were wound so that to get stretch they unwound just like an old telephone flex , then we made kernmantle ropes with straight core and a braided outer nylon ropes have inherant stretch in fibres like elastic bands but polyester and dynema ropes have less stretch
"Both Spectra and Dyneema are Ultra High Molecular Weight polyethylene -(CH2CH2)n- basically the same material as super market carrier bags but the polymer chains are much longer and these longer chains adhere more strongly to each other making the material much stronger than shorter chain polymers. They are produced by a different method which probably has more to do with patent avoidance than anything else. " (from climb forum ) biggest problem with dynema rope is that it has very low melting point and in climbing situations enough friction is generated to melt it . and probably it is an issue when winching

but dynema is good when used for water rescue as it floats and is used wet
and with a nylon braided outer in rope form

[cadfael]

:) Thanks c19, pic as always is worth a thousand words!:)
Yes, very simple, and half hitched off very easy to undo, particularly if wet...the usual thing over here!:D:D
Handy site for climbers, does anybody teach the one-handed method of tying a bowline, a potential lifesaver if ever there was one!!
I've used various manharness knots to weld in some 'orrible places, dangling off the end of a crane..bloody uncomfortable I can tell you!:eek::D
Prussiks are commonly used on smaller trawlers to take the strain off winches whilst towing, these being made of small-link chain and anchored to strong-points on the superstructure
Chains Tim, these can break without any warning and do incredible damage, stay well clear...they're lethal!!!:eek::eek:
Mate of mine's brother was killed at sea by one, ripped off the entire side of his head.

Mike.

[Landrover_Tim]

:) Thanks c19, pic as always is worth a thousand words!:)
Yes, very simple, and half hitched off very easy to undo, particularly if wet...the usual thing over here!:D:D
Handy site for climbers, does anybody teach the one-handed method of tying a bowline, a potential lifesaver if ever there was one!!
I've used various manharness knots to weld in some 'orrible places, dangling off the end of a crane..bloody uncomfortable I can tell you!:eek::D
Prussiks are commonly used on smaller trawlers to take the strain off winches whilst towing, these being made of small-link chain and anchored to strong-points on the superstructure
Chains Tim, these can break without any warning and do incredible damage, stay well clear...they're lethal!!!:eek::eek:
Mate of mine's brother was killed at sea by one, ripped off the entire side of his head.

Mike.

inch thick chain links dont think there going break towing a land rover, plus i dont do snatch pulling, just no need in the situations i have been in

[paulie100]

After busting a number of tow straps (both 3 and 4 inch ones) whilst trying to pull others out of the sand in Dubai, I bought a Kinetic tow rope from Paddocks in the UK (due to the cost of delivery to UAE) I had it delivered to my parents address in UK, then I carried it back in my luggage much to the amusement of the customs and excise people in both Newcastle and Dubai.. As far as Im concerened it was brilliant, and enabled me to rescue much bigger vehicles, like Frank in his H2.....