On 11/2/14, 4:51 PM, Stormin Mormon wrote:
On 11/2/2014 4:16 PM, J Burns wrote:
Flying steel cable makes me more nervous. Same as with tow chains.
Stuff breaks. Nylon strap is the best; if you happen to need a
"mountain winch". Both can kill you or upset your day.

I tried a nylon tow strap once. The tow required a fraction of the
strength listed on the package, but it broke immediately.

One day the tractor sank to its axle, down in a gully. I got the 4WD
pickup and nylon rope. The rope was supposed to have a lot more
strength than the traction of the truck, but as it stretched and
stretched, I thought, "Uh-oh!"

It seemed like looking down the barrel of a loaded howitzer, or at a
slingshot. With enough stretching, perhaps the broken rope itself could
go fast enough to injure me or the tractor driver. If somehow it
carried the metal it was fastened to, that would cause destruction and
maybe death.

I got a chain and it worked like a charm. With no discernible
stretching, I knew there would be little slingshot effect. Besides,
applications with a lot of stretching put a lot of wear on a rope.

I've been part of a "sunk in the mud" adventure. Sounds like chain
worked best for you. Thanks for sharing.

I think I remembered it wrong. I had a 3/8" chain, and that wasn't long
enough to be useful.

When I saw the rope stretch, I realized the safe tension was too low to
get the tractor out. It took more than one day to get it out, by
ingenuity and the firming up of the ground. Rope tension was part of
the solution.

After I got a longer 5/16" chain, I was sitting pretty. It was ideal
for pulling on fixed objects like stumps.