winch recovery with snatch strap

I don't think you would want to use a snatch strap as a winch extension - apart from the fact most if not all manufacturers strongly recommend against it, the winch would start stretching the snap strap instead of moving the vehicle, and there's a very real risk that when the vehicle does move, it's snatched instead, and leaps forward unpredictably. Recovery should be a controlled exercise - using a snatch strap is just introducing an unpredictable variable into the winching operation.

A dedicated 30m winch strap is only about $100 from memory - cheap insurance.

AFAIK, as long as you kept within the load limit of the strap it is OK.
BUT they are so elastic that you would end up losing quite a bit of pulling power of the winch as the snatch strap would stretch so much that you may end up with a few winds on the drum.
And you would also lose length of pull, but this is rarely important.
Regards Philip A

I would not use one as a winch extension rope but... as a tree trunk protector... providing you wrap the vast majority of it's length around the tree (multiple times?) and only use the ends as an anchor point I cannot see why that would be a problem.

Mike Harding

If thats all you have I dont see a problem. Straps should take a lot more than the vehicle weighs and you are only puling horizontally with a bit of help from the wheels. Often it only takes a little extra help to get a vehicle moving out of a bog. I once did it with the equivilent of a couple of truckie hitches on an old craypot rope. I shudder to think of the amount of energy going into a strap when a two tonne plus vehicle hits the strap at speed. In comparison, I think the winch is benign. If the winch got to the point where it broke or damaged the strap, you would want to start looking for the bulldozer pulling you from the opposite direction.

Better to keep the strap in prime condition, however, and use something else.

Please dont rely on my advise however, and use your own judgement. I dont want you calling me from your hospital bed because you misread what I am saying. You got a better chance getting out of a bog with a warranty from Nissan than suing me in court.

I have been known to be wrong.

All the best,
george w bush

I just left a mates place after a gand final show.....was it the best thing to do ?? or should I have had a couple more???

No problem using the snatch strap as long as you keep out of the way if anything comes adrift !

The winch is only a gradual pull and if you can also have the wheels driving slowly on the bogged vehicle everything should be fine. If the bogged vehicle was in neutral and suddenly came free then the snatch strap would certainly accelerate things though.

If you have an extension strap & a snatch strap side by side, how do you tell the difference?

Thanks all for your replys appears some winch straps & chains need to go on the shopping list but a snatch strap could be used if nothing else is available but the outcome could be unpredictable
Thanks Freds mate

Recently I had to use all means to get a mates ute extracted from a serious bog.

We connected everything we had in our possession.
One Brawn winch and cable
Two snatch straps
One Tirfor with cable fully extended
One Tree trunk protector
A variety of Bow shackles and D-shackles.

All equipment was subemerged in muddy water!

It seemed to work very well as the extended straps and cables worked together to glide the ute out of trouble.

All hands stood well clear just incase of a failure somewhere along the line.

In an emergency I would use a snatch strap but not as a rule.

Cheers

You would be nuts. The snatch strap stores the winch energy. If anything fails, it all gets released in abig hurry and people die. You want non strenth that way there is minimal stored knietic energy in the event of failure. The risk is not the strap snapping, but something else, anything else, and the strap releasing it's energy into whatever lump of steel it's still attached to.

300km/hr+ guaranteed with a few kg

Paul