Grade 70 chain with grab hooks

[Terrymo]

I get emails for classes from a couple of different veteran (old) off-road trainers
One winch class suggests grade 70 chain with grab hooks which I have but don’t carry. I’ve tried to eliminate everything metal if possible from my off-road equipment but I still have a lot to learn.

Does anyone still carry chain and under what circumstance would you use it?

If you do use it, why the chain over sacrificing a tree strap to drag a log or whatever else?

Sponsored

 

[shane h.]

No metal in my setup other than my ring pully. I carry a 30 foot strap and a couple of 8 foot tree straps and five or six soft shackles for attachment. Warn Zeon 12S on the bumper with 80 feet of synthetic line with a locked brummel loop spliced into the end rather than a hook.

 

[Vinman]

I carry a 4’ length of 1/4” grade 80 chain and have used it to connect to a stuck vehicle that didn’t have a proper recovery point suitable for a strap, shackle or hook.

 

[Terrymo]

I carry a 4’ length of 1/4” grade 80 chain and have used it to connect to a stuck vehicle that didn’t have a proper recovery point suitable for a strap, shackle or hook.

Just curious where you hooked the chain and why a long soft shackle through the wheel or a tree saver strap somewhere else would not have worked. Not arguing against the chain, just trying to learn. Thanks.

 

[Vinman]

Just curious where you hooked the chain and why a long soft shackle through the wheel or a tree saver strap somewhere else would not have worked. Not arguing against the chain, just trying to learn. Thanks.

In one case where I used the chain was a pickup nosed into a snow filled ditch and didn’t have any recovery points. I probably could have found a way to use something other than a chain but it was quick and easy to connect the winch line to a chain wrapped around the frame.
Another time the chain came in handy was when we had to haul out a Jeep on three wheels due to broken axle shaft no longer supporting a wheel and used the chain to secure a log to the frame acting as a ski (actually had to do that method twice).

Sponsored