Receiver Shackle Advice Please

broncobowsher

Adventurer
Back when I played with 3000-4000 pound rigs and the 2" nylon strap was what everyone used, Pin through the receiver hitch for a straight pull and never worried about it. Didn't have enough mass to be an issue. If I was wanting to play a little safer I had a ball mount with no ball on it and put a china special shackle through the ball mounting hole. Much nicer on the strap eye when pulling at an angle.

As I have upsized rigs, 7000 pound needs a lot more umph to get moved. Soft shackles and kinetic ropes are the go to choices now. MaxTrax has a nice soft shackle adapter for the receiver hitch. Now to find an economical version of it.
 

Metcalf

Expedition Leader
Back when I played with 3000-4000 pound rigs and the 2" nylon strap was what everyone used, Pin through the receiver hitch for a straight pull and never worried about it. Didn't have enough mass to be an issue. If I was wanting to play a little safer I had a ball mount with no ball on it and put a china special shackle through the ball mounting hole. Much nicer on the strap eye when pulling at an angle.

As I have upsized rigs, 7000 pound needs a lot more umph to get moved. Soft shackles and kinetic ropes are the go to choices now. MaxTrax has a nice soft shackle adapter for the receiver hitch. Now to find an economical version of it.

What size hitch are you working with?

The 2.0 version of my SSRA device is 35%(!) the price of the Maxtrax unit, and frankly. a better design.
See post #15 in this thread.

 

Metcalf

Expedition Leader
Any timeline for when the 2.5 will be available?

In the works is the best I have right now. The numbers on the 2.0 version are still a little soft to justify the tooling/run cost on the 2.5 just yet. I have some big changes on the cusp that will allow me to cycle this stuff faster....but it's never fast enough!
 

motovan_mn

Active member
In the works is the best I have right now. The numbers on the 2.0 version are still a little soft to justify the tooling/run cost on the 2.5 just yet. I have some big changes on the cusp that will allow me to cycle this stuff faster....but it's never fast enough!

Hopefully this is an appropriate thread to ask this in, but based on the description on your website it sounds like your SSRA will only accept a 1/2" soft shackle WITHOUT a nylon sleeve?

And a semi-related question, do the marketed soft shackle diameters (1/2" or 7/16") refer to the main body diameter, i.e. the thickest section (not including the knot)? I called Factor55 to ask this question, but it was hard to get a straight answer out of them. The hole on the Factor55 hitchlink 2.0 is 7/8" in diameter, so a 1/2" soft shackle should fit, right?
 

Metcalf

Expedition Leader
Hopefully this is an appropriate thread to ask this in, but based on the description on your website it sounds like your SSRA will only accept a 1/2" soft shackle WITHOUT a nylon sleeve?

And a semi-related question, do the marketed soft shackle diameters (1/2" or 7/16") refer to the main body diameter, i.e. the thickest section (not including the knot)? I called Factor55 to ask this question, but it was hard to get a straight answer out of them. The hole on the Factor55 hitchlink 2.0 is 7/8" in diameter, so a 1/2" soft shackle should fit, right?

Hello, thank for the good questions.

Yes, the 2.0 Version of the SSRA is pretty much maxed out with my 7/16" soft shackle with a tubular nylon guard. To fit a 1/2" soft shackle ( 4 legs worth ) through the device, you wouldn't have extra room for any abrasion guard. The 2.5 version is larger and has more room and can support up to a 5/8" leg size. The 'hole' through the 2.0 SSRA is 1" 'square' with 1/4" corner radii to prevent stress risers. The 'tube' that the soft shackle goes around that helps support the pin is 1" diameter ( on the 2.0 version ) leaving a 1/2" x 1" channel for the soft shackle to wrap around.

I size soft shackles based on the line used to construct them. My current soft shackles are built from Sampson Rope 7/16" Amsteel Blue SK-78 Dyneema. My soft shackles use an 'independent' leg design. I find this the strongest overall with the longest service life when paired with all my different products. Most of the leg is still 7/16" diameter, but where the tails are buried after coming back through the top knot, the diameter of each leg is up to 5/8" for about 6-7"

I don't love commenting on other companies devices, but I will give it a shot. F55 is a good company and builds nice quality products. If the hole is 7/8" ( typically used to support a 3/4" Screw Pin Anchor Shackle with a 7/8" pin diameter ), MY soft shackle design with independent legs, would be a very tight fit. You might be able to wiggle it through there, but you likely won't have any room for an abrasion guard. While some companies, like F55, have started to adopt some softening of the radii on the corners of these holes, they are typically the bare minimum in my opinion. I don't think you will see a long service life on a soft shackle shoved through a hole like that. You might have a little better luck getting more material through the hole with a single leg soft shackle ( where the legs are one inside each other ), you will typically see all the wear on the outer leg causing a shorter service life.

I hope that helps.
 

Metcalf

Expedition Leader
The 2.5 version of the SSRA is now available.

signal-2023-01-05-153537.jpeg

 

motovan_mn

Active member
Hello, thank for the good questions.

Yes, the 2.0 Version of the SSRA is pretty much maxed out with my 7/16" soft shackle with a tubular nylon guard. To fit a 1/2" soft shackle ( 4 legs worth ) through the device, you wouldn't have extra room for any abrasion guard. The 2.5 version is larger and has more room and can support up to a 5/8" leg size. The 'hole' through the 2.0 SSRA is 1" 'square' with 1/4" corner radii to prevent stress risers. The 'tube' that the soft shackle goes around that helps support the pin is 1" diameter ( on the 2.0 version ) leaving a 1/2" x 1" channel for the soft shackle to wrap around.

I size soft shackles based on the line used to construct them. My current soft shackles are built from Sampson Rope 7/16" Amsteel Blue SK-78 Dyneema. My soft shackles use an 'independent' leg design. I find this the strongest overall with the longest service life when paired with all my different products. Most of the leg is still 7/16" diameter, but where the tails are buried after coming back through the top knot, the diameter of each leg is up to 5/8" for about 6-7"

I don't love commenting on other companies devices, but I will give it a shot. F55 is a good company and builds nice quality products. If the hole is 7/8" ( typically used to support a 3/4" Screw Pin Anchor Shackle with a 7/8" pin diameter ), MY soft shackle design with independent legs, would be a very tight fit. You might be able to wiggle it through there, but you likely won't have any room for an abrasion guard. While some companies, like F55, have started to adopt some softening of the radii on the corners of these holes, they are typically the bare minimum in my opinion. I don't think you will see a long service life on a soft shackle shoved through a hole like that. You might have a little better luck getting more material through the hole with a single leg soft shackle ( where the legs are one inside each other ), you will typically see all the wear on the outer leg causing a shorter service life.

I hope that helps.

Thanks so much for the prompt and detailed response!

I really appreciate the thought and design you put into your SSRA, and to me it seems like the best design on the market. The only thing holding me back is that I have a heavy vehicle (E350, ~8000 lbs empty), and I'd really like to be able to use a 1/2" soft shackle.

Although, looking at your soft shackle, it looks like it is rated for a 7.5 ton WLL. So it seems like it should be plenty.
 

Metcalf

Expedition Leader
Thanks so much for the prompt and detailed response!

I really appreciate the thought and design you put into your SSRA, and to me it seems like the best design on the market. The only thing holding me back is that I have a heavy vehicle (E350, ~8000 lbs empty), and I'd really like to be able to use a 1/2" soft shackle.

Although, looking at your soft shackle, it looks like it is rated for a 7.5 ton WLL. So it seems like it should be plenty.

Happy to try and help.

My practical honest opinion, we need to be just as careful about over-sizing vs under-sizing recovery equipment. All that gear is going to be attached to something else upstream. I could make a strong argument, especially with low-mass synthetic rigging, that having something soft and easy to replace break could be a better plan than trying to make everything overkill bombproof. Something will give. How many hard parts on the vehicle are really going to be 'rated' to reliably take 20k-40k-60k lb loading. I think we need to be realistic about that.
 

motovan_mn

Active member
Happy to try and help.

My practical honest opinion, we need to be just as careful about over-sizing vs under-sizing recovery equipment. All that gear is going to be attached to something else upstream. I could make a strong argument, especially with low-mass synthetic rigging, that having something soft and easy to replace break could be a better plan than trying to make everything overkill bombproof. Something will give. How many hard parts on the vehicle are really going to be 'rated' to reliably take 20k-40k-60k lb loading. I think we need to be realistic about that.

Excellent point. Intentionally design in a mechanical fuse, so you can control the failure point.
 

Metcalf

Expedition Leader
Excellent point. Intentionally design in a mechanical fuse, so you can control the failure point.

I won't go so far as to say it would be a 'fuse', but I think it is important to think about the overall system and not get too carried away chasing high minimum breaking strength numbers. I'd really like to use a load cell on a large sample of recoveries to get a good data set for the strength we really should be considering. Currently, I would rather a piece of soft rigging fail rather than something further up-stream made of steel with a lot more mass.
 

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