If you go off-road, you need to know what a snatch strap is, because sooner or later you’ll either need recovering or need to recover someone.
MY FIRST PRIORITY when I’m driving a different four-wheel drive is checking for standard recovery points or assessing how easily they can be fitted, as they are crucial for getting out of a sticky situation. I’ve seen vehicles get stuck when ambition might get a little high off the beaten track, only for the driver to realise once they are knee deep in mud that there’s either no recovery point or they don’t know where it is.
Now this isn’t just about locating or fixing a recovery point. It’s about safety. The use of snatch straps seems simple, but there’s plenty that can and has gone wrong in the past. Things that can go wrong include damaging property, injuring someone, or even death.
Things you’ll need:
You’ll need to have a snatch strap.
There are many options from cheap to expensive. Look at the load rating, typically ranging from 4000kg 15,000kg. You’ll need to choose a strap with a breaking strength that exceeds the weight of the heaviest vehicle to recover—ideally 2-3 times the vehicle’s weight for a margin of safety.
Next, consider the length of the snatch strap. They usually between 6 to 9 meters. Longer straps provide more flexibility during recoveries but require careful handling to avoid tangling.
They way it will attach is crucial too; ensure the snatch strap comes with reinforced loops that are compatible with the vehicle’s recovery points.
Lastly, make sure to maintain the strap so that it last a long time. This means storing it in a dry place and checking it for damage. If there is obvious signs of damage you’ll want to replace it to make sure it is both safe and effective when you need it.
The right way(s) to attach a snatch strap
Here’s Robert’s recommended recovery with a snatch strap.
Method 1: Insert the pin through the eye of the strap (above). You’ll need about ten tonnes of force to bend the pin, and by that time something else will have broken and the vehicle will have been recovered or placed into orbit. However, do not use this method if there will be significant side pull on the strap as it may damage the strap eye against the hitch.
Method 2: This is the best method for recovery (above and below). You can use a special device which fits in the tow hitch and allows a shackle to be threaded through. The better ones can rotate to horizontal or vertical – choose one based on how the strap is likely to be angled during the recovery. Extended recoveries can see significant wear of the strap against the shackle if the shackle cannot move so it is in-line with the recovery.
The wrong way to attach a snatch strap
This is very, very dangerous (above) because the snatch strap might slip off, or rip the towball off and turn it into a lethal projectile. Also, the strap itself may slip off under tension and snap back – think a little mud, water, angle and then maybe an accidental slack/tension cycle.
But, the main reason it’s so dangerous is because most four-wheel drive towballs are only rated at up to 3500kg. Recovery loads can exceed 3500kg. More than that, towing 3500kg doesn’t involve 3500kg of force.
The rolling resistance on flat bitumen of a 3500kg trailer is around 90kg. On a 30-degree angle slope, and that is a VERY steep slope, the total force required rises to around 1850kg. Acceleration is never going to be particularly stressful with a 3500kg load, and any trailer that heavy will need brakes.
All this means towing 3500kg doesn’t put anything like 3500kg of strain on a towball, so it’s not rated for 3500kg of load. So as recovery loads of 4WDs can exceed that amount, and are often shock (snatch) loads, then those recovery loads can break towballs and kill people.
Finally, if a trailer did rip a towball off, the towball isn’t going anywhere. If the ball is ripped off by a strap which is in effect a giant elastic band, then you have yourself a deadly missile.
This (above) has been seen in the wild and is extremely dangerous. It does not make the situation any better. In fact, it makes it worse as you’ve just made the projectile bigger.
This (above) is not ideal either. Using a standard tow hitch with a shackle through the towball hole avoids use of the towball, but leaves the recovery reliant on a tongue which is welded together and does not have a large surface area for the weld.
In addition, the pulling forces are not aligned with the chassis – firstly, the force is not vertically in-line with the hitch even in this example, let alone drop hitches where the shackle would be at a different height to the hitch.
Secondly, any lateral pull will exert significant sideways forces on the tongue and hitch, especially with longer hitches. The square hitch itself is also hollow, and therefore prone to breaking, which has happened – perhaps caused by a buildup of stress as the hitch is hit on rocks and dropped and abused over decades across many vehicles.
The one-piece recovery system shown at the top is cast solid with a drilled hole, it aligns the loads with the pin and is much shorter.
So, while it might seem like a hassle to remove your towbar from its receiver when recovering your or someone else’s vehicle, it’s dangerous not to do so. A minute or two of fiddling around with the towbar could save your life. And we’re not exaggerating.
There are plenty of recovery horror stories out there. Tell yours in the comments below or join our growing Facebook community.
so the question is, what do you do when you have a towbar, not a towhitch??
The best option then is to put a shackle through the hole, not ideal as per above, but better than nothing. Do not however perform heavy duty snatches, and get proper recovery points or a hitch soon as you can.