Soft shackle better option for light vehicles?

Rambler

Forum Member
Joined
May 13, 2017
Messages
47
Location
Castlemaine, VIC
Car Year
2006
Car Model
Forester X
Transmission
5MT
I'm having trouble finding a bow shackle that will fit through the tie down recovery points on my '06 Forester, the 3.2T shackles that came with my vehicle recovery kit are too large to fit through the holes. I'm looking for other options as I'm reluctant to buy anything smaller with a lower rating, as a shackle is definitely not the first thing I want to break!

I'm wondering if soft shackles might be a better option for our cars. Even the cheapest ones are rated at BS of around 14T, and of course there's the advantage of not having metal flying around should something go wrong, especially considering Subaru tie down recovery points are not the strongest.

Brand I'm looking at is 'Gatorjaw'. Website says they're good for recovery use.

https://www.bubbarope.com/gator-jaw-soft-shackle

They look good to me. Only issue I can see is that it says not use on a 'sharp edged tow point', but you could always round it off with a file?
 
I've got 3.2t rated bow shackles on my 03 Forester and they fit through the front recovery points ok.
My 25t shackles for the fire truck do not fit. They are big and damn heavy! :ebiggrin:
 
I have 2 Gatorjaw shackles. I have not had to use any but I definitely prefer them to metal ones.

I also have a standard metal shackle for the hitch recovery insert.

I have noticed that 4x4s here now come with open end recovery points that eliminate the need for shackles altogether. Great idea.
 
The two great things about soft shackles is that they don't present any mass to fly off and injure someone in the event of failure, and they are quite easy to make yourself.

A couple of bucks worth of dyneema, a diamond knot and a simple bury splice.

I have two concerns regarding their use on std Subaru metal-plate with hole type recovery points:
1/ chafe on the sharp edges - can be mitigated with some chafe cover
2/ the very small bend radius reduces the breaking strength. It should be at least 1:1 (bend radius / line diameter) to preserve the line breaking strength. at least 6mm radius (assuming you've used 6mm line for the shackle). The standard recovery points present about a 3mm bend radius if that.

Another supplier here - you can see some minimal attempt at chafe sleeve: https://www.marks4wd.com/sb035.html

I'm actually quite alarmed that none of the suppliers of these things mention the dangers of small bend radius. They certainly don't seem to take as much care as arborist or climbing gear suppliers, for example.
 
Ha. Just realised the removable screw fits easily and can just be threaded in, no need to get the whole bow shackle through. That's embarrassing. I'll pick up a set if I end up using these enough.

Good info Duncan, I wonder if one of these rope thimbles would do the trick.
 
Haha. That's how they're meant to be used, Rambler!

Hands up all those who have never been caught out by something simple like this ... ;).
 
The Subaru eye bolt does not have sharp edges.

And 2/3 of 32,000lb, which is what mine are rated for, is still plenty enough anyway.

Also, these are made for use on heavy vehicles, not just for light ones. They vary in capacity just as metal shackles do.
 
Last edited:
MiddleAgeSubie said:
The Subaru eye bolt does not have sharp edges.

And 2/3 of 32,000lb, which is what mine are rated for, is still plenty enough anyway.

Also, these are made for use on heavy vehicles, not just for light ones. They vary in capacity just as metal shackles do.
Click to expand...

yeh - I do get all of that. Sharp edges are easy to inspect/address/protect and damage can be inspected for.. but the published load ratings worry me.

32,000lb isn't really that much. use a minimum 3:1 safety factor and you're now down to 5T SWL. About right.

The other one I linked to above has a breaking strength of 9T -- so only 3T or less SWL with a decent safety factor - and that's brand new.

You're right in that you don't have a real concern for Subarus - given their relatively light weight, and I would have little concern using shackles I made myself with regular inspection; if you have any worry, then just up-size to 8mm dyneema.

My real concern is with the somewhat misleading published breaking loads (and therefore SWL) when used with inappropriately radiused recovery points. It just isn't mentioned on any of the manufacturers' websites. That seems like a very large oversight.

Inspection is a problem too. Its easy to check for chafe - as that's on the outside. If you have a chafe cover, then you can't see any damage to the core as you would get in the outer-most fibres when using a small radius, unless you pull the chafe cover back. There is no mention of that on any users guides, either.

The bubba shackles have no chafe guard -- so there's no problems with inspection, but you have more risk of abrasion and cut damage.

Compare that with load-rated shackles -- and its a commercial liability minefield, IMHO.

I cannot find any use and inspection guides on the commercially available shackles, other than generic 'inspect for wear' warnings.
 
Bubba rope is not a basement operation so I highly doubt that there are any issues with their ratings; on the contrary, I would expect their ropes to do better than the publicized numbers.

I am no engineer, but it seems to me that while it is true that metal shackles have high safety factors, this is because the good shackles are made for overhead lifting operations with tremendous liability potential and continuous, commercial use over prolonged periods of time. In the case of off-road recovery, the high safety factor of metal shackles is much more needed as a precaution for obvious reasons.

Finally, your snatch strap will break first anyway. After all, you are only using 12,000 lb straps in Australia so I do not see how a 32,000lb shackle will break first.

That's before accounting for potentially the weakest spot, the eye bolt. Subaru does not publish the eye bolt's specs and I have used it once successfully in a brutal, hard pull of the Tribeca where it bent but did not break, but from looking at whatever info I could find on the internet, I have a hard time believing that its 1/4 inch eye can match the strength of the bubba rope shackle.

Thus though I lack the expertise to make a provable claim, I consider the eye bolt the weakest spot and I am thus personally convinced that the bubba rope is much safer for Subaru use than a traditional shackle. I have the latter only for use with my hitch recovery insert, in which case it is also possible to spread the load between the rear eye bolt and the recovery insert.
 
MAS -- maybe my language is being too harsh -- I actually agree that they're a much preferred solution for Subarus... and agree that the weakest point is probably the anchor point.

I also have no doubt they meet their published breaking strengths -- its actually pretty hard to make a soft shackle that doesn't meet approximately the line strength.

My real beef is with the apparent lassez-faire attitude to use & care instructions of the companies selling them.
 
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