Picked the cheap tow strap over the name brand one in Amarillo last spring

I was hunting for a recovery strap for my truck and had to decide between a $25 off brand and a $70 name brand one. Went cheap because I figured rope is rope. Snapped it on the first real pull when my buddy got stuck in mud near Palo Duro Canyon. Cost me $45 to get a proper tow from a dude with a real chain. Anyone else learn the hard way that some gear just isn't worth skimping on?

3 comments

3 Comments

karen_sanchez499d ago

You said "rope is rope" but that's not really true for recovery gear. Cheap tow straps are usually made with nylon that has no stretch, so they snap instead of absorbing shock like a proper kinetic rope does. Next time grab a recovery rope with some give to it, it'll save you the headache and the extra cash.

elliot_gibson278d ago

My buddy learned this exact lesson last year actually. He pulled out a buddy's truck with a cheap strap from the auto parts store and it snapped right in his face, put a crack in his windshield. @wood.eric might be right about cheap stuff holding up for gentle pulls, but when you're really stuck and gotta give it some gas, that shock load is no joke. Kinetic rope would have stretched and saved his truck from getting beat up like that. He switched to a proper recovery rope after that and hasn't had a problem since, even on the same nasty mud holes.

wood.eric9d ago

Disagree with the idea that stretch is always better. I've pulled plenty of rigs out of mud with a simple nylon strap that cost me $15 at a farm supply store and it still holds up five years later. Sometimes the cheap stuff works fine if you're not yanking at full throttle or wrapping it around a sharp edge. Sounds like you got unlucky with a bad batch or maybe the mud was worse than you thought.