Thread: Snatch strap misuse danger

In all the years I have been poking around I have never heard or seen this "towing a tyre" business.
Whats the purpose?
From the photo it looks a good way to get bogged and would not help fuel economy.

Didiman

once youve had an area trampled by cattle its a cheap and easy way to fold back all the "mounds" and level out the ruts they leave through gateways which helps with water run-off and stops the place turning into a quagmire. You still have to rework them properly but it slows the process somewhat.

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

once youve had an area trampled by cattle its a cheap and easy way to fold back all the "mounds" and level out the ruts they leave through gateways which helps with water run-off and stops the place turning into a quagmire. You still have to rework them properly but it slows the process somewhat.

Aahh I see. I can follow that but in the photo in the OP it seemed as if they were towing it around all the station tracks. Not just gateways.

Levels out the corrugations. In some national park can't remember the name, between denham and monkey Mia in WA, I saw a ranger pulling a tyre.

Dave

Many National parks and private operators level off corrugations in sandy tracks by towing a tractor tyre.
Bungle Bungles NP, Obviously Lorella Springs, The Island camping ground near Kulumburu, are a few that spring to mind.
Regards Philip A

Originally Posted by 123rover50

Aahh I see. I can follow that but in the photo in the OP it seemed as if they were towing it around all the station tracks. Not just gateways.

ever try to lift a grader tyre into the back of a ute?
.

I once was in the business of selling heavy trucks and plant. Many of the work practices I saw on customer's farms and pastoral properties were bloody frightening to say the least. Safety was a type of match. No wonder so many rural accidents occur. One time we went out to demonstrate an elevating motor scraper. I flatly refused to do what the customer wanted. The comment was along the lines of "You city blokes all wear panty hose. We do the job that way all the time." Could not convince them that what they were doing was one day going to result in the classic motor scraper accident, a spiral rollover on a bank, no seat belts or rops. Someone was going to die. Home made saw benches, everything possible tied up with wire, welding without protective gear, vehicles and plant being worked on whilst up on jacks on soil, and so on.

No offence, but in my opinion anyone saying a snatch strap is dangerous or should not be used is an idiot. Its how you use anything that determines this, a tow rope can be just as dangerous, heck don't sit on your kitchen chair the leg might snap and you could fall, geez people. I'm 17 and i do consider myself a very competent recovery operator, in the harvest of 2010 i spent 6 weeks driving a tractor with a chaser bin on the farm, it was an extremely wet year and the header (harvester) got bogged at least twice a day (no Frank it could not be avoided, we had to get the crops off), in this time i became very proficient at using a great big 40 ton snatch strap to pull the 36 foot John Deer out, but with only a relatively small New Holland T6080 (150hp) a few times we had to run a second tractor next to it with another snatch strap as the header was that far down. Without the snatch strap we would have needed at least 4 tractors with drag chains (trust me we bought the snatch strap a week into harvest haha). Since then i've gotten my Discovery and recovered many others in 4wd's that show huge incompetence, i always rig everything up my self (strap round hitch pin in drawbar of car) as i've had people try and put it over the towball when i've gone to pull them. The towbar on a 4wd is plenty strong enough to snatch off as long as you aren't doing anything too stupid, front recovery points should never be used in anger though IMO, the vehicle should always come out the way it went in. I don't own my own snatch strap as i've never needed it, mates i travel with have them and i use theirs to recover them, but it is on my birthday list haha, i've been stuck once, and it was a self recovery from a bog hole with the winch, if you don't go anywhere you won't get stuck, but i'm pretty sure people don't go places to try and get stuck normally, its just a fact of life. I agree that education is the key, i was taught to snatch by my dad, and my uncle as well as the header contractor, all of whom own 4wd's and have experience, from comparing it to what i've read, my method is the safest and most effective.

Rant over, Cheers
Will