On winches and such...

[Dalmatian90]

Looks like a great article:
http://www.rightcoastcrawler.com/bil...y/Recovery.htm

I perused it quickly at work and I'm now printing it to use as morning reading materials at home for the next few days!

How does it look Rescue101?

Matt

[jducharme]

Very good!

[firefighter26]

Definitely worth the old print'n'read

[Rescue101]

Dal,Several items leap out at me in this article as ammendable items.First I would NEVER use a stretch recovery strap in our industry.The very fact that makes it work also makes it a instrument of death if you are NOT ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN OF YOUR HOOKUP POINTS!Secondly I have no problem using a RATED grade 70 transport chain for recovery or stabilization work as long as it's not a vertical lift.Grade 8/80 is the ONLY chain approved for ANY vertical lifting(yeah even 4").Last but certainly not least is to make sure you have at least five wraps on your winch drum before applying any load and remember the winches capacity is ONLY on the first layer of wire rope,you lose power on each succeeding layer.The army manual is an excellent source of entry level information as is any of the Bill Jackson collection,Wreckmaster series,and we certainly must not neglect our Brother and elusive contributor to UE,Mr. Billy Leach jr.,Big Rig Rescue.The wire sent on almost any new winch sold in the US is junk,replace it with a US made professional wire rope rated for towing and recovery use of sufficent strength for the winch it's going on,preferably a IWRC rope for rescue work.T.C.