They actually used a tree saver but my question was towards recovering normal vehicles that don't have hitches or shackles or hooks. Like my GF's Accord for instance.

 

^^^ yeah.... how should we do it?

 

If they don't have a hitch, and it is a car, you might be able to find a small hook that some car manufactures install ofr that reason. Also there might be a hook front and rear for where they tie the vehicle while being transported to the dealer. Worst comes to worst, you may be able to wrap it aorund an A-arm or if it is a truck, the pumpkin of the diff. If you are cruising along the highway, and see a car in the ditch, personally I would stop, see if they are ok, drop off some water/granola bars that I always keep in my truck, and phone a tow truck. IMO there is no point in me trying to recover, and possible damage something, when a tow truck can do it and not hurt anything.

As far as recovery gear, I cary a ****** strap, a 10ft tree saver strap, 3-4 clevis' and a 20 ft long 27,000 break strength logging chain (only use it for static recoveries, or to tie myself to another truck for winching duties). That might be a little eccesive, you probably could get away with a strap, recovery pints and a few clevis'.

You hook up those straps with one of these.

 

They were problertly using what I was talking about earlier. A logging chain. They are stout as hell and look like any normal chain.

 

and whats a tree saver?
yea its a strap genius

 

No, it is not. A REAL tree saver will have no stretch, whereas a recovery strap is meant to stretch when snatching. Tree savers are for static loads like securing when winching.

 

Tree savers are winchlines with a Polyster jacket, covered with a tight braided Nylon sleeve. They have minimal to no stretch.

Here's an example, you can see the winchline inside the sleeve.

 

That's just Viking (and Masterpull's) take on treesavers.....they can also look just like straps but designed with no stretch and generally much shorter.

 

This is also a tree saver. Usually a 10 ft strap that will not stretch.

 

Learn something new everyday :D

 

its still a damn strap..

it may be made differently, but its still a strap.

 

Grabbed myself a tow/recovery strap today... no pics yet.
2" x 20'.... 18,000 lbs rating on the package, although from what I've read... most of these straps are rated at 10k lbs per inch. Either way, that should be plenty of pull to get me out of any mess I'd find myself in.

No hooks, just loops on the ends.
My toolbox is starting to get crowded.

I looked for a 13/16" or 7/8" D shackle to replace my 5/8", but they were out at TSC.
All they had was the entire hitch w/ 7/8" shackle & I couldn't see spending almost $40 when I only wanted the $15+/- shackle.

In other news....
I'm about to replace the 4x 9/16" OEM bolts that held the rear bumper brackets to the frame (now holding my rear brace to the frame) with 6x 1/2" bolts (grade 8), but I need to drill 2 additional holes in the frame & in my braces' frame mount when I have it off for the welding.

Life would have been simpler if I could have found new, longer 9/16" (or whatever the metric equivalent is) bolts & nuts, but nobody around here carries 9/16" anything.
I could have replaced them with 5/8" bolts, but I would have had to enlarge the holes in my frame mounts & frame & it just so happens I don't have a 5/8" or 11/16" drill bit. (I found some at Lowes, but I'm not going to spend $20 on a stupid drill bit for 4 holes).

The OEM bumper bolts don't have "real" nuts, rather those clip/nuts that sandwich the frame & have a threaded portion on the top side.

I'm hoping that the addition of 1x 1/2" bolt per side (I have plenty of length on the frame mounts) will more than overcome dropping 1/16" in bolt diameter.