Kinetic Recovery Ropes & Shackles - Field testing & cutting. 

Interesting history of the double braided rope.1956 Samson Rope Company took out a patent and started manufacturing the rope of both polyester and nylon. The difference between, polyester has a 2% stretch factor, nylon rope depending on who who is claiming the stretch factor between 22 and 30% the general consensus 22%. Polyester rope with being used or situations in which you do not want the rope to stretch such as in high lining, mountain climbing tree arbours cranes. The nylon having been used primarily in the Marine Industry as tow ropes and as mooring lines. Which is the application that I have used them in primarily in my near seventy years of life. And I have been spicing since age 16 I think it was. When I was in the United States Coast Guard they were our primary tow ropes for vessels. United States Navy uses Samson Double Braided Nylon Rope for moring lines 600 feet 12' eyes each end 10" diameter. Around 30lbs per foot; takes 10 health strong people to move a 50' section of the rope across the deck of a ship. And I say this from experience as a deep-sea merchant sailor now retired. There are a couple of American companies which manufacture this rope including the patent holder which had been license to manufacture the rope and wish you can buy pre-cut selections 50, 100, 150, 300, 600, 1,000 lengths, off of Amazon. As well as splicing fids of 1/4" to 1" of aluminum manufactured by Samson, as well as Samson's splicing Manual. Should you decide to make your own recovery ropes like I can. I commend you for your extensive testing, and creating this video. I have seen videos by other youtubers of tours Yankum Ropes factory. Sidenote both Yankum Ropes and Factor 55 are both idaho-based corporations. Bubba Ropes is also a U.S. manufacturer primarily a heavy equipment recovery rope manufactor, in the last few years dipping into smaller diameter ropes. In my younger years I would make my kinetic energy tow ropes 3/4" three-strand nylon with a eye splice in each end. 55% stress fracture before it breaks but when it breaks it's like a whip extremely dangerous I seen people cut in half. I have some videos on spicing and not trying on my channel that you might be interested in watching.

One of the very best, detailed videos on any subject that I have seen on RU-vid. Great job

wow....soft shackle thru the hitch like that :) Impressive that it held with those hard pulls.

Thank you! New subscriber; mainly because your very detailed in your tests & provide real world test ed information on everything! Looking forward to more!👍

Very impressive. Thanks for sharing this information!!!!🔥 Can’t wait for a new video.

Nice. Victorville valley hi! I grew up and lived in Hesperia but now am traveling for work. Currently in Santa Fe New Mexico.

Awesome video and brave for cutting up hundreds of dollars in ropes. Nice Ranger recovering that Jeep!!

Great job on the video. I would love to see how voodoo ropes do against yankum, bubba, and rhino. Thanks for making the video.

Awesome video just what I needed to see. Test more ropes to failure please

This was super helpful, thanks for the in depth breakdown.

Thanks for the hard work and expense and excellent video

Thanks for the good information. Love the color of your friend's Tacoma.

refreshingly helpful video. subscribed.

thanks for the vid it was obviously not cheap to make and im sure took a considerable amount of time. and some ris to yourself and your equipment. all of which is appreciated. subscribed

Badass video!

Where the eye comes together into itself it’s called a splice if you don’t use the smaller thread where the splice starts it creates friction look into the work new England ropes do for big ships

Finally someone actually testing these ropes properly instead of just spinning one wheel down and pretending it's a recovery lol

A tigher braid has more leith of material in it and has a higher angle in the weave, this gives more stretch and can store more energy

I say an epasode of Matt's off road they cut one apart that had 417 pulls on still looked good

Great info! Thanks!

Great vid for newbies

Great video overall. I like to know the make and model of your knife you are using to cut the ropes?. Seems interesting. Thanks .

It's called ”whipping” or a ”whip stitch” the thread on the eye splice. It takes some of the load and slows some of the friction on the splice.

Great job! You spent a lot of time and money on this video. It would be greatly appreciated by myself and many of the commentators if you would give some detail in the video notes on the best of the China equipment. I’m not an avid off roader, but I do have a crew cab long box 4x4 that gets called out to rescue a stuck friend from time to time. A good China rope would be a big upgrade from my flat tow strap Thanks 😊

Damn good review, thank you.

You should try an xtractionoffroadrecovery rope and see how it holds up.

Excellent

Great video. I'd like more info on the shackles you used too. Thanks.

If you even do another test like this, please include Factor-55. Great equipment...

Surprised to see nobody commenting on how that soft shackle was routed through the tow hitch mount. I’m surprised all the soft shackles didn’t snap right there. There will be a sharp edge on the back of that and will cut the soft shackle. One of the key things to pay attention to is to not put any rope over an edge of diameter 5/8” or less. The smaller the radius the more sharp the edge will be and the force will physically deform and weaken the nylon until it breaks. Great video!

Thank you

Very nice to see been thinking of getting a rope I have a 1ton diesel truck and been trying to figure the size I need. It's gonna be a yankum or bubba rope. My only concern is if I have to pull out a stuck car if a 1-1/2" rope would be to stiff.

No links to these products????????

The cheep China rope did not do so bad at all?

Would you post a link to the soft straps you say you'll be ordering more of? I believe the 1 was between tree saver & rope, other was long enough to go thru Toyota receiver hitch. Awesome reviews, very detailed. Thanks.

Good for increasing your wheelbase

Great video. Not really a place I think I should skimp on. I was going to buy your rope but with shipping to Hawaii, it cost the same as a Bubba rope. So I had to go with the Bubba.

Great video as I have been looking into building a recovery kit with kenetic. As you say some American companies ropes are built in china. What is the chance that the red china rope you liked was from California cordage?

I love the video! Why do you like the Yankum rope more than the bubba? I am torn between the two of them.

I’m looking for a kinetic rope for all the speeders in Vermont from my home state that speed up to the ski mountain. So what length and my conditions will be road salt and snow and muddy conditions. I have shackles and soft shackles. Thank you

How do you split a 30' to 15' ? is it safe to pull from the center of rope, considering there is a sheath there?

What length kinetic rope would you recommend for my Jeep JL 2 door? Thanks in advance for your reply!

Who / what was the soft shackle from China that you liked?

You could be lucky you did not damage your vehicles when you tested the ropes with the tree!

😲😲😲

Not picking on the terminology, but wondering how you measured the “kinetic energy” of each rope, and how they are rated as far as KE.

what was the favored soft shackle??

Very good content, only suggestion I would have is to ask for a link,especially the 28$ China that didn’t break, and the 2 Nd Chinese with wraps and threads protecting rope and deep splice for eye, I have a couple ropes, but you are the first guy who cut, yanked and actually tested,that’s why I subbed, just found you today, I have smitty rope, and I just got another rope Chinese not remember the name,but I got it because it was a special with 2 soft schackel, I have a hard time justifying 200 to 300 for a rope that is not any better than a cheaper one , but really interesting to find the 28$ one for evtruck I own, have a bag for recovery when out playing in mud/ snow, again great vido

Can you tell everyone how you purchased these rope direct from China at the prices you stated? Do you have links you could provide sor at least some more details?

Did you test a Rhino Rope or have experience with them in the field? How did they do?

This video needs to blow up so we can see Bubba vs Yankum vs deadman vs F55 vs voodoo vs ASR Edit: I’m also curious to hear/ see rhinoUSA and their ropes & soft shackle performance

Nice video, lots of good information but I feel it could be presented in a more concise manner, for example when you mention a type of problem and are holding a rope that doesn't have that particular problem. The kinetic energy is from the speed and weight of the recovery vehicle but you say that certain ropes have more kinetic energy and that's confusing.

Did you try factor 55

Info on the "China #1" please....

have you tested rhino?

Just so you have the information, the thread wrapping (as was mentioned) is there not for strength, but to make the eye splice lock when it doesn't have a load on it. The way these eye splices work, much like an end to end splice, the rope acts like a Chinese finger trap on the loop, but if you don't have pressure trying to pulling it apart, it can slip apart, that's what the whipping is for, however, it's interesting to note, from what i saw, none of these were actually done correctly, they all should have been "lock stitched". The whipping works pretty good, but can loosen up over time, that's why lock stitching should be done. The kinetic ropes are created with what is called, specifically, a "nylon dual braid eye splice", they are actually very involved to create, and there is a science behind their construction, it's worth watching a video on forming them, you will better understand how they work and get their strength. Also, keep in mind that nylon (and polyester, etc) are considered class 1 ropes, dyneema, Amsteel, plasma, uhmwpe , the stuff soft shackles and synthetic winch lines are made from, are all classified as a type 2 rope. There is a methodology to how they are made, and made incorrectly, can lead to failure. There really is a lot of science behind this stuff.

The shiny grey rope from China looks exactly like Rhino USA's recovery rope.

What are the 2 Chinese rope brand names?

So none of them broke, the tow hooks broke off?

Whenever possible TRY NOT TO BY ANYTHING MADE IN china,,,,regardless of brand names,, for recover gear,, definitely spent the couple extra bucks for MADE IN USA stuff,, and have watched others with made in china crap suffer breakages long before the made in USA stuff fails,,,,the soft shackles either fails or the knot pops thru cause loop too big with ropes or straps commonly breaking at loop and/or splice pulling apart

I viewed your video and mostly agree with your findings. The one overall thing that doesn't sit well with me is that your review is done by doing the one thing you do not use a kinetic recovery rope for. If you find the stationary vehicle (or tree) does not move AT ALL when a moderate amount of pull is applied, a kinetic rope (of any brand) is the wrong equipment. This is where a winch should be used, otherwise, broken equipment will likely result. A recovery rope is used where a vehicle is stuck in mud, snow, sand etc., where it is possible kinetic energy can overcome to remove the vehicle.

tell me you hate rhino without saying it.

If ur goal is to see if tow ropes are indestructible there not lol buy a chain

Im a lil disappointed, that you called them china ropes. Instead of using their actual Brand names. That way we could know which ones to steer away from. Or if we were curious about pricing and what have you. We could have looked, i was really curious to know. What Brand the Chinese one was that you actually liked. I kind of think i know, because ive seen them reflective markers on a few brands on Amazon. But if you could lmk which one was the one you thought was decent from china. That'd be sweet! Otherwise it was a fairly good test! I do feel bad for your vehicles tho. Lol Definitely not good! I could see the flex in the frame/bed. Nothing horrible, but if its on a vehicle that u are making payments on. Not ideal! Lol Nonetheless Two Thumbs up!

I plan to buy a kinetic recovery rope for my truck, would you recommend Bubba or Factor 55? Thank you