I watched a friend try and yank an abandoned boat house out onto the frozen lake one New Years Eve. He never saw midnight. We told him not to do it and we also said to lay a blanket on the chain. Nope, he was drunk and on a mission. Chain looked like it was going in slow motion as it hit the back glass, then the windshield turned all bloody and the truck smashed into the pier.
Very sad and avoidable...TRAGIC for all.
Very glad you had your Guardian Angel watching over you.

Scotty

 

Same thing happened this year to a local in the next town to us. He was using his tractor to pull his wife out of the ditch. She was stuck in the mud. The clevis came through the back window and took the side of his head off. Horrible accident and very sad. Something so simple can go so wrong. Your VERY VERY lucky!!!!!

 

glad you OK, never toss the strap over the ball on a hitch, I have seen it brake and then yoy have a two lb hunk of metal flying at a rapid rate that would kill somone.....

I will never ever use a chain, and I always toss something on the tow strap even if I am just pulling something light out. I always toss a towel or shirt over the strap.

 

After all the years of yanking vehicles and things out of snow drifts and mud it never occurred to me to throw the heavy tarp I always carry over the the end of the chain or strap. After your pics I’m going to be more careful.

 

You should see a 3/4" cable let go. The only thing a tarp over the cable would do would be to provide a convenient body bag.

 

i saw our winch rope break on our digger/boom truck. the operators seat is on the side of the boom at the base and the winch is about 8 inches from your left shoulder... one of the pulleys somehow snagged the 1 1/4 inch rope line and it snapped when we were loading a 45 ft pole. i was in the operators seat and it came mere inches past my head. luckily nobody was hurt, just left a little soil in the seat of my pants... the rope line was in good condition prior to the incident, but i guess the pulley wasn't... Lesson learned, ALWAYS check EVERYTHING that is coming into contact with your pulling device over twice.
Wheelo

 

Were you using samson rope?? I've never seen that stuff break...the company i work for does ALL heavy commercial work and about 100 line trucks, none of which have had problems with their line. Even i had it pretty well weighed down with a 5000# transformer... it didn't even stretch (not supposed to). Plus its designed in layers where as the outter jacket is just a protector of the inner rope, pretty rugged stuff.

 

JustRamIt91, not sure on which type of rope it was... i have actually "overloaded" the winch and never broke the rope, but i guess the end pulley on the nose somehow snagged it. in my short 6 years or doing this type of business, i had never saw such a thing, or ever imagined it.

 

U know what they say... Hhit Sappens

 

Indeed Brother! stay safe guys and gals!.... or try to be!

 

Anything certified for rigging has to have a 5:1 safety factor by law. So it would take a hell of an overloading to snap the cable on a winch. Thats not to say it doesn't happen, shock loading for instance, but its very rare.