This came from a face book group I follow in MT.
A man died this week when a tow hitch & ball they were using to try to snatch-recover his truck from a mud hole broke. The hitch broke off from the recovery rig and the strap, ball, and part of the hitch went through the windshield and hit him.
NO TOW BALLS FOR SNATCH RECOVERIES
This has been in the news a bit recently. People still seem to think it is ok to throw a snatch strap over the tow ball when recovering a stuck 4WD. This is a dangerous mistake.
Tow balls are not designed for the stresses a snatch strap or even a winch can put on them. Many tow-balls are rated as low as 2000lbs, but even a 10,000 rated ball is not enough for snatching a bogged rig safely. If you snatch off a tow ball, it can shear off and go flying through the air like a cannonball.
That piece of flying metal has the potential to kill and has done so in the past. In just one example, a lady was killed while recovering a stuck 4WD in deep sand. The tow-ball broke off the stuck vehicle and flew through the front window, of the recovery rig, and killed the driver. Such a tragedy and she was just trying to help out.
Please don't use tow-balls for recoveries.
A man died this week when a tow hitch & ball they were using to try to snatch-recover his truck from a mud hole broke. The hitch broke off from the recovery rig and the strap, ball, and part of the hitch went through the windshield and hit him.
NO TOW BALLS FOR SNATCH RECOVERIES
This has been in the news a bit recently. People still seem to think it is ok to throw a snatch strap over the tow ball when recovering a stuck 4WD. This is a dangerous mistake.
Tow balls are not designed for the stresses a snatch strap or even a winch can put on them. Many tow-balls are rated as low as 2000lbs, but even a 10,000 rated ball is not enough for snatching a bogged rig safely. If you snatch off a tow ball, it can shear off and go flying through the air like a cannonball.
That piece of flying metal has the potential to kill and has done so in the past. In just one example, a lady was killed while recovering a stuck 4WD in deep sand. The tow-ball broke off the stuck vehicle and flew through the front window, of the recovery rig, and killed the driver. Such a tragedy and she was just trying to help out.
Please don't use tow-balls for recoveries.