What does everybody have for tow/recovery rope?

I'm wanting to get a tow rope/cable. I've found a large ship mooring rope on ebay that I can buy, reasonably I thought but I don't know how to attach ends on it. It's rated at 250,000 lbs. I've got a small business on the side with a 315 excavator, 955 track loader and a quadtrac and scraper that I also farm with. It's something I don't want to have to use but I know it's something that I'll use over my lifetime. I hate lugging chains around and then they aren't long enough. I was thinking around 100 foot would be a good length.

How heavy would a 100' of 250K lb capacity ship mooring rope be?

I don't know, I'm checking into it. It's 4 inches wide, but he doesn't have any weights of it. I'm sure it would be heavy but still better then a chain or cable.

Guy claims 4-5 lbs per foot. He doesn't put ends on it says everybody ties it off. I kind of like ends, not knots but I'm still thinking about it.

Back when I walked funny from working on ocean going tug boats, all of our soft lines had eyes spliced into them. I would think you could get that done somewhere, but I spent all my time in the engine room so I have no idea how it's done. They stretch forever, but when they do let go the whiplash is much worse than a steel cable. Cheers

I would prefer a steel cable over a heavy rope- jmo

We have steel cables for tugging out stuck equipment we have 7 4wd and pans and most of the time we don't use any longer than a 20-30 ft cable but we do have longer ones that we use for pulling brush piles but seldom use them for pulling out stuck equipment. I don't remember that we have ever broke a 1 1/4 cable but most of the time we would use a 1" cable and would work just fine. One time in the 12 yrs working in the dirt moving business we hooked 2 tractor and pans onto a stuck one to get it out! On the long cables we have they are either 3/4 or 1" cant remember. Jerry

X2 wire rope ours are 1"min

I don't even want to think about trying to drag a mooring rope through the mud. It wouldn't last long. Packing mud into a nylon(?) rope is a no no. It will act as an abrasive and cut the rode from the inside.

And you would braid loops into the ends of the rope FYI.

We use either 7/8 or 1" cable to pull out loaded truck/pup combos all the time. 1" cable is only rated for 16,700lbs safe load but 83,600lbs min breaking strength. We haven't broke one yet. With that being said, if you are dead set on tow rope, Bubba Rope makes a 2" X 30' tow rope thats rated for 131,000lbs but it's $700 I have some of their 7/8" rope and it's awesome stuff.

I have a section of 1-1/2 inch diameter ships mooring line that I have been using for years. It has a smooth loose outer wear jacket on it and has stayed remarkably clean. I ran the ends thru shackles and tied a loop with a molyhogan knot on each end. I have pulled as hard as I could with my 666D Ranger log skidder and never broke it. Man, did it stretch before the skidder spun out. I was cringed with tight neck muscles even with the heavy wire canopy shield between me and the rope. Probably should have had a super sized restraint device on it.

I remember back in 1978 when working with Johnson Bros in Buelah, ND they tested a 2" nylon snatch strap. They tried pulling a stuck 660 with a new 757 scraper while the rope supplier and a few of us watched. The rope stretched like crazy and snapped. The lead mechanic picked it up and it was so hot it melted into his hand requiring surgery to get it all cleaned out.

old-iron-habit said:

The rope stretched like crazy and snapped. The lead mechanic picked it up and it was so hot it melted into his hand requiring surgery to get it all cleaned out.

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WOW never thought of that...

I just keep a lot of chains, slings, and wire rope around... I don't have any more than 15 feet long or so (easy to carry), but I have enough that I can link together a pretty decent run if the need arises. I have 1 piece of 1" wire rope about 60 feet long but everything else is pretty manageable. I am always fascinated by the huge difference in quality/grade between a chain you might buy at a tool supplier, and a chain you buy at a rigging supplier... totally different products! Glover Construction out of NC did a job a couple of years ago in my town, they have a pretty big spread of 385 hoes and A40s, they clean up behind the hoes with 6Rs, and every one of those dozers is outfitted with a special hook on the back/top of the rops... the hook holds 1 eye of a cable choker pinned to the drawbar so they're ready to pull at a moment's notice (or so I surmised). I found it very interesting.