whats the best rope

I'm saying that I don't like snatches, and would rather winch than snatch, and a strop is so great to roll up i find it ideal.

I have HD bumpers with recovery points though, so I guess if a heavy tug did turn into a snatch using a strop o probably wouldn't break a sweat over it.

Like you say, use a bit of common sense and it'll be reet, whatever the situation.

To answer the OP then, I agree the best all round rope is a nice fat twist nylon rope.

A little bit of give but not too much.

A strop is better for storage, a kinetic is better for recovery power, but both have their downsides.

Get a rope

p.s. A big fat rope also looks cooler than anything else when draped around your front bumper!!

Last year I saw a D44 bumper ripped off its mounts because some tit in a wreck of a disco decided to use a tree strop to get his mate out at Whaddon pay day. I reckon the bumper was worth more than the landy TBH. Anyway he threw away the Bolts and fitted "Bolts" from his local indie they wasn't rated not even 8.8's and were not bolts they were threaded all the way to the head and were never designed for taking any shear load. Because of this two of them sheared off leaving his D44 bumper dragging along the floor.

Tree strops: Only to be used for winchs and straight line pull. I.e make strop taught and go. Because of this you cannot gain much advantage of the towing vehicles weight and momentum which equates to getting out a really stuck vehicle impossible and your only help is grip and firm ground. If you did try to drive off with a strop that is not taught the instantanious forces applied over the period of time a tree strop goes from slack to taught is humongus! Probably Hundruds of tonnes all this applied to the vehicles towing points and transfered to the occupants of the vehicle. Using a rope or semi kinetic spreads this load over the time period between slack and taught and the weight/momentum of the towing vehicle can be used to gain extra advantages to just the grip of the towing vehicle by way of weight, momentum and a smooth safe controlled recovery.

When a vehicle is stuck the end outcome is to recover the vehicle safley and quickly as possible without causing any damage to vehicles, occupants and surroundings. Therefore gaining as much advantage as possible is a sensible move making a rope preferable over a strop 99% of the time.

I've only just seen this thread, but it looks like the conclusion is ROPE. I agree (for what it's worth)

Strop are for lifting engines and protecting trees.

If you are new to off roading then a good quality nylon recovery rope is a good place to start. Don't get any shackles unless you are winching and try to use pin-hinchs or NATO hinches as the recovery points.

Don't rush in if you don't like to the look of a situation or are unsure of how to proceed. Watching other makes mistakes or effect a good recovery will teach you a lot more

Another point worth mentioning might be how to use a kinetic (or normal) rope.

Many, including me, often use the term snatch recovery. In fact the trick is not to actually snatch a vehicle out, but drive off slowly, taking the strain, then using the elasticity of the 'snatch' rope, and the recovery vehicles momentum, dragging the vehicle out of the mire.

To do this you don't drive away at stupid speeds, wheels spinning, like we've seen in the videos above .. you drive away steadily and get to a steady constant speed. This builds momentum, extends the snatch rope out elastically, then uses the momentum of the recovery vehicle, still driving steadily to keep momentum up, plus the kinetic energy stored in the rope adding extra force to pull the recovered vehicle out. It's actually quite gentle (especially compared to the videos above) when done correctly, but there's tremendous forces in the system, they're just working steadily and more controllably.

If you see someone driving away at high speed, then jerking to a stop, rear axle lifting up and the recovered vehile jerking and flying, then they're doing it way wrong .. walk away. In fact run away, they're liable to kill someone!

I keep to a more rules these days aswell. Most the time 2nd low mid revs usually works for most recoverys. Also I refuse to use my reverse gear on a really stuck landy weak weak lay shaft and gears not going to risk it. If its that bad turn around.

I'm also surprised how many people with directional tyres try to recover people in reverse.