i have seen that one before. along with the guy in a yj that went to pull out a friend and the strap went through his soft top decapitated him right next to his 6 year old son.
im not sure about this one, it says the frame piece and strap fell straight to the ground when it broke, then the middle clevis began to fly backward with 2 straps in tow. i would assume it would fall straight to the ground and the hook would be the flying part. they always say throw something heavy in the middle of your winch line while its in use. never the less this would ruin a fun weekend for somebody! this is why im always puckered up when i use the winch!!
This is why I don't use straps with hooks on the end...only sewn loops. And I use a strap that is not strong enough to break the point it is attached to, either. I think those straps might have been overkill...
I use a 4" sewn strap that I got from devil mutt. I HATE chains. The only good thing a chain is good for is to ty my zuk down with.
A chain is no good for shock loads encountered when snatching a vehicle. It IS useful, if heavy enough, for static pulls. My impression is that a chain will not recoil like a cable or a strap will. It will, however, make a pretty good projectile if something were to fail. (The recoil would come from the winch cable.)
I agree that the straps were overkill, which can cause the tow point to fail.
ANY strap is a potential slingshot it the tow point fails. A 2" strap can launch a broken tow hook very easily. I watched Ghost Rider's winch hook fly over 30' in a split second, hitting Fire Cop's grill. They had a 4" strap connecting the two trucks, but they used GR's winch as a tow point. The end result was a broken cable, winch case and a near calamity. I chalked that up to "lessons learned"
Matt, I understand your logic about line weighting, but think about a line weight; it is typically floppy. Think of it like this: Which can you throw farther, a 2 lb. floor mat, or a 2 lb. clevis?