Safety Thimble for Steel Cable?

[98 SNAKE EATER]

Did a search and this is the only one I came up with....



















Looks good, but at $130 bucks, it's pretty spendy


Any other options out there?

[Master-Pull]

If you can re clamp or splice your steel cable you can buy an aluminum thimble and put it on. I have never had anyone do this to one of our thimbles but it should work out.

http://www.amsteelblue.com/item/AB516100WSB/ You can see the thimble in this picture. They run around $60.

-Alex

[crazyeyez]

those are nifty, but not for 130...

[Antichrist]

I know they are safer, but honestly, if you pay attention to what you're doing I don't see a real need for them. In over 30 years of winching I've never even come close to sucking my hand (or the cable end) in to the fairlead.

[98 SNAKE EATER]

I know they are safer, but honestly, if you pay attention to what you're doing I don't see a real need for them. In over 30 years of winching I've never even come close to sucking my hand (or the cable end) in to the fairlead.

There are a number of reasons why I want one (besides safety)....


1) Flat base...

The flat mating surface won't get stuck or damage a fair lead when winched in like a hook or D-ring....


2) The standard hole will force me to go into my recovery gear and use the proper sized hook, clevis or D-ring for each pull....

A while back, I had to pull a buddy out of a deep mud hole where he had been stuck for days...

Handed him the cable with a standard hook and had him make the connection cause I wasn't about to go waste deep in muck for anyone

Thing is, his tow loop was slightly larger than the hook, so when I started winching him out, it snapped in place

Took 4 minutes to winch him out and over 40 minutes trying to get the damn hook off his tow loop

Had to bash it off with a mini sledge and ended up ruining the spring latch


3) No rattles

4) Looks cleaner than a crooked hook or one connected to a recovery point...

[crismateski]

try contacting Ver Sales in burbank ca, they do theatrical rigging and supply steel cable and just about every accessory you can think of. If they dont have it in stock they should be able to get it. http://versales.com/

[crazyeyez]

Good points, snake. Something like that is why i'd rather use good strap to loop onto the tow point of the truck.

And the pic of the two strap ends on the hook? Pretty dumb move anyway. Put the strap ends on a shackle then hook the shackle.

[98 SNAKE EATER]

And the pic of the two strap ends on the hook? Pretty dumb move anyway. Put the strap ends on a shackle then hook the shackle.

This is why I like the thimble as it forces you to use the proper gear for the job rather than taking shortcuts

[crazyeyez]

Yea. I think every one that buys a winch should go thru H8 school (armys recovery school).

[Antichrist]

And the pic of the two strap ends on the hook? Pretty dumb move anyway.

It's called marketing. A vendor has to make out that there's no other way than their product.
Though I know some people hook things up like that.

This is why I like the thimble as it forces you to use the proper gear for the job rather than taking shortcuts

Recovery discipline will as well and is, in my view, better than a person buying things to force themselves to do certain things they should be doing anyway. There will always be places, no matter what they buy, where they can take dangerous shortcuts.

This isn't to say you shouldn't get one if you want it, but I do think using the "it forces me to be safe" logic can actually be dangerous.