Quote:
Originally Posted by Jetboy
I would skip the thimble. It's a solution in search of a problem. When's the last time you saw a crane with a thimble on the end? Hooks are perfectly safe. Come with your winch (and all winches), and have been used for decades. They're a lot faster to hook up in nearly all winching situations. And they're not $$$. There's nothing wrong with having a thimble, hey can be a pain to dink with, but they work fine unless you have a reason you need a quick recovery (like your buddy's truck is upside down in a river), but that's rare too. Don't get confused into believing that you need one for safety.
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The crane analogy is a poor comparison. Cranes lift things vertically, so unless someone turns off gravity, the line is never going to lose and quickly regain tension.
A lot of winch hooks are not large enough to accept two recovery strap eyelets AND allow the clasp to fully close. All it would take is a quick loss of tension, slip of the tow strap/hook, and you could have a hook and line flying back toward the winch when the line regains tension if the strap isn’t fully seated in the hook.
My thimble was never a pain to dink with. It took one d-ring shackle to hook to another vehicle, tree saver, recovery strap, etc...
Edit: pics for clarification. Turns out the hook that came on my Engo SR10s isn’t even big enough for one eyelet. Strap is a 30’ Smittybilt.
