Ok guys, and gals...I know that most of you like myself carry recovery straps in our Discos.
Well a friend of my wifes who lives in Traverse City MI was driving home from work a couple of weeks ago and hit a patch of ice and wound up in the ditch.
A "good samaritan" came along and used his recovery strap to yank her out.
Nice guy, right?
As soon as he unhooked from her car he split, fast.
She took off down the road and not 1/4 of a mile later spun out and smacked a snowbank HARD.
Turns out he hooked to her rear axle and NOT to a recovery point on the car and snapped her axle.
So please becarful of where you hook your recovery strap to when yanking somebody out, recovery points or frame, nothing else.

 

This is VERY good advice. Just to add to that, if possible only use straps that have sewn in loops at the ends, not metal hooks. I've seen a strap break with a hook on the end first hand. They really do move quick. Luckily we were pulling at a slight angle so the metal hook didn't take out the windshield and possibly the driver.

 

what kind of vehicle was she driving? I'm guessing it was not a disco. It takes a lot of force to warp a radius arm, but still this is good advice..always use tow points!

 

Make sure to read the owner's manual and learn where the tow points are on the vehicle. There are 2 tow hooks on the rear of the Discos and at least 1 up front. Just make sure on the front to hook to the tow point and not the tie down loops. The tie down loops are weak and will bend or break easily. For those with brushbars on the front end there are 2 tow points built in to the bottom of the brushbar.

 

You also need to make sure that the recovery strap is rated at a min1 and 1/2 times the weight of the vehicle to be recovered.
SO with a 6,000lbs Disco your strap needs to be at least 9,000lbs.

She has a Chevy Malibu with indipentant suspension on all fours. Her car has at least one recovery point.

Hazlet-if the strap was the correct rating the hook should not have broke.

 

Good warning, everybody needs to know what to do in an emergency, after all it is your truck.
As for the strap. my smallest strap is a 20,000 pounder, I also carry a 40,000 and won't use anything else on my own truck or anyone elses.