Good afternoon!

I'm looking to purchase 2 recovery "D rings" or shackles to attach to the stock recovery points on my Disco 3. What size shackles are you gentlemen (or women) running?

 

1. Buy the biggest one that fits.
2. Would you just sto them in the vehicle until needed?

 

Yes, I have a bag of tools/air compressor, etc I keep in the cargo area.

 

Don't buy a 3/4 inch shackles , but 7/8 instead .Some kinetic ropes won't fit into a smaller shackles at all, like mine Big Bubba kinetic rope per example.

 

Interesting. I put a Bubba Rope on a 3/4" shackle this weekend with issues....?

I run 3/4" steel and a couple of Lucky8's soft shackles for when a standard simply won't work. For anybody who questions the strength of a soft shackle, just this weekend we tore the steel recovery eye out of an ARB bumper with one and didn't cut a single strand on the soft shackle. Those things are tough.

 

I have a pair of Smitybuilt D-ring shackles I got from Amazon (3/4) they are rated at 4.75 tons and measure 3/4 inside diameter, or 7/8 outside diameter. hey have a nice black oxide finish and will do the job just fine. Be careful with the shackles you pick up at most hardware stores as they are not strong enough to do any heavy pulling. You don't want to be stuck somewhere and find out you should have gotten the better quality (more expensive) shackles..Price on Amazon is $13 each....

 

Awesome! So which is the right pin size to get; ¾:

or ⅞:

 

I have a couple of 3/4" shackles as well. In theory, I could put more force on it than the WLL specification since I have a 12,000 lb winch, but there is such a high safety factor with these things that I certainly haven't been worried about it. I think the safety factor for shackles is supposed to be like 5x the WLL before you reach the tested breaking strength. Not that I'd ever want to get anywhere near or test that, but at 2x the WLL, I'll reach the limits of my synthetic winch line.

I'm not sure I could fit a 7/8" shackle in the front recovery point with my sump guard on. There's not a huge amount of room up there. If anybody can verify that you can fit a 7/8" shackle onto the front recovery point with a sump guard on, then it might be worthwhile to go that route. Regardless, I have to keep at least one 3/4" shackle because I don't think a larger one will fit in my Factor 55 thimble either. Basically, it kind of depends on your needs I guess. I think the 3/4" will be perfectly fine for any sort of recovery you do and will allow you more flexibility. The 7/8" will provide a better safety factor, but you may not be able to use them in every recovery scenario. Best way to go might be to purchase two 7/8" and one 3/4" shackles. Either way, you need a MINIMUM of two.

 

I have Mantec sump guard and can fit 7/8 shackle with no problems.

 

The soft shackle is a good idea. They're more expensive, but I wouldn't hesitate to use them.

3/4" shackles are about the right size. Smaller shackles are easily strong enough, but too small to fit straps easily. Much larger shackles (over an inch) may be too big to fit winch thimbles, or fixed recovery points. Keep in mind that you will often be doing recovery work with other rigs.

While there is probably nothing wrong with cheap Chinese shackles made for the 4x4 market, I prefer European-made shackles made for lifting. If you go to MasterPull and get the van Beest shackles they sell, you will get shackles that are second-to-none for a great price.