Question on lifting straps

[DennisCA]

I got some lifting straps or webbing or whatever you call it, green two ton stuff. They got a loop at each end. I am noticing they never come in the suitable length, too short or too long. I am currently facing the too long scenario and wonder, are there any ways to shorten them?

With chains I know there are "clutches" or something that you can use to shorten the chain. Is there something like that for straps, some metal contraption you can wind it around a couple of times until it shortens the strap close to what you want?

 

[ibrooks]

Depends entirely on what you are lifting and what you are lifting with.

Cant you wrap it around whatever you are lifting a couple of times?

Can you wrap it around whatever you are lifting with a couple of times?

Can you half/double it - run the strap through your lifting eye or whatever and put both loops on the hook (assuming the thing you are lifting has an eye here and the thing you are lifting with has a hook).

Without more information it's difficult to make any suggestions.

 

[Spark plug]

I find for a lot of things, round slings can be much more useful but depends entirely on what and how your lifting.

Another option is to extend a short one with a couple of shackles.

 

[DennisCA]

Without more information it's difficult to make any suggestions.

Don't really want to give any as that's not really what I was wondering, I can solve that issue myself, it just is what got me wondering if there was a better way of doing things... I was wondering if there existed such a piece of equipment as I had mentioned.

But it does not seem there is anything like what I was thinking of, only the usual stuff that you list which I already know of (and find rather suboptimal).

 

[fizzy]

I just tie a knot in it if I can't double it up.

 

[Wendelspanswick]

Just be careful of the reduced lifting capacity depending on how it's rigged.
http://www.fdlake.com/rig-slng.html

 

[fixerupper]

A nice big D iron is the thing for that ...but like Wendelspanwick says the lifting capacity changes as the angle and length of a strop changes ...

 

[Dcal]

Do not tie knots in any sling, you will trash the sling and it could fail very unexpected
Fibre sings have a safety factor for lifting of at least 7 but this is because they are so easily damaged. This also assumes they are inspect before each use and known to be good.
A 2t sling should fail at more than 14t but the same sling could fail at 100kg if it had a tiny cut across the fibers.
If you choke a sling it should be derated and will have 0.8 of it's rated capacity.
Make sure there are no sharp edges etc.

Wrapping it a few times,around something and choking it will also give 0.8 of rated capacity.

 

[500e]

Another thing to take into account, was always told NOT to tie knots in strops slings etc.
@ Dcal got there before me
http://caves.org/section/vertical/nh/50/knotrope-hold.html

 

[DennisCA]

Yes I read that (not that exact link) yesterday, it was my first idea as well but I figured it might not be approved. Derating to .8 would be OK by me. In general though it seems shorter straps and shackles are more versatile than long ones and most versatile of all are chains.

 

[fizzy]

There are special knots for tapes and webbing. A water knot is one of many. Also known as an overhand knot.
I have also used a modified fisherman's knot. It held perfectly lifting my Elliot Sturdimill when the proper chains used by a hiab driver failed.

 

[fixerupper]

Yes a good set of three or legged "Brothers"are very useful...

 

[Pete.]

There are no acceptable knots that you can put in a lifting sling. If your sling it too long you can used a double-wrapped basket hitch or a doubled and choked hitch to take up some of the over-length.

 

[DennisCA]

I guess what I am thinking of is a piece of metal that you could wrap this basket hitch around, say it's 50cm long so one wrap reduced the length 1m and it'd be sort of "in line" so no need to wrap what you are lifting (not always possible).

 

[Dcal]

That might work if everything is in line but that will be very difficult to achieve and probably best avoided

 

[Pete.]

I guess what I am thinking of is a piece of metal that you could wrap this basket hitch around, say it's 50cm long so one wrap reduced the length 1m and it'd be sort of "in line" so no need to wrap what you are lifting (not always possible).

There's nothing like that, the proper way is to buy shorter slings. If you really want adjustable length you can do it with loop slings quite easily, though I don't know if it's considered good practice.

 

[Parm]

Knots in slings etc are a big no no !!

 

[WorkshopChris]

Any sling i find with a knot would be cut and scrapped on sight, lots of ways mentioned to reduce length, they are not expensive compaired to chains and even less when compaired to to cost of someone not making it back home safley at the end of the day.

 

[Robotstar5]

I did a slinging course a few weeks ago and you can be quite creative with double wrapping, looping over the hook etc. to lose excess length. One of our "tests" was to rig a pump truck to lift it level.

 

[bigegg]

NSFK!

clip from an 15 rated film.