Floridaguy80

Im looking to put together a little tow recovery kit for my truck.
I'm thinking of these hooks. They are rated 5400lbs working and break strength of 14 or 16k lbs.

Idea is to put the Clevis on the hook and then put the loop strap through Clevis as well. This will attach Clevis, hook and strap together. This end will attach to vehicle that I'll pull out of sand, road way etc. other end of strap loop will go over my hitch ball.
Sound like a plan or no?

KSBV

Please don't attach the strap to your truck by looping it over the hitch ball. The ball can break off and really cause carnage. Use one of these instead:

smokeywren

If the hole in the hook is big enough for the pin of the clevis to go through, then it sounds like your plan will work.

smokeywren

A quality ball is no more likely to fail than the clevis in that shank you showed. Either way, the key word is QUALITY. There are cheap ***** and there are good quality *****. Never buy a cheap ball.

Floridaguy80

The hole in the hook is supposed to take a 5/16" pin. I couldn't find a 5/16 Clevis, so 1/2" is what I would use.

Floridaguy80

I have one of these. But like the other guy said, I have a quality shank rated at 18k lbs and the 2 5/16 ball is rated at 12k lbs.

JJM

A better idea, when attaching the strap to the ball/hitch, is to put the loop all the way on the hitch and then wrap it around the bar. This will keep the strap from coming off of it. Pic attached for the visual people.

smokeywren

A half-inch pin in the clevis is probably not going to go through a five-sixteenth-inch hole in the hook. So continue shopping.

PerryB

He had to mean 5/8". I'm very familiar with those J-hooks and the eye is a LOT bigger than 5/16".
If that's the hook I think it is, the internal span is about 4" and the overall length is about 12". The cross-sectional thickness of the eye circle is at least 3/8" if not 7/16", so if you scale it from those numbers, 5/8" would be about right for the clevis pin.

-- Also, I agree that a quality ball with a 1" shank is plenty safe to pull from. You'll bend the hitch before you snap the shank. I think the horror stories come from the old days when the ball typically had a 5/8" carriage bolt (grade 5 at best) through the center of it.

PerryB

BTW.... Florida, you shouldn't even be here. I know all about that shiny new Superduty. You should be banished from this site.

I'm, kidding of course. I've been talking myself in and out of a new 350 for weeks now. Fortunately for me my dealer of choice doesn't have any suitable candidates in Gem Green, otherwise I'd probably be in trouble. My '11 is pristine and only has 62,000 mi. so for the time being, it'll have to do.

Enjoy the new truck! -- like that needed to be said.