Gear / Accessories Yankum recovery ring

moab_cj5

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
They are an interesting piece of gear but I still prefer my actual pully blocks. Those rings introduce friction on the rope and can get really hot as you drag the rope around the ring. That can damage and weaken your rope.

I didn't watch the whole video, so I'm not sure if he addressed all the criticism of those rings, but another issue is rope retention when the rope goes slack. Some of them have silicon nubs to retain the rope but the one he was using doesn't have them. If the rope pops off the ring your pulling rope on rope with the soft shackle and you'll melt the soft shakle and it'll fail.
 

Spork

Tin Foil Hat Equipped
I watched the video earlier, more of a curiosity thing because I don't have a winch still... :D Casey did mention that in a double pull setup the line is supposed to go through the inside of the ring so it can't slip off and saw at your shackle if the line goes slack.
 

Hickey

Burn-barrel enthusiast
Supporting Member
They are an interesting piece of gear but I still prefer my actual pully blocks. Those rings introduce friction on the rope and can get really hot as you drag the rope around the ring. That can damage and weaken your rope.

I didn't watch the whole video, so I'm not sure if he addressed all the criticism of those rings, but another issue is rope retention when the rope goes slack. Some of them have silicon nubs to retain the rope but the one he was using doesn't have them. If the rope pops off the ring your pulling rope on rope with the soft shackle and you'll melt the soft shakle and it'll fail.
You should watch the video.
 

N-Smooth

Smooth Gang Founding Member
Location
UT
Yup, found them. He included an “anti-tip” block that keeps the line that’s going around the ring on track. It’s a pretty neat idea if you’re into that while winching thing.

 

Hickey

Burn-barrel enthusiast
Supporting Member
Yup, found them. He included an “anti-tip” block that keeps the line that’s going around the ring on track. It’s a pretty neat idea if you’re into that while winching thing.

This Yankum ring is quite different.
 

cruiseroutfit

Cruizah!
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Vendor
Location
Sandy, Ut
Matt from Offroad Recovery in FL did some Cow-Hitch exercises with a recovery ring variant a few months back on his YouTube. As I recall he credits the ability to use the Cow-Hitch as a "rare circumstance to use a recovery ring".

Screenshot_20231225_221137_Messages.jpg

I suspect this is why the gent in this video proclaimed he did it 9 months ago?

My opinion. It takes as long or similar to set up his demo outline vs a standard 4:1 Spanish Burton and it has limitations, particularly the inability to divide anchor points to a 2L/L/L that is so easily accomplished with a Spanish Burton for example. The video did mention that as an issue and I agree 100%.

So what have we saved? Weight of gear? A few lbs? A 4:1 Spanish Burton offers near/more usable advantage than this 5:1 setup using recovery rings (given measured losses when using friction rings and the 15% WLL reduction from the cow-hitch).

Now, with they gear he had, he could also rig a Spanish Burton but with the friction losses over the recovery ring, they are going to lower mechanical reduction. If you are doing a really long pulll, the system he presented could/may require less necessity to re-rig BUT most winches can't store am extra 50+ ft of 7/16" line so a re-rig could still be eminent in his scenario too.

One of the biggest concerns many in the industry have with recovery rings (beyond the large friction losses) is the ability for the working lines to fall out of the sheave. He covered that, it is an issue many haven't solved or rather just ignore. F55 has the nubs & Bee Safe has the retention block. I've got samples of both if anyone wants to check them out.

Screenshot_20231225_223002_YouTube.jpg

My summary: I wouldn't rush out and make any changes to your current gear. If you're shopping for new gear, consider all options for your wants/needs, lots of neat stuff out there.
 
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cruiseroutfit

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Some quick/dirty meatball drawings.

His 5 part line yields a 5:1 before we reduce for the losses through each of the four recovery ring points, assuming a 10% loss/each (which is it's actually very low, real world actual loss is 30%+) yielding a 4:1. You also force ~4L load at a single point (A) on the vehicles (though you could bridle recovery points A+D and/or B+C to spread load to suitable points)

20231225_233521.jpg
(The 5L resultant does NOT include losses)

The Spanish Burton yields 4:1 with much less losses (3.8:1 or greater mech adv) and better point loading with 2P/P/P on the winch vehcile and the 4P on the other could be bridled at B+C to net 2P/2P. It does require one additional screw-pin bow shackle or soft shackle.

20231225_233544.jpg
(The 4P resultant does not include losses)
 
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Hickey

Burn-barrel enthusiast
Supporting Member
I’m not touting it as the end-all be-all of all things recovery, I think it’s just interesting to have more options. Being able to pull a cow hitch through the recovery ring allows you more options on a long pull. No, you can’t reasonably spool/store more winch line on most winches, I understand that.

I like the simple idea that you can place this ring anywhere in your rigging length without worrying when or where the next cow hitch will pass through it. I know I’ll personally never rig a 5 part line with it, that’s beyond the working loads I want to expose my vehicles or myself to. I’m far from a YouTube recovery guru, and I have no desire to be one.
 
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cruiseroutfit

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I’m not touting it as the end-all be-all of all things recovery, I think it’s just interesting to have more options. Being able to pull a cow hitch through the recovery ring allows you more options on a long pull. No, you can’t reasonably spool/store more winch line on most winches, I understand that.

I like the simple idea that you can place this ring anywhere in your rigging length without worrying when or where the next cow hitch will pass through it. I know I’ll personally never rig a 5 part line with it, that’s beyond the working loads I want to expose my vehicles or myself to. I’m far from a YouTube recovery guru, and I have no desire to be one.

Options are king! And like any tool, there are scenarios where one will prevail over others for a given scenario. Using the ID of the ring as the primary pulley is a major direction shift that is sure to ruffle feathers amongst the other recovery ring manufacturers. I suspect we'll see follow-up content from them... and more offset recovery ring offerings from others. I like that Yankum is innovative, lab load testing and using WLL, MBS, MTS, FOS, etc vernacular.

It's wild to see how sexy recovery and recovery gear has become with social media as of late. The YouTube monetization of recovery content is wild.

Matt from Offroad Recovery in Florida (different than Matt Off Road Recovery in Hurricane) posts a ton of content about these items. I'd expect a video on the 5:1 Yankum pulley setup soon.
 

Hickey

Burn-barrel enthusiast
Supporting Member
So apparently there is some big drama between Casey/Yankum and Matt’s offroad recovery (Florida). I was unaware if this when I posted this thread. I just want to be clear that I am not pushing Casey or his channel, I am not a subscriber to his channel or Yankum, or Florida Matt. I’m not interested in someone else’s dick-measuring contest on the internet.
 

UNSTUCK

But stuck more often.
This is great information. I would guess the vast majority of our winching involves a 1-2’ pull to get off a rock or to get back to traction. Or the fact that the others on the trail with me will be similar low weight jeeps, etc. So a lot of this doesn’t matter. However, knowing I just got a new winch and knowing I will swap out the steel line and swap synthetic, I also plan on removing any hooks and using loops. I plan on synthetic shackles. I see no reason not to get one or two of these along with an extension at the same time. I’m confident I could use these for that one crazy emergency recovery. At that point if i need to replace something due to damage I’d be okay with that.
It’s also a great reminder that having the ability to multiply line strength necessitates the need to reenforce anchor points and winch mounts. Could you imagine ripping your winch right off your bumper in the middle of a pull? Speaking of that, how strong are the 4 mounting bolts holes on the winch? The housing that retains the square nuts must have a limit?
 

cruiseroutfit

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So apparently there is some big drama between Casey/Yankum and Matt’s offroad recovery (Florida). I was unaware if this when I posted this thread. I just want to be clear that I am not pushing Casey or his channel, I am not a subscriber to his channel or Yankum, or Florida Matt. I’m not interested in someone else’s dick-measuring contest on the internet.

Interesting, that would explain some of the dialogue. I’ve now watched a few of Casey‘s videos and a few of Matt’s from FL, I could see them butting heads.

I’m going back to entertaining YouTube content, FailArmy and Cops highlights :D
 

cruiseroutfit

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This is great information. I would guess the vast majority of our winching involves a 1-2’ pull to get off a rock or to get back to traction. Or the fact that the others on the trail with me will be similar low weight jeeps, etc. So a lot of this doesn’t matter. However, knowing I just got a new winch and knowing I will swap out the steel line and swap synthetic, I also plan on removing any hooks and using loops. I plan on synthetic shackles. I see no reason not to get one or two of these along with an extension at the same time. I’m confident I could use these for that one crazy emergency recovery. At that point if i need to replace something due to damage I’d be okay with that.
It’s also a great reminder that having the ability to multiply line strength necessitates the need to reenforce anchor points and winch mounts. Could you imagine ripping your winch right off your bumper in the middle of a pull? Speaking of that, how strong are the 4 mounting bolts holes on the winch? The housing that retains the square nuts must have a limit?

The winch never realizes more load in 2:1, 3:1, 4:1, etc rigging versus that of the max of a single-line pull. In fact it could (and should) see much less. A 3/8” bolt has a pretty impressive shear strength fwiw. Multiply that by 4 and they are not a common failure point.

B91C9D8E-5AD5-4284-83EB-308F6CF6940D.jpeg
 

Hickey

Burn-barrel enthusiast
Supporting Member
Interesting, that would explain some of the dialogue. I’ve now watched a few of Casey‘s videos and a few of Matt’s from FL, I could see them butting heads.

I’m going back to entertaining YouTube content, FailArmy and Cops highlights :D
Florida guy also has Fab Fours fenders on his Gladiator. I cannot trust a person who would take that risk. Clearly, he’s touched in the head.

I’m no fan of Casey either. Too condescending in his videos.
 

cruiseroutfit

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Florida guy also has Fab Fours fenders on his Gladiator. I cannot trust a person who would take that risk. Clearly, he’s touched in the head.

I’m no fan of Casey either. Too condescending in his videos.

Just the other day I saw angry eyes bezels for FJ40's being built. I laughed, I cringed, I cried. I thought we had narrowly escaped that mess favoring obnoxious wheel choices and roll cage speakers instead. Alas, we too our victims.
 
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