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Another Tow Rope How-To...

micro racer

Rock Crawler
Joined
Jan 2, 2013
Messages
605
Location
San Diego
After my winch went out of commission a few weeks ago, I found myself stuck far more often than when it worked (go figure :roll:). So, I decided that a tow strap would be a decent replacement for a winch until I could get a new one. If you want to know what I came up with, keep reading...

First, I got together all of the ingredients: about 2 feet of 550 paracord, some heatshrink of various sizes, and some "stainless steel" (probably pot-metal) hooks. Both the paracord and hooks came from Joann Fabrics. I also needed my previously built strap for reference... :flipoff:



Next, cut the cord a few inches longer than you want the end product to be. This is so you can slide the outer covering down to expose the inner core.



Somewhat optional: Once you slide the outer covering down a few inches, use a lighter or heat gun to seal the fibers and keep them from unraveling. Make sure to not melt through the inner core when you are doing this!

Instead or after you seal the covering, slide a small piece of heatshrink over the cord. It only needs to be about 1/2" long, but place it 50/50 over the core and cover. Make sure it isn't too large in diameter; when you shrink it, you want it to compress the outer covering to the core to prevent it from sliding later on.



Once you finish the last step, feed the core through the hole at the bottom of the hook. Knot it twice. Cut the excess and melt the strands to keep the from unraveling. Slide the covering up to the base of the knots and put another piece of heatshrink on. You want the heatshrink to go up to the base of the hook and cover about half of the smaller heatshrink on the cord.

(This is the black heatshrink already on the hook/knots. Ignore the white for now...)


As you can probably tell from the previous picture, the next thing to do is slide a large piece of heatshrink of both the knots and outer covering of the cord. You want this piece to go from the base of the hook all the way over the first piece of heatshrink. (This is the white piece). As an extra precaution, l like to add another smaller piece of shrink over the end of the large piece and the cord. (Smaller black piece).



Now that you have finished this piece of art :roll::flipoff:, you probably want to know how strong it is... Well, it depends on how much care you take in doing the knots and keeping everything tight, but I wrapped mine around a 4x4 post concreted into my yard and hung sideways with it. You know, like walking-up-a-tree sideways? So, it will hold at least one hundred pounds:roll: (tested, not theoretical).


Side note: the first 1" to 1 1/2" tends to be a bit stiff from the knots and heatshrink. This is only a problem when you try and wrap it up really tightly.
 
Great write up. I have a Joanne Fabrics in town. Looks like i might have to make a trip. Thanks
 
Hey, can you or anyone else help with tying knots with the paracord inner strands? I am having trouble tying a knot that doesn't unravel.
 
It helps to twist them together and singe the them into a single ball on the end. Then use a fishing style knot...youtube is your friend.
 
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