Wrecked a pair of my favorite tools this week

[Ultradog MN]

I hired a guy with a track hoe to move a couple of old semi trailers that had to go. He lifted the front and had to back them through some trees that had grown up around them.
He tried using his own, brand new 'hi test' 3/8 chain from Fleet Farm and snapped it almost instantly.
I have a pair of these and we used them both together.
It didn't snap them but the way he had them hooked to the hoe it wore and masticated a few of the links till one of them failed.
I nearly cried.
These little 5' 4K rated chains are some of the finest of my best tools and I really like the things.
So on my way home I went to Olson Chain and Cable in Edina,MN and bought 10' of new 9/32 grade 100 chain to replace what was there on both.
The counter guy said he could Never give me osha tags for them but agreed that the hooks and links weren't damaged and probably fine yet.
I paid the extra $2.50/ft for USA made chain.
A guy doesn't normally get too upset about a tool but wrecking these was hard to take.
Anyway, that's the story. Maybe some of you can relate.

 

[4wdtom]

If you buy a couple of hooks for the short lengths of chain you will have two useful short chains so all isn't lost.

 

[wp6529]

Poor rigging can readily break quality hardware that otherwise should be up to the task. Typically bad sling/chain load angles are what does it and those angle derating factors apply regardless of the orientation of the slings/chains i.e. overhead or horizontal. Plenty of reference material available online, but basically don't go past 30 degrees.

https://www.lift-all.com/assets/pdf/Angle-of-Lift.pdf

 

[greenmech]

I hired a guy with a track hoe to move a couple of old semi trailers that had to go. He lifted the front and had to back them through some trees that had grown up around them.
He tried using his own, brand new 'hi test' 3/8 chain from Fleet Farm and snapped it almost instantly.
I have a pair of these and we used them both together.
It didn't snap them but the way he had them hooked to the hoe it wore and masticated a few of the links till one of them failed.
I nearly cried.
These little 5' 4K rated chains are some of the finest of my best tools and I really like the things.
So on my way home I went to Olson Chain and Cable in Edina,MN and bought 10' of new 9/32 grade 100 chain to replace what was there on both.
The counter guy said he could Never give me osha tags for them but agreed that the hooks and links weren't damaged and probably fine yet.
I paid the extra $2.50/ft for USA made chain.
A guy doesn't normally get too upset about a tool but wrecking these was hard to take.
Anyway, that's the story. Maybe some of you can relate.

I think you got to use bigger chain next time! Ron MN

 

[Janicholson]

I hired a guy with a track hoe to move a couple of old semi trailers that had to go. He lifted the front and had to back them through some trees that had grown up around them.
He tried using his own, brand new 'hi test' 3/8 chain from Fleet Farm and snapped it almost instantly.
I have a pair of these and we used them both together.
It didn't snap them but the way he had them hooked to the hoe it wore and masticated a few of the links till one of them failed.
I nearly cried.
These little 5' 4K rated chains are some of the finest of my best tools and I really like the things.
So on my way home I went to Olson Chain and Cable in Edina,MN and bought 10' of new 9/32 grade 100 chain to replace what was there on both.
The counter guy said he could Never give me osha tags for them but agreed that the hooks and links weren't damaged and probably fine yet.
I paid the extra $2.50/ft for USA made chain.
A guy doesn't normally get too upset about a tool but wrecking these was hard to take.
Anyway, that's the story. Maybe some of you can relate.

My brother has our 1/2 inch chains that are (so far) indestructible. I keep 3/8 X 20' chains in a barrel for general use. We had a hired hand that managed to stretch a 3/8 chain till all the links were locked together forming a solid rod. I relate to the relationship one can attach to a good chain. Jim

 

[davyfireball]

I found a log chain 20 ft long and each link is an 5/8 inch wide . Don’t know what grade it is but . There’s nothing I have could break it .

 

[Welding man]

We had a D9 Cat buried up once. Hooked and D8, a Volvo off road truck and a Cat 320 excavator to it. It's hard to get everyone to pull together. We broke every chain we had. Finally dug it out with the excavator and got some big choker cables and hooked to it and got it out 2 days later. Those were the good old days. Not able to do that kind of work any more.

 

[paul]

Good thing you have that plywood held down with the anvil so it doesn’t get away. And really such a lightweight table in general….. ha! Looks good.

Paul

 

[wore out]

I think you got to use bigger chain next time! Ron MN

I bought this chain some years ago when I was farming, but, thankfully I never have had to use it. It's still in the 5-gallon pail I brought it home in, and I never took the time to attach the hooks to it. UD's post made I think of it so when I got to the shop I checked to see if I remembered where I'd put it!

 

[showcrop]

We had a D9 Cat buried up once. Hooked and D8, a Volvo off road truck and a Cat 320 excavator to it. It's hard to get everyone to pull together. We broke every chain we had. Finally dug it out with the excavator and got some big choker cables and hooked to it and got it out 2 days later. Those were the good old days. Not able to do that kind of work any more.

I'll bet that you would enjoy HeavyD Sparks You Tube videos. He has a lot of big equipment and they find really difficult ways to perform recoveries.

 

[RedMF40]

I happen to like chains so I feel your loss. My condolences. Years ago at the end of a junk sale a man sold me 25' of 3/8" chain with hooks on both ends for ten bucks. Old-school chain, not new. Don't know what it's rated for but it's strong. Way too long for anything I do but I can't make myself break it up into smaller lengths.

 

[Harold Hubbard]

I have destroyed a few of my own chains, and had few destroyed for me by other people. A great many more have just grown legs and absconded.

I bought two new 5/16 transport grade chains a few years ago, both of them are still with me. I bought a pair of locking hooks for one, they are a pain when not needed, but sure save a lot of getting off the tractor and rehooking, especially when I’m working alone.

 

[Fixingfarmer]

Its not surprising he wrecked the Fleet Farm gold chain the guy that swore by that was all he'd ever use came back when sent to the store after 3/8 chain with half! said he had better luck with it. Im sure it had to be that heavy stuff! Couldn't put it through the tow hooks on the terragator so I sent him to fetch a shackle and the good tow strap instead. no reason for that. Its a shame about your good lifting chain though they don't last forever. I hope you have just as good of luck in the future with your new one. It does sound like it might have been a bit light for yanking them out of the trees its a lot of weight if It got hung up on something. Ive used tie down chain for lifting things in the past but its not something I'm proud of. The ridiculous part? if you hadn't told him the failure point cut a few links off he could have tagged it safe...Tags don't mean much always inspect before lifting.

 

[hillbillyhim]

We had a D9 Cat buried up once. Hooked and D8, a Volvo off road truck and a Cat 320 excavator to it. It's hard to get everyone to pull together. We broke every chain we had. Finally dug it out with the excavator and got some big choker cables and hooked to it and got it out 2 days later. Those were the good old days. Not able to do that kind of work any more.

We always used an inch and a quarter chocker to pull D10's out.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

Sounds a lot like the "Legendary HercAlloy" chain they had around my grandfather's farm. Apparently it was capable of many feats of strength. Dad would occasionally wonder what happened to it after they stopped farming there. Turns out my uncle had the HercAlloy chain the entire time. I found it when my aunt had a garage sale a few years ago. My aunt thought it was just some old piece of chain. I said nope, that's the Legendary HercAlloy chain, a family heirloom. It's mine now.