FACTOR 55 News

ON THE WHITEBOARD today are some samples of partially spliced synthetic ropes using our Fast Fid tool. Some of you have asked what rope diameters our tool can splice. These Samson Rope samples vary from the common 3/8 winch rope diameter, to the much larger 5/8 diameter. All three of these diameters can be spliced easily with the Fast Fid tool. It is no longer necessary to carry multiple Fid tools for these different rope diameters. Need to splice even larger rope diameters like 2 inch diameter ship mooring lines? Stay tuned, we are working on those tools now.

Several of you have recently inquired about the function of the load centering spool that comes as standard equipment on our FlatLink XXL product. The spool is not intended to be used as a pulley since there is no type of bearing in the spool. The spool provides a self-centering feature for cables and ropes that are considerably smaller than the cable opening in the FlatLink. We shot a quick video that hopefully answers most of your questions.

 

^{By Kyle Buchter, OFFROAD CONSULTING & DRIVING INSTRUCTION}

In my experience after decades in the field, off-roading’s second most assumed skill comes down to one thing—Winching.

Congratulations to all who answered this correctly! We are always impressed with the knowledge that many of you off-roaders possess, good job!

Did you know that fire departments from around the world now practice the safer “Closed System Winching” technique? Take a look at some of the rigs equipped with Factor 55 safety equipment.

Just in the nick of time! Our friend Bryan Crofts of CBMotorsports will be debuting his new Campbell Ent. Custom Fabrication / Campbell Racing Ultra4 Racing car this year at King of the Hammers. The final assembly just completed. Not much time left to get to the desert and shock tune and debug the new car! We love the retro black and gold Trans Am theme.

Is your vehicle recovery rigging validated through destructive testing?

Does your rigging claim Working Load Limits (WLL) and Minimum Breaking Strengths (MBS)...

TBT – For those of you who haven’t seen this winch cable field repair video from our friend Keller McCowen, enjoy!  

This is a great informative video on how to trail splice a broken winch wire rope. Keller McCowen splices a steel cable eye using the Molly Hogan knot technique. Although none of us here at Factor 55 have ever personally performed this trail repair, it looks to be some useful knowledge to have. Great job Keller!