Short answer, then the reasoning. A soft shackle for towing work is fine when "towing" means a recovery pull, a winch connection, or dragging a dead machine up onto a trailer. It's rated for that, and the numbers back it up.
It isn't a substitute for the safety chains a road tow has to carry. Two different jobs, one word. Mixing them up is how people get hurt. So let's separate them properly.
- Recovery pulls, winching, loading a machine: yes. That's exactly what a soft shackle is built for.
- Towing a vehicle down the road: no. Fit the safety devices the law and your tow rig call for.
- The Double Loop publishes 37,100 lbs in 5/16", 45,500 lbs in 7/16" and 62,500 lbs in 1/2" minimum breaking strength.
- Working load limit runs at a 5:1 safety factor, so the 7/16" sits around 9,100 lbs of real working load.
- Size to the recovery vehicle, not the stuck one.
- Never on a tow ball. Never joining two ropes. Never side loaded on a hitch point.
1. Is it rated for the job?
For pulling work, comfortably. The Double Loop's own page publishes minimum breaking strength by diameter, in the standard single loop setup:[1]
- 5/16" — 37,100 lbs MBS
- 7/16" — 45,500 lbs MBS
- 1/2" — 62,500 lbs MBS
Put that next to what you're actually pulling. Murphy's own 1" kinetic rope is rated for trucks in the 7,200 to 10,249 lb band.[7] The 7/16" shackle is published at more than four times the top of that band before it breaks. That's why it's the size most truck owners end up running.
The material's doing the heavy lifting. It's HMPE synthetic fibre, which Yankum describe as "as strong as steel at a fraction of the weight," in a single piece design with "no loose hardware, no dropped pins."[2] No pin means nothing to lose in the mud and nothing to seize up on you in six months.
20" closed, 40" open, with a 36" chafe sleeve. The extra length gets you under a stuck rig to reach a point a short shackle can't, and it doubles around a connection for close to twice the strength. Sold in 5/16", 7/16" and 1/2".
2. MBS and WLL, in English
Two numbers get printed on this stuff. People mix them up constantly. Yankum spell out the difference on their own page: "MBS (Minimum Breaking Strength) is the rated failure point. WLL (Working Load Limit) is what you should actually put it through, calculated at a 5:1 safety factor. Stay under the WLL in real use."[2]
So a 7/16" shackle published at 45,500 lbs MBS carries a working load limit around 9,100 lbs.[2] That's the number you plan against. The big one's where it comes apart, and it isn't a target.
One more line from the same page, and it's the one people get backwards: "Match your soft shackle to the recovery vehicle, not the stuck vehicle."[2] The pulling rig sets the load. What's buried in the ditch doesn't.
3. What Rick calls for mid-load
Texas. Flood cleanup. Rick's wrecker has already caught fire once that day. Now there's a skid steer to get up onto a trailer, on the shoulder, traffic going past. He's steering the machine with one line while pulling it on with another.
Then it starts going crooked. He calls for line first, "Can you please spool me?", and a few seconds after that he names the two things he wants put in his hand.
"Hand me another winch ring and a soft shackle."Wrecker Rick, loading on the shoulder, "100 Families Are Counting On Me And Then My Truck Caught On FIRE"
A winch ring and a soft shackle. Not a chain, not a clevis. The machine's drifting, so the answer is another line. Another line means another connection, and he wants the light one.
"It's starting to try to pull it to the driver's side."Wrecker Rick, explaining the re-rig, same episode
He can't get alongside the machine with that traffic going past, so he ends up running two winch lines and splitting the load between them. Two lines means two connections, and both of them are soft.
That's the honest version of what this gear is for. Not the clean demo on a flat pad. It's a load-out on the shoulder with traffic at your back, the angle wrong, and a connector you can throw on one handed while somebody spools line for you.
4. A road tow is a different job
Now the word "towing" splits in two, and this is the part to read twice.
Everything above is recovery. One vehicle pulls another, under control, for a short distance, with everyone watching. A soft shackle belongs in that.
A road tow is not that. You're at speed, in traffic, for miles, and nobody's watching the connection. The federal rules don't leave that to a judgment call. A towed vehicle must be coupled "with one or more safety devices to prevent the towed vehicle from breaking loose in the event the tow-bar fails or becomes disconnected," and that safety device "must not be attached to the pintle hook or any other device on the towing vehicle to which the tow-bar is attached."[3]
Read what it's for. The safety device is a second, independent path that catches the load when the first one lets go. Putting a soft shackle in the same tow line doesn't give you a second path. It gives you a nicer looking first one.
So fit the safety chains or cables your tow bar and your rig call for, attached the way the rules say. Keep the soft shackles in the bag for recovery. Nobody's ever been sorry about that arrangement.
| Recovery pull / winching / loading | Towing a vehicle on the road | |
|---|---|---|
| How long it lasts | Seconds to minutes, watched | Miles, unwatched |
| Speed | Walking pace or a short controlled run | Road speed, in traffic |
| Soft shackle as the connector | Yes, sized to the recovery vehicle | No |
| Separate safety device required | Not the same requirement | Yes, and independent of the tow bar[3] |
| Rated attachment point | Always | Always |
| Tow ball or bumper hitch | Never[4] | Never as a recovery point[4] |
5. Where a soft shackle must never go
Three places, and none of them are about the shackle being weak.
On a tow ball or a bumper hitch. BFGoodrich puts it flat: "DO NOT attach a strap to a tow ball or bumper hitch. These are not rated for recovery and can break off under load."[4] A ball's built to hold a trailer tongue down. It isn't built to take a shock load sideways.
As the link joining two ropes together. Same source, same tone: "NEVER connect two straps or ropes with a shackle. If the shackle breaks, it can fly like a bullet and cause serious injury."[4] A soft shackle throws far less than metal if it goes. The rule still stands for both.
Side loaded on a hitch recovery point. The hitch point's own warning says to pull in line with the hitch and not to side pull, because a side pull can damage the shackle or the receiver, or tip the vehicle.[5] BFGoodrich says the same thing about every recovery point: "DO NOT put side loads on recovery points, always pull in line with the vehicle."[4]
6. When one point isn't enough
Look again at what went wrong on that shoulder. The machine started pulling to the driver's side. One line, one point, and the load found a way to steer.
That's the case for a bridle. The Heavy Duty Static Bridle connects to two recovery points instead of one. The load spreads across both, the recovered vehicle tracks straighter, and no single mount takes all of it.[6] In the 7/16" sling with two 7/16" J-hook soft shackles it's published at 30,400 lbs MBS at a 90 degree spread, rising to 41,600 lbs as the legs close to 30 degrees.[6]
The honest part is that most recoveries don't need one. If the pull's straight and the point's rated, a single shackle is the right tool and the cheaper one. Get an awkward angle, or a vehicle that wants to wander, and the bridle stops being a luxury.
37,100 lbs MBS in 5/16", 45,500 lbs in 7/16", 62,500 lbs in 1/2". Long enough to reach an awkward point or double up on one.
WLL 13,200 lbs at a 5:1 factor of safety, and built to take soft shackles up to 7/16" without chafing. Pull in line only.
1" x 30', 33,500 lbs minimum tensile strength, rated for 3/4 to 1 ton trucks and heavy SUVs. Pairs with the 7/16" shackle.
Sling plus two matching J-hook soft shackles. Spreads the load over two points and keeps the vehicle tracking straight.
7. Rig it safe
The first three are quoted from a recovery-safety source that sells no competing gear. The last two come from the product pages themselves.
- No tow balls, no bumper hitches. "These are not rated for recovery and can break off under load."[4]
- Never join two ropes with a shackle. "If the shackle breaks, it can fly like a bullet and cause serious injury."[4]
- Pull in line. "DO NOT put side loads on recovery points, always pull in line with the vehicle."[4]
- Stay under the working load limit, which runs at a 5:1 factor on the breaking strength.[2]
- Check the shackle before you rig it. Fraying, cuts or stiff sections mean it comes out of service, not back in the bag.[2]
- A road tow still needs its own safety devices, independent of the tow bar. A soft shackle is not one of them.[3]
Sources: [4] BFGoodrich, Recovery Techniques · [3] 49 CFR 393.70(d)
So, can you use a soft shackle for towing? For the pulling work, yes. It's probably the best connector you can put in the line. For the miles down the highway behind a tow bar, no. Fit what that job needs, and keep the shackles for the ditch.
Sources
- "Double Loop" Soft Shackle product page, fetched live 2026-09-19. Minimum breaking strengths by diameter, the 20"/40" lengths, the 36" chafe sleeve and the three sizes sold are read from this page. murphysdiesel.com/products/double-loop-soft-shackle
- Yankum Ropes, soft shackle product page, fetched live 2026-09-19. The HMPE and single-piece description, the MBS and WLL definitions at a 5:1 safety factor, the per-diameter working load limits, the "match the shackle to the recovery vehicle" rule and the replacement criteria are quoted from this page. yankum.com/products/soft-shackle
- 49 CFR 393.70(d), "Safety devices in case of tow-bar failure or disconnection," fetched live from eCFR 2026-09-19. The requirement for one or more independent safety devices, and that they not attach to the same pintle hook as the tow bar, are verbatim. ecfr.gov/current/title-49/part-393/section-393.70
- BFGoodrich, "4x4 Driving Guide: Recovery Techniques," fetched live 2026-09-19. The tow ball warning, the shackle-joining warning and the side-load warning are verbatim from this page. bfgoodrichtires.com/auto/learn/4x4-driving-guide/recovery-techniques
- 2" Hitch Receiver Recovery Point product page, fetched live 2026-09-19. The 13,200 lb working load limit at 5:1, the 7/16" soft shackle compatibility and the pull-in-line warning are read from this page. murphysdiesel.com/products/2-hitch-receiver-recovery-point
- Murphys Diesel Recovery Rope product page, fetched live 2026-09-19. The 33,500 lbs minimum tensile strength and the 7,200 to 10,249 lb recommended vehicle weight band are read from this page. murphysdiesel.com/products/murphys-diesel-recovery-rope
- Heavy Duty Static Bridle product page, fetched live 2026-09-19. The two-point load spreading description and the minimum breaking strengths by leg angle are read from this page. murphysdiesel.com/products/heavy-duty-static-bridle