I saw this at Harbor Freight when I was in looking for a tool that needed for a project and I figured I would try it out and see how well it worked and compared to a few other soft shakles. It is slightly thinner at 7/16" vice 1/2" like the Factor 55 soft shackle, but does have a few features that the other more affordable shackles don't have. Badlands has been putting out some surprisingly high quality items lately and this one is actually really nice.
The BADLAND™ Soft Shackle offers a sturdy, reliable design built for use as a lightweight replacement for common steel screw pin shackles supporting up to 9500 lb. Constructed from durable ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene with protective UV resistant coating to withstand the most extreme off-road conditions.
9500 lb. rated load, 47,500 lb. breaking strength
Equivalent in strength to a 3/4 in. steel shackle
Abrasion guard protects tree straps, tow straps
UV resistant coating
7/16 in. rope diameter
Additional
Parts:
Tools
Needed:
Unpacking:
The soft shackle comes in a plastic cased hanging card. You will need to cut the plastic with a knife to get the soft shackle out, so be careful you don't cut the soft shackle. The back lists the information about the soft shackle. These shackle will pair fairly well with my 9500lb winch and Jeep JK.
The Soft Shackle:
Here it is once you get it out of the packaging.
The ball is nice and tight with the loop snug around it.
To open the soft shackle for use you will need to open the loop at the end of the shackle and then pull the ball out of the loop. The first time you do this it will be fairly difficult because the rope is stiff after being coated and will require a little coaking to get the ball out of the loop. Once I opened the loop and got the ball out, I ran the line back and forth a few times to get it to slide smoothly.
The soft shackle comes with an abrasion guard wrapped around the working section of the shackle. This will prevent premature wear on the rope strands. The ends are tightly wrapped in what looks like a self adhereing reenforced tape. This is something I don't see on many of the cheaper brands.
The soft shackle does have a tag on it with instruction on how to use it along with information about the soft shackle itself. Again, this is something I don't see on many of the cheaper brands.
