Kinetic Energy Recovery Rope (KERR)

I tried out one of these ropes on a 4x4 trip and I must was VERY impressed. It seemed far easier and less stressfull on the vehicles to use the kinetic rope to recover - no snatching and stopping of the vehicles like you get with a normal rope or strop - just a more gentle tugging motion for both vehicles. And how about this for an example of the ropes ability - my two mates Range Rover conked out in a mud pit and they managed to pull it out manually by themselves just using a repeated tugging motion on the kinetic rope! So I went out and bought one myself...

I got mine from First Four Off Road along with tested shackles and bridle. A bridle is a short strop that attaches to two points on the vehicle so the KERR or other rope/strop can be looped onto it - this means you are spreading any load over two points on the vehicle and is highly recommended when using a KERR due to the loads you can exert. KERR's are quite expensive but well worth it - I would not off road without one now. You can get them from lots of off road places or even your local Machine Mart.

What is it? How does it work?

A KERR is a special "stretchy" rope that means the kinetic energy of the recovery vehicle is transferred into the KERR, causing it to stretch. As it stretches it stores energy within the rope. When the KERR is fully stretched it will contract again, transferring the energy to the stranded vehicle. This system allows more energy to be transferred to the stranded vehicle than by towing alone with a standard rope or tow strap.

It is very useful for recovering vehicles that are quite literally stuck in the mud - it may take several "tugs" to recover the vehicle, this is normal, each tug may only move the vehicle a little way but it is much more effective than a normal rope/strop.

Saftey and Usage

As with anything like this, if you want to use one make sure you read up and follow saftey advice, there is a good page here for starters: http://www.difflock.com/offroad/bowyer/ropes2.shtml