Couldn't tighten a strap

Why don't you get one of those solid steel cheater bars?I never knew cheater bars snap like that.

 

Being from a cold environment myself...There is absolutely nothing you can do in that circuimstance .(From rain to frozen)

Even if you keep your winches nourished with spray(penetrating oil) still going to freeze the straps..Even if you Fold over the majority of your strap..(Just keeping enough strap on the actual winch for supreme tightness) . Still going to get hard and freeze...

Until they design straps with heaters on them.......you'll just have to manually break them free in cold environments......

as for a cheater breaking? Common on those hollow body bars,Very Common

 

I have never broken a cheater bar. I still have a solid bar that I used when I hauled cars.

 

Back in my flatbed days, I loaded a load in Chicago with those old cotton straps if have ever used those. It rained on me as I headed out on I 94, by the time I got to Fargo to Unload, it took me about 2 hours to unstrap the load. Those things were so frozen I couldn't get the ends apart at the winch end to get them out of the winch. Once I got them off of the load, I had to throw them in the cab of my truck and let them thaw out before I could roll them up again to put them away. That was the last time I used those in cold weather, the nylon straps worked out a lot better, not that they can't freeze and become a pain, but they don't soak up the water like those cotton straps did.

 

It was frozen at some point. Probabably where it kept contact with the load. The part that was flapping did not keep constant contact so that part did not freeze.

 

I had a whole post about the compressive mPa (converted to psi, as well, of course) of ice opposed to steel typed up before I realized it meant nothing without calibrated tests in a controlled environment.

Then I realized that pouring boiling water over the straps on the corners of the load and trailer was all you really wanted to hear.

Some aqueous calcium chloride rolled up in your straps will keep them from freezing as well, which is what most people assumed was the issue in this thread.

 

Only time I've ever not been able to get another click tighter on a loose strap was on a bolt on winch and there was too much strap wrapped around the spool.

 

Always put a twist in the strap so it won't flap in the wind as much. Might keep you from getting pulled over anyway.