Review on 🔒 PROGRIP 314700 Heavy Duty Tie Down Ratchet and Sliding Buckle with Double J Hooks: Enhanced Flex Grip Handle, 16ft x 1-inch by Damian Grotting

Ratchet straps have held loads from large trucks to family vans securely and reliably for decades. For family trips that require an ATV, canoe, or other large recreational vehicle, ratchet mounts are an easy and convenient way to keep gear on the rig! But what can you do to improve your ratchet strap? ProGrip has a good solution. The packaging shows that this product is different from others. The 16-foot ProGrip Sliding Ratchet (P/N 314700) features a 16-foot webbing that can handle a working load of up to 450 lbs and a maximum load of 1350 lbs. It also features heavy-duty, rubber-coated J-hooks for a strong attachment to vehicle mounts, and rubberized comfort grips on the ratchet handle and release hook. At first I thought it would be a fun experiment. This soon changed. When trying to stretch the pre-threaded assembly, I had trouble lengthening the webbing to get to the attachment points. I made sure the slot in the spindle was parallel to the base of the ratchet so the cable went straight through the cylinder to the U-eyelet on the other end of the ratchet's base and pulled again. It was still under a lot of tension, so I manually threaded the webbing through both slots until I had enough slack to get the J-hooks at both attachment points. When I tried pulling up the slack I had the same problem. The instructions were sketchy at best. Despite the description of how to use the strap, the illustration shows the incorrect way of strap assembly with a J-hook attached to the base of the ratchet (non-slip ratchet). It also lacked instructions on how to thread the webbing through the ratchet knot in case it breaks. I went to the ProGrip website (usaprogrip.com) where I could only find a photo of the product. As I did so, I made sure the cable was properly threaded and moved the ratchet assembly up and down the webbing to relieve the slack tension (this is one use of the sliding ratchet feature). It worked pretty well. When I tried to tighten the strap my fingers slipped off the handle causing excruciating pain! The molded rubber handle, which I found very comfortable, extends about ¾ inch past the end of the metal part of the handle and is very flexible. If you pull it, it rolls and I lose grip on the handle. lead to slip. When the strap was tightened, the free end of the strap had a tendency to twist and slip out of that U-shaped hole that the cable runs through. Once tightened, the handle is designed to fully close the base to lock the ratchet stop against the ratchet cam to prevent accidental slipping - a safety feature to prevent accidental loosening of the strap so the handle does not bend can be fully closed, resulting in the cam slipping and the load becoming unreliable - a serious safety concern. Obstacle (this is a proprietary feature) to reduce the load is a great idea that I've been able to use many times in the past. Unfortunately, the ProGrip 16' Sliding Ratchet Strap has these design flaws that make it difficult to use.