Lifetime Warranty and Service Life

Every piece of load-bearing gear we sell has a service life, and we publish it. Nobody else in this category will do that. You'll find "durable" and "built to last" on every rope site out there, and an actual number on none of them. The owner has spent 25 years on ropes in the mountains and serves on a county search and rescue team, where every piece of gear gets a documented life and documented retirement criteria. A rope you can't trust completely is a rope you can't use at all. That standard applies to everything on this site.

The clock starts the day your gear ships, not the day it was made. Everything we ship sits in a dark, dry warehouse until it's sold, and shelf time like that doesn't count against the calendar life below. The production date on the tag is there for traceability, not a countdown. Once the gear is in service, the years below apply from that day.

How this works with your lifetime warranty

Retiring a piece of gear and making a warranty claim are not opposites. If your gear shows any of the damage listed below after being used within its rated class and per instructions, that is not normal wear. That is a manufacturing defect, and the lifetime warranty replaces it. Photograph it and email sales@sandycats.com. You'll get a straight answer. Hold on to the gear itself. We may ask you to send it in so we can study the failure and build the next run better.

If the damage came from use above the rated class or outside the instructions, that is not a defect. No rope survives being asked to do more than it was built for, and we won't pretend otherwise.

Gear that simply wears out over years of honest use is not defective either. It's finished. It did its job.

We'll tell you which is which, and when it's on us, we replace it.

Kinetic Recovery Ropes (including Heavy Duty)

• Pull count: No fixed limit when the rope stays in its rated weight class and gets used per instructions: right rope for the vehicle, controlled run-up, rest between pulls so the nylon can recover. Used correctly, pull count is not what retires a rope.
• After a hard pull: a big pull doesn't retire the rope by itself. Clean it if it's dirty, then run your hands down the whole length and make sure it feels the same end to end. Damage from an overload happens inside the rope, where the sheath can hide it, and it shows up as a stretch that feels too stiff. If any stretch feels too stiff, retire it. If it feels the same as the rest, it stays in service. Rescue rope gets checked the same way.
• Calendar life: 10 years in service, stored properly, shaded and out of the weather. 5 years if it lives exposed in a truck bed, on a bumper, or on a roof rack. Nylon ages whether you use it or not.
• Retire on sight: sheath cut through or core visible. Soft or flat spots you can feel. Glazed or fused sections. Contact with fuel, battery acid, or solvents. Heavy UV chalking and stiffness.

Soft Shackles (including Heavy Duty)

• Pull count: no fixed limit within rated class.
• After a hard pull: no automatic retirement. Slide the sleeve back and look at the strands. A torn strand retires it; no tear, it stays in service.
• Calendar life: 10 years in service, stored properly; 5 years living outside.
• Retire on sight: a torn strand, and only a torn strand. Surface fuzz and flattening are normal wear. That's the shackle doing its job.

Hitch Hero

Everything above applies, plus one more habit after every pull: slide the sleeve back and look at the strands underneath before it goes back into service. The sleeve is protection, not a substitute for looking at the rope under it.

Bridles (Static and Hero)

• Pull count: no fixed limit. Used as designed in a recovery, a bridle is not practically overloaded.
• Calendar life: 10 years in service, stored properly; 5 years exposed.
• Retire on sight: torn strands, glazing, chemical contact. Fuzz and flattening are normal.

Winch Lines (Armored Line and Extension)

• Calendar life: 10 years in service. The armored sheath carries the UV and abrasion load.
• The discipline: full unspool inspection after every heavy pull. Run the whole line off the drum and check it end to end before it goes back on.
• Retire on sight: torn strands under the sheath. Melt or glaze spots. Crushed flat sections from a bad wrap. Chemical contact.

Tow Strap

• Pull count: no fixed limit when it's used for what it's built for: the long tow out, a short controlled tug, or a tree saver.
• Calendar life: 10 years in service, stored shaded and dry. 5 years if it lives in the bed.
• Retire on sight: cuts, fraying, melted or glazed webbing, webbing that's sun-bleached and stiff.

Snatch Strap

• Pull count: about 12 hard snatches. It's a consumable: after enough hard pulls the nylon stops springing back, and that wear isn't a defect.
• After a pull: lay it out loose for 12 hours before you coil it, so the nylon can recover. Retire it sooner if it stops springing back to its length.
• Retire on sight: cuts, fraying, melted or glazed webbing, webbing that's sun-bleached and stiff.

If your gear hits any line above and you're not sure whether it's wear, misuse, or a defect, don't guess. Email a photo to sales@sandycats.com. Gear you can't fully trust has no place in a recovery.