Horror stories:
I have seen two near accidents caused by improper snatch towing which could have had a very nasty ending.

The first instance involved two Land-Rovers about six years ago. No amount of winching would make the bogged landy budge. Also digging was impossible as the mud was too fluid and Hi-Lifting impossible. So they went for snatch pulling. Even the most violent acceleration brought no results. They then decided to use two ropes (to double the length) with the result that the towing Landy reached speeds in excess of 40mph!! before the rope slack was taken up. Just as the Landy started to loose the battle against the increasing tension of the rope an appalling impact and what sounded like a rifle shot was heard. The tow rope seemed to have vanished. What had happened was that the towing point of the stricken Landy was pulled right out of the chassis and catapulted at awesome speed towards the towing landy. It went right through the rear door, the bulkhead and through the front windscreen, scattering bits of glass and aluminum all over the place. The towing point had actually passed within a few inches of the drivers head!! He was wearing a helmet but I doubt what protection that can afford against a 6 lb supersonic towhook!

So what did they do wrong? The worst thing was to use too much force without thought about the consequences. One must stop and think about an alternative before just applying more and more brute force.

The other incident involved a Land-rover de-bogging a Sammy. What happened this time was simply that maximum brute force was used right away. The Landrover accelerated about 20 feet to approx 20Mph before the rope started tensioning. All of a sudden the Sammy catapulted out of the ground flew a distance of about 25 feet and came crashing into the roof of the Landy just above the level of the tailgate. The only thing that prevented the driver of the Landy from getting killed was the substantial rollcage. What went wrong here was very simply that maximum brute force was applied first time. There was probably four times as much energy in the rope as was needed to debog the 'Zuki.

The moral of it all: snatch towing is a great way of recovering otherwise unrecoverable vehicles. I have seen many otherwise unrecoverable vehicles (even my mog) recovered by snatch pulling. If done with care, it is safe but if not can be lethal. Always try winching, HiLifting and digging before snatch pulling.

[ How's that for an explanation? ]

So we've heard what the process can do, and we've heard a whole lot about
what can go wrong. Bottom line? If nothing else works, this might, but be darn careful if you try it. It's really not that scary at low speeds (10mph max). Here is a table supplied by Guy Hammer that tells you how much force can be exerted by various weights of vehicles at various speeds:

Vehicle/Snatch-strap load impact (in ft./lbs. energy)

Speed Vehicle Weight (lbs)
(mph) 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 7,000
========================================
5 2,506 3,341 4,177 5,012 5,847
10 10,024 13,365 16,707 20,048 23,389
15 22,554 30,072 37,590 45,108 52,626
20 40,096 53,462 66,827 80,192 93,558
30 90,216 120,289 150,361 180,435 210,505
50 250,604 334,135 417,669 501,207 584,736

Strap capacities:

2" - 18,000
4" - 36,000
6" - 54,000
12"- 108,000

Note: The tow hooks I have seen for sale are only rated for 10,000 lbs. As best I have been able to determine, the two 1/2" bolts that hold them to your frame could break at 14,000-15000 lbs. Having a tow hook imbedded in the back of your truck (or skull) could ruin your entire day! (And no, I don't know anyone crazy enough to hit the end of a 12" strap at 50 MPH!)

From this we can see that a 3,000 pound vehicle at only 10 miles per hour can apply more power than most of the electric winches on the market. A very powerful tug, indeed. High speeds make for a tremendous amount of power. Always always always start with small tugs at low speeds. There's no sense in tearing the towing points right off of the vehicles. The previously mentioned tug by the 3,000 pound vehicle at 10mph will apply as much force as the stock towing points in many new vehicles are designed to take (the wire loop tow points found on many newer vehicles are an example).

The reality of the situation is that many people use snatch pulling as their primary method of extraction, and think nothing of it. It can be safe if done properly at reasonable speeds. I use snatch pulling to pull people out of ditches. When you're using it, don't be in a hurry to use more power; use a whole bunch of small pulls rather than a huge brute tug. I pulled a minivan from the bottom of a 6' ditch while I was on glare ice by using small tugs, and lots of them. I gained maybe an inch each tug. It adds up, and eventually he came out. Try to get a rhythm going so that you aren't in gear when you hit the end of the strap; rather start going and let the inertia of the vehicle pull you forward, then you will recoil on the strap and you can just stay in a forward gear and use the clutch to 'bounce' on the end of the strap. If I had to shift into reverse for every tug I'd still be tugging away at the guy I pulled out of the ditch last night.