2 Hacks to Free Up a Stuck Ratchet Strap
Ratchet straps are an incredible tool. One set of them in your trunk and you can safely secure a huge piece of furniture to your roof rack, or tie a motorcycle down in your truck bed. Many DIYers donāt leave home without their ratchet straps. But if the load shifts and they tighten up on the road, it can feel impossible to pull the release button to open them. Luckily, there are two hacks you can use.
First of all: If youāre always jamming your fingers as you try to squeeze your ratchet strapās release triggers, you may be using them wrong. Both sides of the ratchet have a trigger, and youāll have to pull both to unwind them and eventually dettach them. But just yanking on these triggers isnāt a great idea, because ratchets were designed with an easier release. Grab the handles and begin to work the ratchet mechanism. Yup, like youāre tightening them more. But before going a full click, pull the release triggers.
Itās that simple: after a half click, the ratchet mechanism takes all the pressure off the release triggers. You can pull both releases with ease and unwind the strap. It wonāt spring shut on you, because once you pull the triggers, thereās no tension left on the winding mechanism.
If you canāt easily pull these triggers on an older ratchet, there may be a bit of rust in the way. Just grab the penetrating oil or rust remover oil form your toolbox and spray the tracks these triggers ride on. This should break up any rust and get them sliding easily again.
On rare occasions, a load shifts enough that you canāt pull the ratchet mechanism a half click to take pressure off those release triggers. This may feel like youāre up a creek without a paddle. But the engineers who built your ratchet straps included one more trick. The body of the ratchet mechanism is made of metal and almost always has a seemingly random hole just behind the release trigger. But no, this hole isnāt random. If you take a small screwdriver and stick it into the hole, you have a lever to pull even the tightest release trigger.
Next, read about the heroic dad who used ratchet straps to save a mother and toddler from a sinking car, or see more tips for properly using a ratchet strap in the video below: