The Murphys Diesel Recovery Kit is one 30-foot kinetic rope, two recovery slings, two soft shackles, and a bag to keep them dry. Nothing more, nothing invented, and every word of that comes straight off Murphy's own product page. Rick pitches it on camera mid-drive, in a 1962 Kenworth trying to cover 300 miles with eight families counting on it getting home. There's more going on in that pitch than it sounds like. Time to take it apart, piece by piece.
- The kit: one 1" x 30' kinetic recovery rope, two 7/16" recovery slings, two 7/16" soft shackles, one roll-top bag. Published, not guessed.
- The rope alone carries a working load limit of 6,700 to 11,200 lbs and is built for vehicles weighing 7,200 to 10,249 lbs.
- Slings earn their keep when there's no bolt-on recovery point handy. Wrap an axle, a control arm, a frame rail instead.
- Rick pitched this kit mid-drive, during a giveaway-week promo, while his own crew was still rebuilding fuel lines and swapping tires on an old truck trying to make 300 miles.
- A rope kit doesn't fix a mechanical problem. It gets a stuck vehicle moving again. Nothing more to it.
1. The drive the kit got pitched on
By the time Rick pitches his own rope kit on camera, the truck he's driving has already eaten most of a day in repairs. The crew builds new fuel lines by hand. They top off air. They work through a full set of tires, and there's still roughly 300 miles ahead of them, with eight families counting on the truck making it.
"We've got 10 tires on her now, folks. Maybe that'll get us home. And I got one spare. So, we could have one blowout on the way home and we'll be good. We've only got about 300 miles to go. So, hopefully she makes it."Wrecker Rick, "Will This 1962 Kenworth Make It 300 Miles? 8 Families Are Counting on It"
It's in the middle of that stretch, not at some clean product-shoot moment, that the rope kit pitch actually happens. A guy selling rope kits between fuel-line repairs, 300 miles from home: that's a wild spot for a pitch. Not a coincidence, though. It's honestly the whole channel in one scene.
"For this week only, we're doing 50 times multipliers on Wrecker Rick rope kits. Get yourself a Wrecker Rick rope kit. We're also doing 50 times multipliers on pullover hoodies. It's about to get western, folks."Wrecker Rick, mid-drive giveaway promo, same episode
2. What's actually in the box
Here's the published list, word for word off Murphy's own product page. Not reconstructed. Not guessed at.
- (1) 1" x 30' Murphys Diesel Kinetic Recovery Rope
- (2) 7/16" Heavy Duty Recovery Slings
- (2) 7/16" Soft Shackles
- (1) Medium Roll-Top Yankum Bag
That's it. No snatch block, no shovel, no traction boards. Look at what's missing before you look at what's there, and the shape of the kit gets a lot clearer: this is a rope-and-rigging kit built around one rope, sized for the recovery itself, not a general-purpose overland box.
3. The rope itself
The rope at the center of the kit carries a working load limit of 6,700 to 11,200 lbs and a minimum tensile strength of 33,500 lbs. That's stout for something you coil up by hand. Murphy's own listing recommends it for vehicles weighing 7,200 to 10,249 lbs, which covers most 3/4-ton and 1-ton trucks and heavy SUVs. It's double-braid nylon with a polymeric coating, finished with rubber-dipped eyes. Made in the USA. One-year limited warranty.
A kinetic rope isn't a static strap. It stretches under load, and it hands that stored energy back as a smoother, stronger pull. That's why it's the rope Rick reaches for over a chain or a static tow strap, on a vehicle that's properly stuck rather than one that just needs a tow.
4. What the slings and shackles are for
The two 7/16" recovery slings aren't decoration. You wrap them around an axle, a control arm, or a frame rail when the vehicle you're pulling doesn't have a clean, bolt-on recovery point to hook the rope to directly. The two soft shackles connect the rope to whatever the sling is wrapped around, without the weight or the paint damage a metal shackle can leave behind.
Put it together and the logic's simple: one rope doing the pulling, and the hardware to attach it to a vehicle that was never built with a recovery point in mind.
5. When you'd actually reach for it
A rope kit is for a vehicle that's stuck, not a vehicle that's broken. That distinction matters more in this episode than most, because the truck Rick is driving while he pitches the kit isn't stuck anywhere. It's mechanically struggling instead: short fuel lines, a full tire swap, brakes that needed a second look. None of that is what a kinetic rope, two slings, and two soft shackles are built to solve.
Where the kit earns its price is the other kind of day. Buried to the axles. No straight shot to a winch anchor. A second vehicle that needs a controlled pull instead of a straight yank. That's a stuck problem, and it's the one this kit is actually built for.
6. Building it yourself
Already run a rope you trust? Then the slings and shackles are the piece you're probably still missing. Starting from nothing? The full kit is the faster way to get all four pieces sized to work as one system.
One 1" x 30' kinetic recovery rope, two 7/16" heavy duty recovery slings, two 7/16" soft shackles, and a medium roll-top bag. Built for Murphy's, made by Yankum.
The same 1" x 30' kinetic rope from the kit, on its own. For a truck that already has slings and shackles and just needs the rope replaced or upgraded.
Rope, slings, shackles, and a bag to keep them together. The faster way to get all four pieces sized to work as one system.
7. Safety: respect a loaded rope
A kinetic rope under load stores real energy, and it lets that energy go all at once if something in the system fails. Treat it with the same respect you'd give a winch line.
Offroad-ed.com's vehicle recovery safety course puts a rope and a winch in the same category on purpose: both involve "deadly force," and either one "can result in serious injury or death if not done correctly."[1]
- Anchor to a rated point on both vehicles, not the closest convenient part. Natural anchors like a tree, a stump, or a rock work if there's no rated hitch point handy.[2]
- Never attach the rope to a hitch ball, suspension component, or steering component on either vehicle. None of them are built to take a recovery pull.[2]
- Match the rope to the vehicle, not the other way around. This rope carries a working load limit of 6,700 to 11,200 lbs and is built for vehicles in the 7,200 to 10,249 lb range. Read your own truck's weight off the door sticker before you hook up.
- Keep everyone clear of the rope's full length while it's under tension, front and back. A rope that lets go under load behaves the same as a winch cable that lets go.
- Inspect before every pull. A rope that's frayed, cut, or glazed from heat has already given you its warning. Retire it instead of trusting it one more time.
Sources: [1] offroad-ed.com: Using a Winch or a Recovery Strap · [2] offroad-ed.com: Selecting Attachment Points
Sources
- Offroad-ed.com (Kalkomey Enterprises, a state-delegated ORV safety education provider), "Using a Winch or a Recovery Strap." "You can pull a stuck vehicle back onto stable ground using either a winch or a snatch strap (recovery strap). Both methods involve deadly force but can be safe if you follow the correct procedures. However, either method can result in serious injury or death if not done correctly." offroad-ed.com/michigan/studyGuide/Using-a-Winch-or-a-Recovery-Strap
- Offroad-ed.com, "Selecting Attachment Points." "When using either a winch or a recovery strap to pull a stuck ORV loose: NEVER attach a strap to the hitch ball, suspension components, or steering components on either vehicle... Natural anchors include trees, stumps, and rocks." offroad-ed.com/michigan/studyGuide/Selecting-Attachment-Points
FAQ
One 1" x 30' Murphys Diesel kinetic recovery rope, two 7/16" heavy duty recovery slings, two 7/16" soft shackles, and a medium roll-top bag to keep it together, per the kit's own published contents list.
The rope by itself is the same 1" x 30' kinetic rope rated for 3/4 to 1-ton trucks and heavy SUVs. The kit wraps the slings, soft shackles, and a bag around that same rope.
It carries a working load limit of 6,700 to 11,200 lbs and is built for vehicles weighing 7,200 to 10,249 lbs, per the rope's own published specs.
The slings wrap around an axle, control arm, or frame rail when there's no bolt-on recovery point to hook to. The soft shackles connect the rope to that anchor without the weight or paint damage of a metal shackle.
No. A rope kit gets a stuck vehicle moving again. It does nothing for a short fuel line, a bald tire, or a truck that's overheating, which is exactly what Rick's own crew was still working through by hand in the same episode.
Yes, per the product's own listing.
Not always. The slings earn their keep specifically when there isn't a clean bolt-on point handy, like wrapping an axle or a frame rail instead.